THE CLEMENTE SOTO VÉLEZ CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER ANNOUNCES SPRING AND SUMMER PROGRAMMING FOR HISTORIAS ENTRECRUZADAS
THE CLEMENTE SOTO VÉLEZ CULTURAL AND EDUCATIONAL CENTER
ANNOUNCES SPRING AND SUMMER PROGRAMMING FOR HISTORIAS ENTRECRUZADAS
New York, May 5, 2026 – The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, and LxNY, a consortium of over 50 Latinx-serving nonprofits throughout New York City, are excited to announce the Spring/Summer 2026 programming for Historias, a three-year initiative celebrating the role of the Latinx communities in shaping New York City’s culture. This season will close the second phase, Historias Entrecruzadas, building on the relationships forged since the project’s inception in 2024, with a special focus on documenting and preserving Latinx scholarship and historical archives through the Nueva York Chronicles digital initiative (historias.nyc).
“Entrecruzadas responds to a present need within the Historias initiative to deepen our collaboration,” shared Libertad Guerra, Executive Director. “sIt creates space for artists, organizers, and members of our cultural community to document these histories as evolving narratives, ensuring they are preserved as a part of the collective memory of New York City.”
Beginning in May, Entrecruzadas spring/summer programming will feature Dome Cartographies, an augmented-reality public artwork by Natalia Nakazawa presented in collaboration with Kinfolk Tech and the Queens Memory Project at World’s Borough Bookstore. Dome Cartographies reimagines a geodesic dome with a history in anarchic housing as a participatory digital monument related to the religious and migratory diversity of Jackson Heights. The project will be discussed at a panel at NADA New York focused on the newly commissioned artworks in development for this phase, alongside work by Alva Mooses, Mauricio Cortés Ortega, and Edwin Torres.
Domino Table Talks, a Historias signature series, presented as an online TV show that explores the domino table as a site for oral history and urban space-making through conversations staged over live games of dominoes, will return in June. This edition will feature actress Sonia Manzano, poet Willie Perdomo, television host Rhina Valentín, and musician Jorge Vazquez, reflecting on the culture of East Harlem (El Barrio). Later in June, artist Manny Vega will host a discussion at the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of its “Artists on Artworks” series, leading audiences through the American Wing to talk about the sculptures that have shaped his multidisciplinary practice.
In addition to these events, the summer season will see a collaboration between The Clemente and Montez Press Radio, the artist-run downtown broadcast center that has become a community hub for conversations, readings, and live transmissions across art and literature. A series of episodes will roll out over the summer and into early Fall, each spotlighting one artist who will present a one-hour audio documentary on nightlife and sonic culture within Latinx communities.
The projects developed in Entrecruzadas will culminate in the final phase of Historias, titled Reveladas. Beginning in Fall 2026, Reveladas will synthesize research and artistic works into a building-wide exhibition and closing programming.
All events are open to the public, and many are free of charge. RSVP will be available through Historias.nyc. For more information, please visit the Historias landing page, follow The Clemente’s Instagram, and subscribe to the newsletter.
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May 16: Counter-Mapping Nueva York: Artists, Archives, and Public Memory
NADA New York
The Starrett-Lehigh Building
601 West 26th Street
5:15pm
The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center will present Counter-Mapping Nueva York: Artists, Archives, and Public Memory, a panel at NADA New York focused on three artist commissions in development for the Historias Reveladas. Moderated by Executive Director Libertad Guerra, the conversation will also draw on examples from Nueva York Chronicles, the online platform and digital archive created within Historias to preserve Latinx cultural histories.
Artists included in the panel include Natalia Nakazawa, whose Dome Cartographies explores migration and spirituality in Jackson Heights; Edwin Torres, whose editorial and artistic work revisits Loisaida’s 1990s poetry scene; and Alva Mooses and Mauricio Cortés Ortega, whose Hands of Time / Manos del Tiempo examines the labor, craft, and everyday infrastructures that have sustained Lower Manhattan beyond corporate development.
May 29: Historias in Motion: Dome Cartographies Launch
World’s Borough Bookstore
34-06 73rd St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372
5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
In collaboration with the Queens Memory Project, The Clemente will present Dome Cartographies, an augmented-reality public artwork by Natalia Nakazawa. The digital sculpture takes the form of a geodesic dome that invites community members to enter, explore, and contribute their own stories of migration and spirituality.
Dome Cartographies is inspired by the 1970s geodesic dome project led by CHARAS, a group of Puerto Rican activists and ex-gang members, in collaboration with the American architect Buckminster Fuller to create an alternative model for housing and sustainability. Reimagined as a digital community monument for Jackson Heights, the work reflects the neighborhood’s rich multicultural fabric, where more than 130 languages are spoken. The installation is hosted by World’s Borough Bookstore, a Latino-owned space dedicated to amplifying the voices of BIPOC writers and fostering community through literature.
This collaboration marks the continuation of Historias in Motion, a Historias signature series of virtual monuments and neighborhood site clusters that bring Latinx histories into the public sphere through digital and place-based storytelling. Each project engages local communities to surface layered histories of migration, identity, and collective memory across New York City.
After the opening ceremony from 5-7pm on May 29, Dome Cartographies will remain accessible at World’s Borough Bookstore via the Kinfolk App.
June 4: Domino Table Talks
To be released on The Clemente’s YouTube Channel and Historias.nyc
Domino Table Talks is a Historias signature series documenting the oral histories of artists, scholars, and community members through the lens of domino culture. Drawing on the familiar dynamics of televised game shows like celebrity poker, Domino Table Talks transforms the domino table into a stage for cultural exchange. The series examines migration, cultural syncretism, and the act of claiming city space through the lens of domino culture, a long-standing and influential practice in Latinx New York.
The fourth episode of Domino Table Talks brings together poet Willie Perdomo, host of BronxNetTV Rhina Valentín, and musician Jorge Vazquez, alongside actress Sonia Manzano, known for her role as Maria on Sesame Street. Together, they will discuss the history, culture, rhythms, and personal memories of El Barrio, alongside a soundtrack of Vazquez’s music.
This edition will be filmed at El Barrio’s ArtSpace 109. The web-episode will be released on Youtube on June 4, 2026.
June 5: Artists on Artworks – Manny Vega
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Gallery 700
1000 5th Ave, New York, NY 10028
6:00-7:00 pm
Artist Manny Vega will host a tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art as part of the “Artists on Artworks” series. Vega will guide visitors around the American Wing to talk about the sculptures in The Met’s collection that influenced his artistic lexicon. His admiration for the American Wing’s sculptures began in childhood and is often reflected in his work, spanning painting, illustration, printmaking, muralism, and mosaic.
As a frequent collaborator of The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, Manny shares a passion for Nuyorican history, storytelling, and interpretations of New York City. In this tour, Vega will share anecdotes about the foundation of his creative process and speak to his many sources of inspiration.
The event will begin in Gallery 700 on Friday, June 5 at 6pm.
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About The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center
Founded in 1993, The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center is a Puerto Rican/Latinx multi-arts institution with an inclusive and international vision rooted in NYC’s Lower East Side/Loisaida. The Clemente engages diverse audiences in heritage preservation, neighborhood history, and cutting-edge multicultural experimentation, emphasizing the humanities’ role in bridging civic and cultural life.
As a downtown cultural mainstay for three decades, they focus on cultivating, presenting, and preserving Puerto Rican and Latinx culture while embracing a multi-ethnic and international perspective. Committed to operating in a polyphonic manner, The Clemente provides affordable spaces to artists, small arts organizations, and independent community producers, reflecting the rich cultural diversity of the Lower East Side and New York City. Guided by their namesake’s values of culturally grounded multigenerational leadership, local empowerment, and mutuality, The Clemente is a collaborative hub for creating and co-producing multidisciplinary contemporary work.
The Clemente is a proud co-founder/partner of LxNY Consortium and the Coalition of Small Arts NYC (CoSA NYC).
About LxNY
LxNY | Latinx Arts Consortium of New York is a collaborative peer network dedicated to knowledge exchange, resource-sharing, and collective action towards systemic change. Formed in 2020 by organizations serving Latinx communities and artists across New York City, LxNY aims to transform the historical underfunding of Latinx arts by advocating for the equity-driven missions of our cultural institutions, nurturing our deep relationships with community, and stewarding our hard-fought legacies into the future. Advancing cultural work as essential work, LxNY honors the expertise of our multigenerational arts leaders and culture bearers, harnessing their collective experience to better serve the city’s diverse cultural landscape.
The LxNY Historias Working Group comprises six organizations within the Consortium that will play key roles as programmatic partners and advisors for the initiative. This group is represented by the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (Pregones/PRTT), People’s Theater Project (PTP), Bronx Music Heritage Center (BMHC), Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX), and New Latin Wave.
About Historias
Historias is a transformative citywide effort led by The Clemente that re-centers Latinx cultural narratives in New York City through exhibitions, performances, oral histories, and digital storytelling. Launched with key support from the Rauschenberg Foundation and in partnership with the Latinx Arts Consortium of New York (LxNY), Historias unfolds across three phases: Sembradas, Entrecruzadas, and Reveladas, each building on research, collaboration, and community engagement.
At its core, Historias leverages cultural work as a form of resistance to erasure. It brings together curators, researchers, artists, and communities to activate physical and digital spaces through interdisciplinary practice. By leveraging Latinx contributions to the city’s culture, space, and economy, Historias offers a more inclusive historical lens and catalyzes a reimagined cultural future, one rooted in equity, visibility, and collaborative innovation.
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For images, further background, or interviews, please contact:
Katrina Stewart
Account Manager, Visual Arts
Blue Medium
T: +1-212-675-1800
Fernando Salazar
Communications Manager
LxNY