Reception: Jorge Luis Rodríguez – Orisha / Santos – An Artistic Interpretation of the Seven African Powers​
2026-02-13 17:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Pennsylvania
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Join us on Friday, February 13 at 5:30pm for the reception of a groundbreaking installation by Puerto Rican artist Jorge Luis Rodriguez — Orisha/Santos: An Artistic Interpretation of the Seven African Powers.

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First shown at MoCHA in 1985, this work reshaped how Afro-Caribbean spirituality, minimalism, and sculpture intertwined. Rodriguez now brings this historic installation to Taller Puertorriqueño, working closely with Philadelphia-based artists Yoanny Aldaya and Danny Melendez, both deeply rooted in Santería traditions.

Through cut steel forms and layered symbolism, Rodriguez reimagines the Orishas, revealing their enduring power and connection to resilience, faith, and identity. Each piece bridges Yoruba deities and their syncretized Christian counterparts, capturing the spirit and the resistance of Afro-diasporic survival.

Don’t miss this monumental return.

La Lengua del Tambor Screening x Concert Fundraiser
2026-02-21 18:00 - 22:00 | Taller Puertorriqueño, North 5th Street 2600, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19133, United States
Saturday, February 21, 6pm – 10pm

Taller Puertorriqueño | 2600 N. 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19133

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Ticketed Event

Immerse yourself in La Lengua del Tambor – Bomba documentary by Ant M. Rivera brought to life with live performances in El Centro de Oro!

La Lengua del Tambor Screening x Concert Fundraiser

La Lengua del Tambor is taking on a new form Saturday, February 21st for a special screening x concert fundraiser with Tumbao Entertainment at Philly’s beloved Taller Puertorriqueño. This night is about bringing the film to life. Not just seeing it, but hearing it, feeling it, moving with it. Live performances honoring the legacy of Bomba featuring:

Los Bomberos de la Calle

Julio del Hoyo

Los Buhos

Esencia Latina

This project has been a year in the making, and this moment marks what’s next. Every ticket purchased goes directly toward supporting the completion of the film, helping us carry La Lengua del Tambor into its final production stage. More than a fundraiser, this is a gathering rooted in community, cultura, and care.

Pull up to support the film and show love to Boricua-owned and local Philly businesses:

Amys Pastelillos

Coquí Cult Coffee

Wilde and Lovely

Power Street Theatre

Gabby Rodriguez

Astrid Salazar Ovalle

If you’re feeling extra generous, support the film’s GoFundMe

Arturo Schomburg Symposium Opening Reception: Capoeira Demonstration & Workshop with Mestre Cobra Mansa
2026-02-27 17:30 - 20:00 | Taller Puertorriqueño, North 5th Street 2600, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19133, United States
Friday, February 27 | 5:30PM – 8PM

At the African American Museum in Philadelphia | 701 Arch St.

Donation

Open to all | Pay what you wish

Join us on Friday, February 27 from 5:30pm – 8pm for the opening night of the 30th Annual Arturo Schomburg Symposium at the African American Museum on Philadelphia. One of our presenters, Mestre Cobra Mansa will lead a Capoeira Demonstration & Workshop. This event is open to all!

The symposium will take place the next day on Saturday February 28 from 9am – 5pm at Taller Puertorriqueño. Learn more about the Symposium’s programming here.

Arturo Schomburg Symposium
2026-02-28 09:00 - 17:00 | Taller Puertorriqueño, North 5th Street 2600, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19133, United States
Saturday ,February 28 from 9am – 5pm

Taller Puertorriqueño | 2600 N. 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19133

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Ticketed Event | $10

The 30th Annual Arturo Schomburg Symposium traces how African-descended peoples, both enslaved and free, have sustained cultures and liberation struggles through rich, dynamic, spiritual, and religious expressions.

As the United States commemorates the Semiquincentennial in 2026, Taller Puertorriqueño’s guiding theme, “We Will Not Hide,” draws inspiration from the 1976 “Sin Colonias March” in Philadelphia—also called the “People’s Bicentennial”—which united over 40,000 African Americans, Indigenous activists, Puerto Ricans, and allies in a powerful demonstration of solidarity and resistance to a narrative that ignores their presence, needs, and contributions. This historic coalition serves as a touchstone for the symposium’s commitment to visibility, dignity, and self-determination. The Schomburg Symposium will kick off this year’s programming.

The Schomburg Symposium has, for the past 29 years, presented critical, celebratory, and reflective perspectives from the Latine, Latin American, African American, and AfroLatine communities, featuring leading scholars, activists, artists, and community voices.

Learn more about the Symposium’s programming here.

Florece: Un reset para mujeres listas para expandirse con Ruthy Adorno
2026-03-10 18:00 - 20:00 | Taller Puertorriqueño, North 5th Street 2600, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19133, United States
Tuesday, March 10, 6pm

Taller Puertorriqueño | 2600 N. 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19133

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FREE EVENT

Florece: Un reset para mujeres listas para expandirseA través de actividades sencillas e intencionales inspiradas en los libros, las participantes podrán pausar, reflexionar y reconectar consigo mismas de una manera práctica y significativa. En un espacio empoderador y acogedor, las asistentes pueden bajar el ruido del día a día y llevarse herramientas que les ayuden a tomar decisiones más alineadas con lo que desean crear en esta etapa de sus vidas.

Book Launch: You Should Have Been Nicer To My Mom with author Vincent Tirado in conversation with Diana Rodriguez Wallach
2026-03-17 18:30 - 20:00 | Taller Puertorriqueño, North 5th Street 2600, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19133, United States
Tuesday, March 17, 6:30pm

Taller Puertorriqueño | 2600 N. 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19133

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FREE EVENT

Join us to celebrate the launch of YOU SHOULD HAVE BEEN NICER TO MY MOM, a modern gothic horror by local author Vincent Tirado.

About the book:Demons clash with inheritance claims as secrets unfold and violence is unleashed over twelve harrowing hours trapped in a house with the worst thing imaginable: family.

When Papi Ramon, the patriarch of the wealthy Abreu family dies, he gives the family one last message in the will: “One of you is el bacà, the demon that I made a deal with. Get rid of them or you will be damned.” Xiomara, the uncontested favorite of Papi Ramon (and therefore the least liked in the family), watches as everyone dismisses this as the joke of a senile old man and demands the lawyer obtain the previous will Papi wrote.

While the lawyer drives back to his office, a storm breaks out, forcing the entire family—Xiomara’s aunts and uncles and cousins—to remain in the house. And the words of Papi’s will hangs over their heads even heavier than the rain clouds. Over the course of the night, scandal after scandal is revealed to the public about the family. Suddenly a tense few hours of surviving her family turns into a vicious night of recrimination, violence, accusations…and murder.Xiomara is faced with an impossible task: uproot a demon and somehow kill it or excise the ghosts that linger within her own family.

And the clock is ticking…

Bomba Puertorriqueña Bilingual Storytime with author Milterí Tucker Concepción
2026-03-21 11:00 - 14:00 | Taller Puertorriqueño, North 5th Street 2600, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19133, United States
Saturday, March 21, 11am

Taller Puertorriqueño | 2600 N. 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19133

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FREE EVENT

Join us on Saturday, March 21, with author Milterí Tucker Concepción for a bilingual, musical storytime!

About the authorRenowned dancer, choreographer, scholar. Born and raised in Puerto Rico. Ms. Tucker Concepcion is the founder and artistic director of Bombazo Dance Co, Inc. A non for profit dance and drum organization preserving, advocating and educating in Puerto Rican Bomba and its connection to the African Diaspora. As a dancer/choreograpger she has graced the stages of Lincoln center out of Doors, City Center, Teatro La Perla in Ponce, PR, Teatro SEA, Pregones Theater, BAAD, Bronx Museum, Congo Square, New Orleans, Teatro Heredia in Santiago de Cuba and Chiapas ,Mexico. She protrayed Josephine Baker for Macys Herald Square, danced at the Latin Billboards as a featured dancer for Latin sensation Don Omar and was featured in Univision commercial: “Herencia Puertorriquena.” Milteri has won numerous awards for her innovative and thoughful choreography.

Jorge Luis Rodríguez: The Playing of the Music Boxes - Featuring Timbalona Collective
2026-03-28 13:00 - 15:00 | Pennsylvania
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The Event

The Timbalona Collective is a dynamic percussion ensemble rooted in the vibrant traditions of Afro-Caribbean and Latin American folk music. This performance will realize Jorge Luis Rodriguez’s long-held dream of seeing his sculpture series, The Music Boxes, played as musical instruments.

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The Sculptures

Created in 1981 while Rodriguez was a resident artist at the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Cajas musicales are crafted from welded steel and deeply influenced by African Art. Each of the eight boxes is distinct, possessing its own unique aesthetic and resonance. Rodriguez’s work has always been experimental, pushing the boundaries of modernism and redefining our understanding of sculpture. Join us for this inaugural event—45 years in the making.

About the Artist

Rodríguez is a pioneering multidisciplinary artist whose career bridges minimalism, site-specific installation, and Afro-Caribbean cultural expression. After moving from Puerto Rico to New York in 1963, he absorbed the city’s emerging art movements—minimalism, optical art, and environmental art—before “abandoning the canvas” in the 1970s to pursue sculpture. Following his studies at the School of Visual Arts and New York University, he developed a visual language that fuses formal precision with symbolic and cultural depth. His early works, shaped by the alternative art scenes of Harlem and SoHo, reflect a growing dialogue regarding culture, modernism, and art in public spaces.

2749 Social Cartography: The Photo Archive of Decolonial Ecology LAB
2026-03-28 14:00 - 16:00 | Pennsylvania
FREE RSVP BELOW

A participatory workshop by Caterina Pecchioli, in collaboration with Amy Diaz Newman

28 March 2026 | 2– 4 pmTaller Puertorriqueño, 2600 N. 5th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19133

The Social Cartography Lab invites photographers, artists, activists, and the public to collectively reflect on the relationships between humans, non-human life, and the environment across cultures, exploring the interdependence of colonial histories and contemporary ecological challenges.

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Part of the “We Will Not Hide” program, the workshop amplifies the voices of historically marginalized people and focuses on alternative ecological visions and practices of climate resilience that challenge dominant narratives.

Through image-sharing, storytelling, and collective listening, participants will contribute to the Photo Archive of Decolonial Ecology, an evolving collaborative resource that will inform future artistic outcomes, including an interactive cartographic platform and a textile-based speculative artwork imagining Earth in 2749.

Participants are invited to bring one or more photographs (printed on paper) that explore:

Spiritual or symbolic ties to nature

Situated knowledge related to water and land

Environmental and social transformations due to colonialism and migration

Acts and practices of resistance

The workshop includes moments of collective reflection and discussion, exploring connections between personal histories, environmental change, and practices of resilience.

About the artists

Caterina Pecchioli is an Italian multimedia artist working at the intersection of art, research, participation, and social practice. Her work explores the relationships between individuals, society, and structures of power, and how these shape collective memory, environmental narratives, and social dynamics, through participatory and decolonial practices. Since 2015, she has developed collaborative projects that use art as tools for social inquiry and collective action. She is a co-founder of Nation25 and other interdisciplinary platforms addressing migration, environmental issues, and cultural exchange. Her work has been presented internationally in museums, festivals, and public spaces. www.caterinapecchioli.com – www.nation25.com – www.bwblackwhite.org Instagram: @catepecchioli

Amy Diaz Newman is a Philadelphia-based artist and art educator. Currently a faculty member of Abington Friends Upper School, her artistic interests include Pre-Columbian art and history, community arts collaborations, and screenprinting in all forms. She has exhibited work at Taller Puertorriqueno, Abington Arts Center, The Woodmere Museum, and Fleisher Art Memorial, among other local venues. She has partnered with The Woodmere Museum on teacher education.

“2749 Social Cartography: The Photo Archive of Decolonial Ecology” is a project by Caterina Pecchioli. The research project is supported by Strategia Fotografia 2025, promoted by the Directorate-General for Contemporary Creativity of the Italian Ministry of Culture. Co-funded through the Fourth Century Center Research and Design Fellowship. Cultural Partners: Abington Friends School (AFS), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, IUAV University of Venice, Sale Docks, Thami Mnyele Foundation.

Summer Camp Open House
2026-04-11 10:30 - 12:30 | Taller Puertorriqueño, North 5th Street 2600, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19133, United States
Saturday, April 11, 10:30am – 12pm

Taller Puertorriqueño | 2600 N. 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19133

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FREE EVENT

Learn more about our summer camp, available scholarship opportunities, tour our classrooms, meet our staff and check out if our program is a good fit for you and your kids! Visit our summer camp page for information on our application process.

For any questions contact Jose Ramos at jramos@tallerpr.org

LETÓN PÉ - LATAM/U.S. Tour 2026
2026-04-16 18:00 - 21:00 | Taller Puertorriqueño, North 5th Street 2600, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19133, United States
Thursday, April 16, Doors open 6pm, Show starts at 7:00pm

Taller Puertorriqueño | 2600 N. 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19133

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General Admission Only

Leticia Pellicione, mejor conocida como Letón Pé, es una cantautora y actriz dominicana que se ha posicionado como una de las voces más singulares y prometedoras de la nueva escena musical latina. Su propuesta artística se nutre de una fusión audaz de ritmos afrocaribeños, merenhouse, jazz y electrónica, explorando sonoridades contemporáneas sin perder el pulso de sus raíces.

A lo largo de su carrera, Letón Pé ha experimentado de manera constante hasta consolidar un lenguaje musical auténtico y fresco, que la distingue dentro del pop alternativo caribeño.

En 2024, formó parte del “Bolero Apocalíptico US Tour” como artista telonera de los reconocidos Monsieur Periné, presentándose en más de seis ciudades de Estados Unidos, ampliando así su alcance internacional y conectando con nuevas audiencias.

Su impacto no ha pasado desapercibido para la crítica especializada. La revista digital REMEZCLA la ha señalado como la próxima gran diva del pop dominicano, mientras que ROLLING STONE destacó su sencillo ¿Cuándo Se Va’ir El Calor? entre las 25 mejores canciones en español de 2024, ubicándolo en el puesto #7, además de reconocerla como una de las artistas más prometedoras de la escena latina actual.

Durante el 2025, Letón Pé obtuvo su primera nominación a Premios Lo Nuestro en la categoría Artista Revelación Femenina, y fue galardonada en los Premios Soberanos en el renglón de Música Alternativa, consolidando un momento clave en su crecimiento y proyección dentro de la industria.

En 2026 lanzará su primer álbum debut, un proyecto que recoge su evolución sonora y reafirma su identidad artística dentro de la música latina contemporánea.

Reception: Hagudeza Rullán-Fantauzzi:Mi Isla y Yo
2026-04-24 17:30 - 20:00 | Pennsylvania
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Join us on Friday, April 24 at 5:30pm for the reception of Hagudeza Rullán-Fantauzzi’s exhibition, Mi Isla y yo, draws a parallel between the Puerto Rican people’s yearning for territorial sovereignty and the struggle for bodily autonomy. This theme echoes the upcoming semi-quincentennial celebration, yet feels increasingly out of reach for many.

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A central element of the exhibition is Rullán-Fantauzzi’s exploration of the Puerto Rican flag. In her photographic work La Guerrera (2024), the artist is painted in the historical sky blue, red, and white of the flag. This choice carries significant weight, as it references the 1948 Gag Law (Ley de la Parada), which criminalized the public display of the flag. The artist connects this historical suppression to contemporary resistance against trans visibility, suggesting that both are attempts to control identity and sovereignty.

Mi Isla y yo demonstrates how symbols persist and how patterns of oppression repeat across eras. Ultimately, the exhibition suggests that recognizing these patterns is essential to breaking negative historical cycles and offering a path toward personal and collective liberation.

Opening Reception: Miranda Lopez: Para mi niña
2026-04-24 17:30 - 20:00 | Pennsylvania
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Para Mi Niña reflects the past, present, and future dreams of our little Black and Brown girls. Three young girls — the youngest, middle, and oldest — play dress-up as their mothers, aunts, grandmothers, and matriarchs who worked during the World Trade Fair era.

Wearing vibrant colors, flowers, prints, and dresses inspired by Puerto Rican culture and the spirit of Plena, they mirror the strength and pride of the women before them. The youngest builds the Women’s Pavilion with blocks, symbolizing foundation and possibility.

This piece honors how older women clear the path so younger generations can dream, create, and shape lasting change.

Cold War Puerto Rico: Steve Howell in conversation with Vanessa Maria Graber
2026-05-13 18:30 | Taller Puertorriqueño, North 5th Street 2600, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19133, United States
Wednesday, May 13, 6:30pm

Taller Puertorriqueño | 2600 N. 5th St, Philadelphia, PA 19133

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Ticketing Options: Book + Admission | Sliding Scale Donation: $0 – $20

Join us for a riveting discussion with author Steve Howell in conversation with Vanessa Maria Graber about his new book, Cold War Puerto Rico.

Ticketing Options:

RECOMMENDED: Book + Admission

Sliding Scale Donation: $0-$20

About the book:

A gripping history of FBI surveillance, political repression, and the fight for Puerto Rican independence. In the 1940s, with the construction of a naval base and a bombing range, Puerto Rico became a major geo-political military outpost for the United States. For a power claiming global leadership in a decolonizing world, however, the archipelago’s colonial condition underscored the dissonance between American democratic rhetoric and its imperial reality. The solution was a deal that, in 1952, gave Puerto Rico a degree of self-government without changing its legal status as an “unincorporated” US territory. The US then publicly claimed Puerto Rico was now more autonomous while using repressive tactics such as FBI surveillance, arrests, destabilization, and other methods developed in Washington to silence activists and political parties pushing for full independence.

In Cold War Puerto Rico, Steve Howell examines how J. Edgar Hoover and the FBI targeted Puerto Rican communists as part of an offensive against pro-independence parties and activists generally. Howell’s US-born father, who fell afoul of Hoover for producing radical cartoons while working in San Juan in the 1940s, remained on the FBI’s watch list long after exiling himself in Britain. His close friends, the Puerto Rican author César Andreu Iglesias and Jane Speed de Andreu, were meanwhile arrested and imprisoned three times during the 1950s. Drawing on a wealth of new sources, including interviews and FBI files, Howell tells their stories along with those of other activists who battled indictment in 1954 under the Smith Act, challenged the jurisdiction of the House Un-American Activities Committee in San Juan in 1959, and revived the Puerto Rican independence movement in the 1960s, despite the FBI deploying the covert tactics of COINTELPRO against them.

Puerto Rico is virtually invisible in histories of what is generally called McCarthyism, yet anti-communist repression was in many ways more intense there than in the mainland US. Now, with Puerto Rico’s future currently hanging in the balance, Howell’s compelling history demonstrates why we need to understand the long enforcement of its colonial status.
