Super Adult Day at Loisaida
2023-07-07 10:30 - 13:30, 2023-08-04 10:30 - 13:30, 2023-09-01 10:30 - 13:30, 2023-10-06 10:30 - 13:30, 2023-11-03 10:30 - 13:30, 2023-12-01 10:30 - 13:30 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Loisaida Inc. is committed to our senior community by providing programs that help improve people’s mental & physical health through arts and culturally enriching programming and engaging activities that help support good mental health, physical and emotional well-being.
Super Adult Day at Loisaida is on the first Friday of each month, from 10:30am – 1:30pm at the Loisaida Center. During each event, we offer snacks and beverages, a wide variety of enrichment classes such as dance, exercise, arts, and live music to our guests!
Capacity is limited, so come early!
Dates:
February 3, 2023 / 10:30am – 1:30pm
March 3, 2023 / 10:30am – 1:30pm
*April 14, 2023 / 10:30am – 1:30pm (*first Friday of April is skipped)
May 5, 2023 / 10:30am – 1:30pm
July 7, 2023 / 10:30am – 1:30pm
August 4, 2023 / 10:00am – 1:30pm
September 1, 2023 / 10:00am – 1:30pm
October 6, 2023 / 10:00am – 1:30pm
November 3, 2023 / 10:00am – 1:30pm
**December 1, 2023 / 10:00am – 1:30pm (**Holiday Celebration)

Loisaida Center Holistic Wellness for Older Adults
2023-07-20 10:00 - 13:00, 2023-08-17 10:00 - 13:00, 2023-09-21 10:00 - 13:00, 2023-10-19 10:00 - 13:00, 2023-11-16 10:00 - 13:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
After the challenges faced and lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Loisaida Center is more committed than ever to providing high-quality programming aligned with the principles of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), and to bringing together older adults from all walks of life and ethnic backgrounds.
To that end, we’ve expanded our Super-Adult program to include specific Health & Wellness services every 3rd Thursday of the month in collaboration with the Loisaida Wellness Collective and VNS Health.

Back 2 Da Culture Park Jam
2023-07-30 14:00 - 19:00 (America/New_York) | La Plaza Cultural, 700 E 9th Street, New York, 10009, United States
Subterra Living Museum & Tribal Exchange Present: “Back 2 Da Culture Park Jam”

Sunday July 30th, 2 – 7pm
at La Plaza Cultural Garden (E 9th St & Avenue C, New York, NY 10009)

DJ’s
Producers
Live music
Open Jam
Live Art & Painters
Food
Vendors
Good vibes

In partnership with Loisaida Center and Morus (Museum of Reclaimed Space)

In the spirit of the LES community oriented, activist, poetic, artistic revolutionary movement

For the people by the people

Ivelisse Diaz Free Dance Workshop
2023-08-03 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Ivelisse Diaz, director of La Escuelita Bombera de Corazón and all-women Bomba y Plena group Las BomPleneras, is teaching a free dance workshop at the Loisaida Center (710 East 9th Street, New York, NY 10009) on Thursday, August 3rd from 7–9pm.
Space for the workshop is very limited, so please RSVP as soon as possible!
And stop by La Sala de Pepe on Saturday, August 5th for an interview with Ivelisse Diaz! Open to all, no RSVP needed.

La Cocina de Loisaida: Hispanic Heritage Celebration
2023-09-15 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Essex Market – Essex Kitchen, 88 Essex Street (Mezzanine Level), New York, NY, 10002, United States
Kick of Hispanic Heritage month by learning how to make the Puerto Rican National Dish – Arroz con Gandules as well as Pernil and Yuca con mojo de Ajo y Cebollas. These dishes are traditional favorites in Puerto Rico and you will learn how to make them with ease! The classes will be approximately 1.5 hours long and include time to savor the dishes you prepare together as a group.

La Cocina de Loisaida is a monthly in-person cooking class series presented by The Loisaida Center and Essex Market, where longtime Lower East Sider and home chef María Bido shares authentic Puerto Rican recipes and cooking techniques. Each month we’ll explore a new batch of family favorites, all based in Puerto Rican flavors and using ingredients from Essex Market.

Buy your tickets now on Eventbrite!

American Boricua Opening Reception
2023-09-23 14:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | La Sala de Pepe y Foto Espacio, 73 Loisaida Avenue, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Join us at La Sala de Pepe (73 Avenue C, New York, NY 10009) on Saturday, September 23rd, 2pm for the opening reception of photojournalist and writer Wanda Benvenutti’s AMERICAN BORICUA, a modern visual history of Puerto Rican life cross North America.
El Grito Cafecito
in partnership with Loisaida Center
at La Sala de Pepe y Foto Espacio
Site-visit, café, and conversation at 2pm.
Saturday, Sept. 23 at 2:00 pm
Short 30 min. Exhibition Overview of AMERICAN BORICUA w/ Wanda Benvenutti

"Lens on the Lower East Side" Photographers' Panel
2023-09-28 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Join us at the Loisaida Inc. Center on Thursday, September 28th at 6:30pm for the Photographers’ Panel for the “Lens on the Lower East Side” exhibit, currently on view at the center. To RSVP, contact info@LESPI-NYC.org

This contemporary photography exhibit is based on the work showcased in Lower East Side Preservation Initiative’s photo journal books, “East Village: Lens on the Lower East Side” and “LES: Lens on the Lower East Side.” These collections of beautiful photographs of the historic East Village/Lower East Side capture the spirit of today’s residents, workers, and visitors against a backdrop of the area’s rich and wonderful historic buildings, and show how the neighborhood’s streets – capes are not only beautiful and irreplaceable, but also serve to enrich and enliven everyday modern life.

Lower East Side Preservation Initiative’s – LESPI’s – mission is to preserve Manhattan’s historic Lower East Side by documenting and mapping the area’s historic streetscapes, increasing awareness of the community’s important history and architecture, and rallying residents, city officials, and the NYC Landmarks Commission to landmark local historic districts and individual buildings. Without protection our beautiful historic streetscapes will be lost to demolition and overdevelopment.

Loisaida, Inc. addresses the serious economic and social disenfranchisement of poor and low income Latino residents, with employment and training opportunities, comprehensive youth development initiatives, as well as neighborhood revitalization activities that positively highlight the rich culture, age, and contribution of the Puerto Rican and Latin American community in this city.

Photographers’ Panel:

Thursday, September 28th, 6:30 – 8:30pm

Location:

Loisaida, Inc. Center (710 East 9th Street, New York, NY 10009)

Photographers:

Don Freeman, Alan Gastelum, George Hirose, Onno de Jong, Ryan John Lee, Marlis Momber, Iliana Ortega, Janko Puls, Brian Rose, Federico Savini, Ciaran Tully

Uprooted Exhibition Opening
2023-10-05 18:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Join us at the Loisaida Center (710 East 9th Street, New York, NY 10009) on Thursday, October 5th at 6pm for the opening reception of Uprooted!
Uprooted explores the disconnect immigrants, migrants and the children of immigrants experience in the multitude of spaces and cultures they occupy. We’ve gathered multiple lens-based artists that have developed projects exploring their roots. Through their work, we are able to see the impact immigration has on people from varying backgrounds. We are able to see the different ways in which artists acknowledge and honor their ancestry.
The exhibition highlights themes of identity, ancestry, assimilation, erasure, and belonging through the lens of multiple New York City based photographers. Through exhibition, the collective diaspora is actively reclaiming their roots, challenging and redefining what it means to be American, exploring methods in which the celebration of multiculturalism can keep customs intact, and honoring their collective diversity.
Participating Artists
Kamal Badhey, Wendy Correa, Cristina Ferrigno, Lissy Alta, Judyta Grudzien, Roxana Hurtado, Maylyn ‘Zero’ Iglesias, Ryan John Lee, Destiny Mata, Carmen Mojica.

Dennis Edge Exhibition
2024-02-01 08:00 - 2024-02-29 17:00 (America/New_York) | NY
Dennis Edge, 85, ‘The Birdman’ of Tompkins Square Park, passed away on Sept. 1, 2023. In memory of his work, Art Loisaida Foundation, City Parks & Recreation, and Loisaida, Inc. Center will host an exhibition of Dennis’ most beloved urban wildlife photographs of the birds he frequently documented living inside and around Tompkins Square Park. A Memorial and Park Bench Dedication and Ceremony will also be held that day at Tompkins Square Park.
RSVP Form

Las Caras Lindas
2024-02-15 08:00 - 2024-03-15 17:00 UTC | UPR Recinto de Rio Piedras, Centro de Estudiantes, 54 Av. Universidad, San Juan, 00925, Puerto Rico, San Juan, Rio Piedras, 00925, Puerto Rico
Las Caras Lindas
A Journey through Nuyorican and Puerto Rican Salsa Album Art of the Last Century
Co-curated by: Pablo Yglesias & José “Pepe” Flores
Date: February 23 through March 15, 2024
Location: Centro de Estudiantes, University of Puerto Rico – Rio Piedras Campus (Puerto Rico)
Las Caras Lindas explores the visual and social impact of Latin music album covers during the period when the vinyl LP was a dominant format of entertainment, paying critical attention to issues of identity, sense of place, African roots, faith, rhythm, dance, and the body, as well as graphic aesthetics, through representations of Hispanic people and cultures as they are presented to the consumer, with an emphasis on Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rican diaspora in New York.
Themes of oppression and resistance, suffering and pleasure, erasure and pride, and utilizing creativity to fight against colonization, marginalization, and poverty are opposites held in tension and constant flux in these humble squares. The sequence of covers is meant to trace a process of constant ebb and flow of evolution over five decades during the second half of the twentieth century.
The title of the show comes from a song of the same name, composed by Catalino “Tite” Curet Alonso, and recorded by Ismael Rivera Y Sus Cachimbos for the album “Esto Es Lo Mío” (This Is Mine). Inspired by exhibition co-curator Pablo Yglesias’s book Cocinando: 50 Years of Latin Album Cover Art, this installation weaves a narrative through the display of album art, proposing that the record cover is not just an invitation to dance, sing, dine, and love, but is also an art piece worthy of serious cultural consideration. The premise is that album art is not just mass-produced ephemera that should be relegated to the dustbin of a bygone era but rather a unique 12 x 12-inch window into the soul of a culture.
This collaboration is made possible by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation, Tiznando el País, and the Instituto Interdisciplinario y Multicultural (INIM) at the University of Puerto Rico,

ADOMBE GANGA MONDE
2025-03-15 13:00 - 15:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
BOMBA PA’l PUEBLO – – Consagración de Barriles de Loisaida
We invite you to join us for a special batey as we consecrate the Loisaida community Barriles at The Loisaida Center (710 East 9th Street, New York, NY 10009) starting at 1:00 pm. These barriles were hand-made by the talented George Oliveras (@george.oliveras.9 ) who will join us at the event!
There will be food and refreshments. Please RSVP!
We want to give a huge thanks to the following organizations who have come together to support this initiative:
– @jupi.bk / @jupi.bx
– @lasaladepepe
– Adolfina NYC
If you are interested in supporting our community barriles initiative, please visit or donations page.

SENIOR DAY (APRIL)
2025-04-04 10:00 - 13:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
SENIOR DAY – Friday, April 4 at 10:00 AM
The Loisaida Center’s Senior Day always takes place on the first Friday of the month (except for June), from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM. Activities include art or movement workshops, educational panels, demos or presentations, live music, snacks, coffee, and good company!
¡DÍA DE LAS PERSONAS DE TERCERA EDAD – viernes 4 de abril a las 10:00 AM
El Día de la Tercera Edad siempre se celebra el primer viernes de cada mes (excepto en junio), de 10:00 AM a 1:00 PM. Las actividades incluyen talleres de arte o movimiento, paneles educativos, demostraciones o presentaciones, música en vivo, refrigerios, café y ¡buena compañía!
–
Location: Loisaida, Inc. Center
710 E 9th Street, New York, NY 10009
Questions? ¿Preguntas?
(646) 726-4715
info@loisaida.org

Ecolibrium Community Meeting: Solar and Batteries in Public Spaces
2025-04-24 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Ecolibrium Community Meeting: Solar and Batteries in Public Spaces
Date: April 24, 2025
⏰ Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Location: Loisaida Center, 710 East 9th St, NYC 10009
Join us for the next Ecolibrium Community Meeting, where we’ll explore the role of solar energy and battery storage in public spaces and their integration into a community-scale Virtual Power Plant (VPP). This initiative connects solar and battery installations in public parks, community centers, and shared spaces with residential and commercial buildings, creating a more resilient, efficient, and sustainable urban energy network.
At our last meeting, we introduced the Virtual Power Plant (VPP) concept, showcasing how distributed energy resources (DERs) can work together to support a decentralized, clean energy grid. This session will dive deeper into the practical applications of solar and battery systems in public spaces, highlighting their role in reducing emissions, enhancing grid reliability, and providing backup power during outages.
We’ll also provide an overview of Ecolibrium’s paid summer internship program, which offers hands-on experience in engineering, data science, IT & cybersecurity, environment, digital arts, media, and economics—preparing students for careers in the green economy while working with our community to create a vision for a climate resilient future in the LES.
Loisaida Center’s Ecolibrium program is committed to energy and climate justice, empowering local talent to design and implement innovative sustainability solutions. By merging technical expertise, creative problem-solving, and community-centered action, the program fosters the next generation of leaders in urban sustainability.
Be part of the conversation—help shape the future of community energy!
This initiative is made possible through the generous support of Con Edison, the NYC Department of Youth and Community Development (Ladders for Leaders), CUNY Career Corps, NY State Dept. of Environmental Conservation, and the U.S. Department of Education/Congressional Community Project Funding.

Fiesta De Cruz en Loisaida
2025-05-23 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
“For nine consecutive years (1990–1999), during the celebration of Mayo Florido, Madrina Milagros Rodríguez and the pleneros group El Quinto Sonó—composed of Enrique Díaz, Echavarrias, Johnny, and Carmen—helped me fulfill my promise to the cross. I also send greetings to Norman Valee and José Lyn, founders of the Green Oasis Garden on East 8th Street in New York, who now smile down on us from heaven. We celebrated our Fiesta de la Cruz there for seven years. Special thanks to Samy Tanco, Carmen Pabón, Julio Picó, Mercedes Amarilis Villaman, Miguel Juan Concepción, Dennis Girón, Jeff Fogel, Julio Peña, and David Lemeire, who dedicated their resources to sustaining and continuing the Fiestas de Cruz tradition in Loisaida.
Puerto Ricans brought the Fiestas de Cruz to New York, where they found fertile ground and took root. Just as in Puerto Rico, in the great New York City metropolis these celebrations have evolved—from being intimate, family-centered events to becoming large public gatherings with meticulous organization and the participation of hundreds of people.
It is expected that the six Fiestas de Cruz currently held in New York will continue. We even dare to predict a strengthening and expansion of the devotion to the Holy Cross, a tradition that has adapted well to changing times without losing its spiritual essence and cosmic significance.
Now rooted in concrete and snow, the Fiestas de Cruz offer a space for community nourishment and empowerment, a renewal of energy and faith in life. Devotees and participants remain loyal to them because of the deep benefits they experience—benefits that go beyond wholesome recreation or simple socializing.
The key lies in the symbol itself, the revelation within the ideogram: there resides an epiphany.
In summary, the journey undertaken toward the Fiestas de Cruz celebrated in New York is divided into two stages. The first analyzes the main components of the devotion in order to establish its origins, similarities, and meaning—seeking to uncover the mythical connections of universal resonance preserved within this particular expression.”
Las Fiestas de Cruz se han celebrado en Puerto Rico por mas de doscientos anos, arraigandose en el fervor popular como una de las preferidas o “tipicas”. Cuenta con celebraciones, devotos y participantes a lo largo y ancho de la isla del encanto Borinquen, pasando la prueba del tiempo, han evolucionado desde el altar hogareno hasta la actual actividad publica con kioscos, orquestas, donde devotos hacen despliege de extravagantes altares, politicos y firmas comerciales “hacen su agosto”.
Los puertorriquefios trajeron las Fiestas de Cruz a Nueva York donde encontraron tierra fertil, echando raices, al igual queen Puerto Rico, en la gran manzana neoyorquina se han transformado de ser un acontecimiento familiar en actos publicos, de meticulosa organizaci6n, contando con la participaci6n de cientos de personas. Se prevee un continuar de la celebraci6n de las seis Fiestas de Cruz queen la actualidad se llevan a cabo en Nueva York.
Nos atrevemos a pronosticar un fortalecimiento y expansion de la devoci6n a la Santisima Cruz, que tan bien se han amoldado a los tiempos sin desvirtuar su esencia espiritual de significado c6smico. Adaptadas al cemento y la nieve, son las Fiestas de Cruz un espacio de alimentaci6n y fortalecimiento comunitario, de renovaci6n de energias y fe en la vida, que sus devotos y participantes siguen fieles a ellas por los beneficios obtenidos, mas alla de la sana recreaci6n o mera socializaci6n. la clave del simbolo, la revelaci6n del ideograma:
Ahi reside Una epifania. Resumiendo, el viaje emprendido hacia las Fiestas de Cruz celebradas en Nueva York, esta dividido en dos etapas. En la primera se analizan los componentes principales de la devoci6n para establecer procedencia, semejanzas, significado, queriendo encontrar las conexiones miticas de resonancias universales preservadas en el hecho particular.
-MAITREYI VILLAMAN MATOS, LAS FIESTAS DE CRUZ EN NUEVA YORK.

Senior Day Summer BBQ
2025-07-11 10:30 - 13:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States

La Bomba Crece en Loisaida
2025-09-23 18:00 - 21:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States

HABITAR LAS FÁBULAS (LAB)
2025-10-10 15:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
_

This event is made possible by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council and the Office of Councilmember Harvey Epstein, Manhattan District 2
HABITAR LAS FÁBULAS

Description:
Habitar las Fábulas is a series of dance performances inspired by the visual art series Fábulas by Uruguayan artist Fernanda Piñeirua. Through movement, we share women’s stories—of patriarchy, migration, ancestry, community, struggle, union, self-love, and death.

This project is both dialogue and tribute: a collective recomposition of Latin American women’s experiences. From image to gesture, the performances draw symbolic foundations from the Orixas dances of Brazilian Candomblé, the rhythms of Uruguayan candombe, the steps of Argentinian chacarera, and the language of Afro-Latin contemporary dance.
Each body becomes a question, a vessel for memory and resistance, a way of telling what words alone cannot hold. These dances invite the audience into empathy, trusting that the stories of South American women will resonate and echo in their own personal narratives, weaving a sense of shared community.

About Simbólica Cia. de Danza:
Simbólica is a Sudaka Latinafrocontemporary dance company that creates from the symbolic intersections of movement and knowledge. We dance to question what we believe, feel, and think—transforming body and emotion into tools for inquiry where the mind alone cannot reach. Our practice is rooted in regenerating, strengthening, and empowering both personal and collective identity.
María Noel Costa (Uruguay) is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher with training in jazz, modern, African, and contemporary dance. A three-time recipient of the Regional Fund for Culture, her works include I Have Something to Say and Morder.
Paula Sarmiento Ansorena (Argentina/Uruguay) is a dancer, researcher, and director whose creations blend traditional and contemporary Afro-Latin American dances. She has trained in Brazil, Guinea, Mexico, and New York, and is the director of Simbólica Cia. de Danza and member of Yiribas Cia.
Guest Artist: Mobéy Lola Irizarry (Puerto Rican diaspora/Chickasaw Nation) is a genderqueer cultural worker and multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans sound, image, and performance.

Location: Loisaida, Inc.-710 E 9th St, New York, 10009

Praxis & Lab: 3:00 PM (Register here)

Performance: 7:00 PM (Register here)

HABITAR LAS FÁBULAS (PERFORMANCE)
2025-10-10 19:00 - 20:30 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
HABITAR LAS FÁBULAS

Description:
Habitar las Fábulas is a series of dance performances inspired by the visual art series Fábulas by Uruguayan artist Fernanda Piñeirua. Through movement, we share women’s stories—of patriarchy, migration, ancestry, community, struggle, union, self-love, and death.

This project is both dialogue and tribute: a collective recomposition of Latin American women’s experiences. From image to gesture, the performances draw symbolic foundations from the Orixas dances of Brazilian Candomblé, the rhythms of Uruguayan candombe, the steps of Argentinian chacarera, and the language of Afro-Latin contemporary dance.
Each body becomes a question, a vessel for memory and resistance, a way of telling what words alone cannot hold. These dances invite the audience into empathy, trusting that the stories of South American women will resonate and echo in their own personal narratives, weaving a sense of shared community.

About Simbólica Cia. de Danza:
Simbólica is a Sudaka Latinafrocontemporary dance company that creates from the symbolic intersections of movement and knowledge. We dance to question what we believe, feel, and think—transforming body and emotion into tools for inquiry where the mind alone cannot reach. Our practice is rooted in regenerating, strengthening, and empowering both personal and collective identity.
María Noel Costa (Uruguay) is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher with training in jazz, modern, African, and contemporary dance. A three-time recipient of the Regional Fund for Culture, her works include I Have Something to Say and Morder.
Paula Sarmiento Ansorena (Argentina/Uruguay) is a dancer, researcher, and director whose creations blend traditional and contemporary Afro-Latin American dances. She has trained in Brazil, Guinea, Mexico, and New York, and is the director of Simbólica Cia. de Danza and member of Yiribas Cia.
Guest Artist: Mobéy Lola Irizarry (Puerto Rican diaspora/Chickasaw Nation) is a genderqueer cultural worker and multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans sound, image, and performance.

Location: Loisaida, Inc.-710 E 9th St, New York, 10009

Praxis & Lab: 3:00 PM (Register here)

Performance: 7:00 PM (Register here)

American Boricua Artist Talk with Omar Eaton-Martinez
2026-02-16 17:00 - 20:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Loisaida Center welcomes you to a special Artist Talk with Wanda Benvenutti, photojournalist of the current photography exhibition, American Boricua, and Omar Eaton-Martinez. In celebration of Black History Month, this conversation centers on Afro-Puerto Rican voices, lived experience, and the power of curating the everyday to challenge erasure and rewrite the narrative.
Black History is Puerto Rican History. From confronting anti-Blackness within our own communities to imagining a just cultural future, this dialogue honors the past while shaping what comes next.
Omar Eaton-Martinez is the Senior Vice President for Historic Sites at the National Trust for Historic Preservation and will join Wanda to discuss culture and the importance of accuracy and nuance in the experience of shared physical spaces. As American Boricua celebrates the Puerto Rican Diaspora throughout North America through a photojournalistic lens, Eaton-Martinez leads the preservation, interpretation, and overall stewardship of 28 historical sites across the country to tell the full American story.
This is an invitation to listen deeply, ask hard questions, and collectively build a more truthful and expansive understanding of who we are. Wanda Benvenutti ✕ Omar Eaton-Martinez in conversation at the Loisaida Center. This intimate gallery talk takes the form of a mutual interview, where Wanda and Omar speak with—and challenge—each other around the idea of “curating the everyday” as a way to disrupt the master narrative of Puerto Rican identity.
Monday, February 16, 2026 (Presidents Day Weekend)
Loisaida Center Theater (limited seating)
5:00 PM Doors & exhibition viewing
6:00 PM Conversation begins
Topics include:
• Puerto Rican identity beyond stereotype
• Afro-Latinidad and internal anti-Blackness
• Building a positive cultural future for the next 50–200 years
Introduced by: Pepe Flores, Loisaida community elder, co-founder of @lasaladepepe
Recorded live (YouTube + podcast format) #LoisaidaTV
Extended Q&A with artists, cultural workers, and the public. Space is limited (45–50 seats)
Registration required | Link: https://lp.constantcontactpages.com/ev/reg/8qusv5r
#BlackHistoryMonth #BlackHistoryIsPuertoRicanHistory #AfroBoricua #AfroLatinidad #PuertoRicanHistory #DiasporaStories #AmericanBoricua #CuratingTheEveryday #DisruptTheNarrative #CounterNarratives #LivingArchives #PublicHistory #Loisaida #LowerEastSide #NYCCulture #CommunityVoices #CulturalWorkers #LatinxArts #CulturalEquity #RepresentationMatters #DecolonizeHistory #FutureAncestral

American Boricua Artist Talk with Maximo Colon (Exhibition Closing)
2026-03-30 17:00 - 20:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Loisaida Center welcomes you to a special Artist Talk with Wanda Benvenutti, photojournalist of the current photography exhibition, American Boricua, and Máximo Colón.
Born in Arecibo, Puerto Rico, Máximo Rafael Colón is a New York-based photographer who studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Colón’s photography speaks to his concerns of social justice, activism, and cultural expression, which encapsulate a wide range of interests in music, the human condition, and making visible the people of our society who are often marginalized through discrimination and inequality. His primary medium is analogue photography; Colón also creates assemblages in the found object tradition. His works have been exhibited in several venues throughout New York City and Puerto Rico, and a number of his photographs form part of the Centro De Estudios Puertorriqueños archives at CUNY Hunter College and of the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
Monday, March 30, 2026
Loisaida Center Studio (limited seating)
5:00 PM Doors & exhibition viewing
6:00 PM Conversation begins
Introduced by: Pepe Flores, Loisaida community elder, co-founder of @lasaladepepe
Recorded live (YouTube + podcast format) #LoisaidaTV
Extended Q&A with artists, cultural workers, and the public. Space is limited (45–50 seats)
Registration required.

Lectura y firma de libros con Choco Orta en Loisaida Center
2026-04-02 18:00 - 20:00 UTC | The Loisaida Inc. Center, 710 East 9th Street, New York, NY, 10009, United States
Lectura y firma de libros con Choco Orta en Loisaida Centera at 7:00 pm
Loisaida Center se honra en presentar una lectura y firma de libros con la destacada cantautora, actriz y salsera puertorriqueña Choco Orta, este próximo jueves, 2 de abril a las 6:00 PM, con motivo de la presentación de su novela autobiográfica Si me comprendieras.
En este libro, Choco Orta comparte un recorrido profundamente personal por su vida, desde su niñez en la calle Carmen de Santurce hasta su consolidación como una figura imprescindible de la música puertorriqueña. A través de sus páginas, la autora ofrece una mirada honesta y valiente sobre las experiencias que moldearon su carácter y su visión del mundo: la familia, la negritud, el machismo, la rebeldía, la identidad y la música como refugio, afirmación y destino.
Esta presentación será una oportunidad especial para escuchar a la autora en primera persona, celebrar su trayectoria y dialogar en torno a una vida marcada por la perseverancia, la conciencia y el compromiso con su verdad.
Les invitamos a acompañarnos en esta velada literaria y cultural en comunidad.
📍 Loisaida Center📅 Jueves, 2 de abril🕕 6:00 PM
Join us this Thursday, April 2 at 6:00 PM at Loisaida Center for a special book reading and signing with acclaimed Puerto Rican singer-songwriter, actress, and salsera Choco Orta, celebrating her autobiographical novel, If You Understood Me (Si me comprendieras).
In this intimate and powerful work, Choco Orta reflects on her life journey, from her childhood in Santurce to her path as an artist, sharing stories shaped by family, race, gender, courage, and music as a force of transformation. Her voice and testimony offer a deeply moving portrait of a Puerto Rican, Black, and unapologetically authentic life in the arts.
We invite you to join us for this special evening of literature, memory, conversation, and community as we celebrate the life and legacy of one of Puerto Rico’s remarkable cultural voices.
📍 Loisaida Center📅 Thursday, April 2🕕 6:00 PM
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