The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (NMPRAC) is devoted to the promotion, integration and advancement of Puerto Rican arts and culture, presenting exhibitions and programming created to enhance the visibility and importance of the rich Puerto Rican arts tradition.
Located in Humboldt Park, in the heart of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community, NMPRAC is the only self-standing museum in the nation devoted to showcasing Puerto Rican arts and cultural exhibitions year-round.
Founded in 2000 by Billy Ocasio—our President and CEO since 2014—alongside members of Chicago’s Puerto Rican community and local arts and culture supporters, NMPRAC serves as a one-of-a-kind institution that celebrates the best of Puerto Rico’s identity and heritage. Since its inception, the Museum has offered a variety of quality community arts and cultural programming, including visual art exhibitions, hands-on community arts workshops, films in the park, and bi-annual arts and cultural festivals.
Image: Abuela’s Kitchen, Destyni “Desi” Swoope, Sept 6, 2025–Jul 18, 2026
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The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture invites the public to experience El Café, a seminal linocut portfolio by master artist Rafael Tufiño—a foundational body of work rooted in community, cultural identity, and lived experience.
Created between 1953 and 1954 in the barrio of Vegas Arriba, Adjuntas, one of Puerto Rico’s historic coffee-growing regions, El Café emerged from Tufiño’s immersive fieldwork among rural coffee workers. Living within the community, he documented the full cycle of coffee production—from cultivation and harvest to roasting, brewing, rest, and celebration—transforming everyday labor into a powerful visual narrative of dignity, care, and belonging.
Through seven linocuts, Tufiño presents jíbaro life with intimacy and respect, emphasizing hands, bodies, and gestures rather than romanticized distance. Coffee becomes more than a crop—it is ritual, inheritance, hospitality, and cultural memory. The series culminates in a communal celebration marking the end of the harvest, where labor gives way to music, joy, and collective resilience.
El Café stands as both an artistic and cultural document—affirming Tufiño’s belief that art should speak to the people, reflect their lives, and honor their knowledge.
We invite you to visit the exhibition and encounter a profound visual meditation on Puerto Rican rural life, labor, tradition, and community—where art, history, and culture meet in everyday ritual.
Collection of the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (2023).
Courtesy of the Rafael Tufiño Succession
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The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture invites you to experience a rare and historically significant work from its permanent collection: the Primer Centenario de la Abolición de la Esclavitud (First Centenary of the Abolition of Slavery) print portfolio.
This limited-edition portfolio commemorates March 22, 1873, the date Puerto Rico formally abolished slavery. Published in 1973 to mark the centennial of this historic event, the edition consists of only 115 print portfolios. The Museum is honored to steward edition number 110, preserving this important cultural and historical document for public study, education, and collective memory.
This collection was generously donated to the Museum in 2023 by Diego Figueroa, whose contribution has made this rare and significant portfolio accessible to the public, scholars, and future generations.
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This exhibition also considers the close relationship between photography and collage, both notable 20th-century art forms. It takes the first major documentary initiative on the Puerto Rican diaspora as a point of departure to examine the enduring legacy of survival and migration. The Puerto Rican Diaspora Documentary Project by community organizer, activist, educator, and documentary photographer Frank Espada (1930–2014, Puerto Rico) was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1979 to 1981. The resulting collection of over 4,000 photos and 130 interviews led to the 2007 publication The Puerto Rican Diaspora: Themes in the Survival of a People, from which this exhibition takes its subtitle.
The artists featured in this exhibition consider the Puerto Rican diaspora in a fluid and expansive way. While several focus on the diaspora in the traditional sense—Puerto Ricans who migrate to the United States—many honor the different diasporas that intersect with the archipelago of Puerto Rico, documenting their communities with care and showing us a collage of Puerto Rican and Caribbean experiences.
Diaspora scatters; collage connects.
Diasporic Collage: Puerto Rico and the Survival of a People is organized by the Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum at Michigan State University (MSU Broad Art Museum) and the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) at Hunter College, in collaboration with the Diaspora Solidarities Lab (DSL), and curated by Dr. Yomaira Figueroa-Vásquez, directora of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO), formerly associate professor at MSU; Dr. Windy M. Cosme Rosario, instructor, University of Puerto Rico – Río Piedras; and Dalina A. Perdomo Álvarez, assistant curator, MSU Broad Art Museum; with support from DSL fellows Melanie Rodríguez Vázquez, Ariana Costales Del Toro, Yafrainy Familia, Nicole Hernández, Stephany Bravo, Imaida M. Durán Mariñez, Alana Cordero Montesinos, Meleny González, Olivia M. Ramírez, Jaden Morales, and Yuleysy Ortiz. Support for this series is provided by the MSU Federal Credit Union. The Diaspora Solidarities Lab is made possible with financial support from the Mellon Foundation.
This exhibition, being presented by The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, is the result of collaborative research and community projects produced since 2022 by the Diaspora Solidarities Lab (DSL), a Black feminist–led partnership between Michigan State University, Johns Hopkins University, and Hunter College. The DSL is directed by Dr. Yomaira Figueroa-Vásquez, professor and directora of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies (CENTRO) at Hunter College, formerly an associate professor at MSU, and Dr. Jessica Marie Johnson, associate professor at Johns Hopkins University.
Artists featured in the exhibition include La Vaughn Belle, Rebel Betty, Mónica Ching, Frank Espada, Alia Farid, Glorimar Garcia, Daniel Lind Ramos, María Martínez-Cañas, Luis Rivera Jiménez, Edra Soto, Brenda Torres-Figueroa, and Nitza Tufiño.
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This March, in celebration of Women’s History Month, the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (NMPRAC) proudly presents Three Generations Intertwined by Lace, a spectacular exhibition honoring the artistry, innovation, and global impact of three generations of Puerto Rican designers. Opening to the public on Saturday, March 14, 2026, the exhibition pays tribute to the late Mili Arango, alongside celebrated designers Lisa Cappalli and Cecilia Fernández Cappalli, whose work collectively traces the evolution of lace in Puerto Rican fashion.
Curated by Joseph Da’Ponte, President of the Puerto Rican Fashion History Council, the exhibition features more than 50 extraordinary garments that illuminate how lace—long a symbol of elegance, femininity, and craftsmanship—has been preserved, transformed, and reimagined across generations.
From Mili Arango’s iconic mid-century silhouettes to Lisa Cappalli’s refined and timeless collections, and now to Cecilia Fernández Cappalli’s contemporary leadership as Creative Director of Cappalli New York, the exhibition tells a powerful story of lineage, mentorship, and innovation. Together, these women have elevated Boricua design onto international stages while remaining rooted in cultural tradition.
“This exhibition is a tribute to the beautiful Puerto Rican tradition of lacework—lovingly preserved, reimagined, and carried from our island to the world,” said Veronica Ocasio, Director of Education, Exhibitions, and Programming at NMPRAC. “During Women’s History Month, we proudly honor the artistry, vision, and resilience of the remarkable family of women featured in Three Generations Intertwined by Lace. This exhibition celebrates not only exquisite craftsmanship, but also the enduring, intergenerational power of Puerto Rican creativity that continues to shape homes, fashion, and runways around the world.”
For curator Joseph Da’Ponte, the exhibition is both historic and deeply personal. “This exhibition is a testament to three generations who have preserved and transformed the tradition of lace in fashion,” he noted. “Through their work, lace becomes more than fabric—it becomes memory, heritage, and artistic evolution.”
As the only Puerto Rican museum in the diaspora, NMPRAC continues its commitment to uplifting Puerto Rican artists, cultural leaders, and creative pioneers. Three Generations Intertwined by Lacepositions fashion as both fine art and cultural archive—an embodiment of resilience, preservation, and legacy.
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Daniel Del Real
“These are the treasures we carry with us — across oceans, across generations, and into every place we call home.”
Our Island of Treasures: Puerto Rican Voices from Indiana brings together the work of the ¡WEPArt! Colectivo, a collective of ten Puerto Rican artists based in Indiana, united by a shared passion for celebrating, preserving, and exploring their cultural identity.
This exhibition was born from a desire to challenge disparaging narratives about Puerto Rico and its people by celebrating the treasures of La Isla del Encanto. Rather than defining the island through moments of crisis or misconception, Our Island of Treasures reframes Puerto Rico as a place of extraordinary cultural, historical, ecological, and artistic abundance. Through visual storytelling, the artists share the profound connections they hold with the island’s people, history, landscapes, and spirit, bringing those experiences to audiences across Indiana, the Midwest, and beyond.
Each ¡WEPArt Colectivo! member offers a distinct artistic perspective that contributes to a vibrant and meaningful collective voice. Working across a rich tapestry of mediums, the artists explore themes of memory, ancestry, migration, folklore, resilience, ecology, and belonging. Their works celebrate Puerto Rico’s natural beauty, cultural heritage, and evolving identity – particularly as experienced from afar. Together, the exhibition forms a rich tapestry of artistic expression that reflects both individual journeys and a shared cultural inheritance.
While each artist tells its own story, collectively they affirm that Puerto Rican identity is not confined by geography but continues to evolve wherever Puerto Ricans preserve their culture, build community, and create.
This exhibition is presented by The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture in partnership with ¡WEPArt! Colectivo.
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Her memoir, My Broken Language, was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal. In her latest novel, The White Hot, Quiara tells the story of a runaway mother’s ten days of freedom—and the pain, desire, longing, and wonder we find on the messy road to enlightenment. Books will be available for purchase | Museum Member Benefit: 20% off books For more info: info@nmprac.org
","type":null,"state":"published","slug":"book-talk-with-quiara-alegra-hudes","created_at":"2025-11-17 23:38:27.85","updated_at":"2025-11-17 23:38:27.85","excerpt":"","is_timeless":false,"organization_id":2433,"highlighted":false,"opening_starts_at":null,"opening_ends_at":null,"searchable":"'20':97B 'alegría':5A,15B 'andrew':50B 'avail':91B 'award':37B 'benefit':96B 'best':39B 'book':1A,11B,88B,99B 'broken':44B 'carnegi':51B 'day':70B 'desir':76B 'enlighten':87B 'find':81B 'freedom':72B 'height':32B 'hot':59B 'hude':6A,16B 'info':102B 'info@nmprac.org':103B 'join':7B 'languag':45B 'latest':55B 'long':77B 'longlist':47B 'medal':52B 'member':95B 'memoir':42B 'messi':84B 'mother':67B 'museum':94B 'music':29B,40B 'novel':56B 'pain':75B 'playwright':21B 'prize':19B 'pulitz':18B 'purchas':93B 'quiara':4A,14B,60B 'road':85B 'runaway':66B 'spoon':26B 'stori':63B 'talk':2A,12B 'tell':61B 'ten':69B 'toni':36B 'us':8B 'water':23B 'white':58B 'win':20B 'won':34B 'wonder':79B","thumbnail":"http://res.cloudinary.com/dfafo598z/image/upload/v1763411060/z6lzyttiwi2dcz9sscsh.png","calendar":null,"carousel":false,"category_name":"Talks"},{"id":24963,"title":"Holiday Ornament Art Workshop ","starts_at":"2025-11-22 11:00:00","ends_at":"2025-11-22 13:00:00","body":"Celebrate the season with creativity and community spirit! Join us at The National Puerto Rican Museum of Arts & Culture for a guided ornament decorating workshop filled with color, music, and festive joy.
Families and friends are invited to craft their own holiday ornaments to take home—a beautiful reminder of the warmth, culture, and traditions we cherish together. This event is donation-based . For more info email: info@nmprac.org
Your contributions help support future community art programs.
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Get ready for the magic of the season at Navi•Arts en el Barrio: Puerto Rican Artisan Market at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture! 🎶🇵🇷 📅
Mark your calendars:
Saturdays: December 6 & 13 | 11 AM – 5 PM
Sundays: December 7 & 14 | 11 AM – 4 PM
Every weekend brings new Boricua artisans and vendors, so you’ll discover fresh treasures each time—perfect, one-of-a-kind handmade gifts straight from the corazón of our community. 🛍️🎁
Come celebrate our cultura and traditions with: ✨ Hands-on workshops ✨ Delicious comida ✨ A festive photo booth ✨ Gift for the first 50 people each day ✨ Visit inspiring exhibitions ✨ Live Parranda Music
This isn’t just holiday shopping—it’s a full Puerto Rican holiday experience, en el corazón de Barrio Borikén. Bring your familia, bring your alegría, and let’s make this season unforgettable together!
For more info: info@nmprac.org or visit nmprac.org/event
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This event invites audiences into a conversation about Bad Bunny’s rise as a global cultural figure and how Puerto Rican music has long served as a space for joy, protest, and resistance.
Through readings and discussion, the authors place the book within a broader historical, political, and cultural context of Puerto Rican life. Short Bio: Vanessa Díaz is Associate Professor of Chicana/o and Latina/o Studies at Loyola Marymount University. She is a multimedia ethnographer and journalist whose work focuses on issues of race, gender, and labor in popular culture across the Americas.
Vanessa is author of the book Manufacturing Celebrity: Latino Paparazzi and Women Reporters in Hollywood (Duke 2020) and director of the bilingual documentary film Cuban HipHop: Desde el Principio (2006). She has written for such outlets as the Washington Post, USA Today, Latina, Rolling Stone and People magazine. Petra Rivera-Rideau is Associate Professor and Chair of American Studies at Wellesley College. Petra’s research explores race, popular music, Puerto Rico, and Latinx identities. She is the author of Remixing Reggaetón: The Cultural Politics of Race in Puerto Rico and Fitness Fiesta! Selling Latinx Culture through Zumba, both with Duke University Press. She is co-editor of Afro-Latin@s in Movement: Critical Approaches to Blackness and Transnationalism in the Americas. She has also written for popular media outlets like LA Times, Washington Post, and Latina. She has served as a consultant on several reggaetón projects, including Bad Bunny’s 2023 Coachella headlining set. Together, Petra and Vanessa co-authored the book P FKN R: How Bad Bunny Became the Global Voice of Puerto Rican Resistance (Duke 2026) and co-created the Bad Bunny Syllabus Project. At LMU, Vanessa teaches the course “Bad Bunny and Resistance in Puerto Rico” and at Wellesley, Petra teaches the course “Bad Bunny: Race, Gender, and Empire in Reggateón” which have both been featured in countless media outlets and were even discussed by Bad Bunny himself on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.
SAVE THE DATE: SATURDAY, JANUARY 24, 2026, AT 11 AM Books will be available for purchase For more info: info@nmprac.org
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Admission is free and open to the public Saturday, July 11, from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. and Sunday, July 12, 2026, from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. on the historic grounds of the Museum at 3015 W. Division St. in Chicago’s Humboldt Park.
Long known as one of the most popular annual events in Humboldt Park, last year’s Barrio Art Fest saw record attendance as Chicagoans flocked to show their support for the Museum and the artistic community following an unannounced visit by Department of Homeland Security agents just days before. “Chicago is far from Puerto Rico, but never apart from it,” said National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture CEO Billy Ocasio. “For the last 26 years, the Barrio Arts Fest has kept our culture loud and alive in Chicago, with every drumbeat, every dance, every story passed hand to hand. At a time when so much is at stake here and around the world, celebrating our art and culture isn’t just a party. It’s how we remember who we are, and how we ensure the next generation knows it too.”
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