Celebrating the transformative impact of Latinx communities in New York City

Historias is an expansive citywide initiative that weaves scholarly research, oral histories, and cultural programming to re-center Latinx narratives in NYC. Unfolding between 2024 and 2026, presented in partnership with the LxNY Consortium with lead support from the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, Historias marks the largest initiative in The Clemente’s 30-year history.

Historias, meaning both histories and stories, is more than just a celebration—it is an urgent political intervention. Historias aims to fill voids in the collective understanding of New York City's evolution by presenting a more honest, thorough, and intersectional perspective that celebrates the profound impact of Latinx communities.

Read the full press release.

Read the Artnet article about Historias

Read the Hyperallergic article about Historias

Read The Art Newspaper article about Historias

Historias: Unfolding in Three Phases 

  • Historias Sembradas

    Sown Histories
    Fall 2024–Spring 2025

    Historias Sembradas will introduce the initiative's key themes in the spirit of “thinking in public” through a series of partnered public programs and community events, collective research, and artist commissions. In this phase, Historias will begin cultivating narratives by testing ideas, seeding partnerships, and developing new artistic inquiries, setting the stage for deeper exploration.

  • Historias Entrecruzadas

    Interwoven Histories
    Fall 2025

    Historias Entrecruzadas will begin weaving and presenting a rich spectrum of narratives, unveiling Nueva York Chronicles as the digital cornerstone of Historias. Designed to consolidate community-driven scholarship into a dynamic, living archive, this platform will be accessible to scholars, artists, students, and the public. As the initiative’s “spinal cord,” Nueva York Chronicles is more than a survey of Latinx cultural histories—it is a bold reimagining of the intertwined narratives that have shaped both New York City and the Latinx diaspora. It illuminates the profound influence of Latinx communities on the evolution of NYC while also examining how the city, in turn, has shaped Latinx identities, cultural movements, and ancestral homelands.

    Through its multimodal approach, Nueva York Chronicles will bridge historical gaps, consolidating dispersed archival resources and enriching them with newly uncovered stories, personal narratives, and visual documentation, ensuring a more comprehensive and nuanced representation of Latinx contributions to the city.

  • Historias Reveladas

    Histories Revealed
    Spring 2026

    Historias Reveladas is the final, culminating phase of Historias, presenting a cacophony of public output to historicize our collective city. Alongside the long-anticipated reopening of The Clemente’s historic, newly ADA-compliant Lower-East-Side cultural center, Historias will bring to life a citywide festival featuring a building-wide exhibition at The Clemente, ambitious art commissions, historical walking tours, and symposia. This phase synthesizes the research and artistic works from the previous phases, celebrating Latinx contributions across NYC and promoting cross cultural collaborations.

Historias Thematic Tracks: 

  • Urban Ecology

    Latinx Spatial Stewardship

  • Migration & Spiritual Belief

    Crossing Borders

  • Embodied Heritage

    Music, Food, Play, and Street Life

  • Everyday Poetics

    Ritual and Resistance

  • Material Culture & Memory

    Diasporic Objects and Archives

  • Labor & Commerce

    Building Economies and Collective Power

In Community: Advisors, Collaborators, and Participants

Leveraging a Diversity of Knowledge and Expertise

Historias is guided by an esteemed network of advisors from within and external to the LxNY network, bringing diverse perspectives to the project.

External Advisory

  • Historian, author of the forthcoming book Nueva York: Making the Modern City.

    Pedro A. Regalado is Assistant Professor of History at Stanford University. He researches and teaches the history of race, immigration, planning, and capitalism in urban America. His first book, Nueva York: Making the Modern City, is a history of New York City’s Latinx community during the twentieth century, from the “pioneers” who arrived after World War I to the panoply of Latinx people who rebuilt the city in the wake of the 1975 fiscal crisis. Across a range of topics, from urban renewal to the rise of Latinx bankers, US military operations in Central America to drug workers who repurposed tenement buildings, Nueva York demonstrates how the democratic ideals of the city hinged, in large part, on the experiences of Latinx New Yorkers. Regalado’s work has been featured in The Journal of Urban History, Boston Review, The Washington Post, and The Chronicle of Higher Education. Before joining Stanford's Department of History, Regalado was a junior fellow of the Society of Fellows at Harvard University. Born in the Dominican Republic, he was raised in New York City’s Washington Heights. He earned his BA in History from Loyola University Chicago his MA and PhD in American Studies from Yale University.

  • Poet, critic, translator, and board member of The Clemente.

    Urayoán Noel is the author of eight books of poetry—most recently Transversal (University of Arizona, 2021), named a Book of the Year by the New York Public Library and longlisted for the PEN Open Book Award—and of the critical study In Visible Movement: Nuyorican Poetry from the Sixties to Slam (University of Iowa, 2014), winner of the LASA Latino Studies Book Award and an MLA honorable mention. As a translator of Latin American poetry, Noel has published Architecture of Dispersed Life: Selected Poetry by Pablo de Rokha (Shearsman, 2018), a finalist for the National Translation Award and longlisted for the Best Translated Book Award, as well as no budu please by Wingston González (Ugly Duckling Presse, 2018) and adjacent islands by Nicole Cecilia Delgado (UDP/DoubleCross/La Impresora, 2022), among other works. A Letras Boricuas fellow in poetry (Mellon Foundation/Fundación Flamboyán) and the recipient of fellowships from the Ford Foundation, the Howard Foundation, and the Schomburg Center, Noel has been both fellow and faculty at CantoMundo and the Macondo Writers Workshop, has performed internationally (Poesiefestival Berlin, Barcelona Poesia, the Toronto Biennial of Art, the Havana Book Fair, etc.), and is an editorial advisor for Latino Poetry (Library of America) and a board member of the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center. Noel’s work has appeared in the New York Times, Poetry, and Bomb, and has been exhibited at the Museum of the City of New York, Taller Boricua, and the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico. Urayoán Noel lives in the Bronx and serves as Director of Graduate Studies for the MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish at NYU.

  • Associate Director at Performance Space New York.

    Ana Beatriz Sepúlveda-Echegaray is a cultural worker, organizer,curator, and producer who currently serves as Associate Director at Performance Space New York (formerly PS122). Since joining Performance Space in 2018 she has developed and shepherded programs that center community and being in community above all else. With artist Monica Mirabile, Ana Beatriz brought back and reshaped P.S. 122’s Open Movement, a free open space for movement improvisation, artist-led workshops and cross-pollination. Curating PSNY’s Open Room, Ana Beatriz has engaged artists to reconceive the organization’s lobby as a community gathering, coalition building space, and site of installation and performance. Alongside the Strategy Group (a collective of five artists that were part of Performance Space’s 02020 Cohort) Ana Beatriz led the process of revisiting and experimenting with organizational structures that culminated in the most recently adopted Strategic Plan and accompanying programming. Before working at Performance Space, Ana Beatriz held various positions in museums, galleries, artist studios, and collectives in both Puerto Rico and New York. Her main interests lay in the intersection between art and social justice, with an emphasis on the empowerment and inclusion of underrepresented communities in the cultural sector. 

  • Artist, performer, and Co-Director of Recess Art.

    Shaun Leonardo’s multidisciplinary work negotiates societal expectations of manhood, namely definitions surrounding black and brown masculinities, along with its notions of achievement, collective identity, and experience of failure. His performance practice is participatory and invested in a process of embodiment.

    Leonardo is a Brooklyn-based artist from Queens, New York City. He received his MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and is a recipient of support from Creative Capital, Guggenheim Social Practice, Art for Justice and A Blade of Grass. His work has been featured at The Guggenheim Museum, the High Line, and New Museum, and profiled in the New York Times and CNN. His solo exhibition, The Breath of Empty Space, was presented at MICA, MASS MoCA and The Bronx Museum. And his first major public art commission, Between Four Freedoms, premiered at Four Freedoms Park Conservancy, in the fall of 2021.

    shaunleonardo.com

The LxNY Historias Working Group

Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute

Pregones | Puerto Rican Traveling Theater

People’s Theater Project

Bronx Music Heritage Center

Brooklyn Arts Exchange

New Latin Wave

Historias growing list of Artists, Partners, and Contributors

Ana Sepúlveda, BAAD!, Bobby Sanabria, BORIMIX, Bronx Music Heritage Center, Brooklyn Arts Exchange (BAX), Brooklyn Public Library, BRIC, Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), Centro PR, Charles Rice-Gonzáez, DJ Tresdos, Edra Soto, Edwin Torres, Elena Martínez, Emanuel Xavier, Esperanza Mayobre, Francisca Benítez, Frances Negrón-Muntaner, Flushing Town Hall, ID Theater, Incite Institute, Jonathan González, Jesús Hilario-Reyes, Justin Denis, Kinfolk Foundation, Kristin Prevallet, LAZO Collective, Latino Arts and Activisms (LAAS), Library of America (LOA), Lucia della Paolera, Gabo Camnitzer, Melody Capote, Miguel Luciano, Miguel Trelles, Mariposa Fernández, Molly Crabapple, Monxo López, Natalia Lassale Pedro Regalado, Papoleto Meléndez, People’s Theater Project (PTP), Performance Space, Pregones/PRTT (Puerto Rican Traveling Theater), Public Art Fund, Risa Puno, Rosalba Rolón, Sheila Maldonado, Seth Tillett, Street Lab, Sofia Gallisa, South Bronx Unite,  Tenement Museum, Teatro LATEA, Teatro SEA, Urayoán Noel, Vanessa González, Vera List Center, Xenia Rubinos, Yanira Casto,Yasmin Ramirez, Yesenia Montilla.

Join Us

Be part of this groundbreaking initiative, don’t miss the beat! Register for events, sign up for updates, and follow us on social media. Whether you’re a long-time advocate for cultural preservation or newly interested in Latinx narratives, Historias offers a unique opportunity to connect, learn, and celebrate together.

Confirmed Partners

The Clemente is proud to partner with leading cultural and educational institutions across New York City to bring Historias to life. Our growing list of partners includes:

Brooklyn Public Library, Library of America (LOA), BRIC, Public Art Fund, Tenement Museum, Street Lab, Vera List Center for Art and Politics, Kinfolk Foundation, Incite Institute, Latino Arts and Activisms (LAAS), LAZO Collective, Flushing Town Hall, ID Theater, BAAD!, Teatro LATEA, Performance Space New York and People's Theater Project.

Historias is organized by The Clemente’s Curatorial and Programs team: Libertad O. Guerra, Executive Director and Chief Curator; Sofía Reeser del Rio, Associate Director of Programs and Curator; and Sally Szwed, Strategic Growth and Special Projects Director.