by Gloria Quiñones & William Gerena-Rochet

As long-time residents of El Barrio, we have been concerned for years about how the Julia de Burgos Latino Cutural Center has not fulfilled its mission: to provide the community with spaces in which we would celebrate our Puerto Rican and Latino identity through cultural and artisitic events produced by our various artists and cultural groups.

For too long the City of New York, the owner of the building, as well as prior elected officials failed in their duty to supervise the Center, creating the void that allowed el Taller Boricua, one of the tenants who control most of the spaces in the building, to take over the multipurpose space, while allowing the theatre space to remain virutally unusable and closed.

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito brought the community’s concerns before the City’s Economic Development Corporation, and the agency has responded by issuing a Request for Expressions of Interest (RFEI), whcih calls on all interested groups to submit proposals for the management of these two spaces at the Center – the theatre and the multi-pupupose space, which Taller Boricua has managed.
We are pleased that the City has finally taken action and support this effort to revitalize the Center.

It is truly infortunate that the debate around this issue has engendered such unnecessary confusion due to a campaign of lies and distortions, that are being repeated despite multiple efforts at clarification. Except for the “Salsa Wednesdays”, recently suspended by El Taller Boricua, few if any cultural events are programmed in the multicultutral space on a consistent basis. More often than not it is rented by El Taller for private events at its discretion.

In order to maintain control of this income-producing space, the leadership of El Taller Boricua has resorted to a campaign of personal attacks and distortions, such as equating this effort with “gentrification” a situation which is of grave concern to the residents of El Barrio.
This campaing has to stop immediately, as it only seeks to block positive change, and to discourage interested groups from bringing their art to El Barrio.

In the long term, we favor the creation of an administrative entity, developed and directed by the community, that will oversee the operation of the Julia de Burgos Center. This would ensure that more groups and invidual artists would have access to this very important cultural resource as well as expand and diversify programs for the residents of El Barrio /East Harlem. We join this effort to insure that the future of the Julia de Burgos Cultural Center is one that will offer our community a variety of cultural programs and prevents one organization from gaining a monopoly over these spaces.

Gloria E. Quiñones geq339@gmail.com y William Gerena-Rochet gerena339@gmail.com