Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center

rdf:langString Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center

rdf:langString The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center, often called The Clemente, is a Puerto Rican/Latinx cultural center named after Puerto Rican writer and activist, Clemente Soto Vélez. The Clemente, which was established as a cultural center in 1993, is located on 107 Suffolk Street in the former PS 160 in Manhattan's historic Lower East Side neighborhood (known as Loisaida by locals). In addition to hosting programming related to and , the Center is also home to Teatro La Tea, LEFT (Latino Experimental Fantastic Theater), and the leading children’s company SEA, believed to be the only bilingual puppet theatre in the United States. The organization is based in a 1897 City owned building formerly known as P.S. 160, and designed by the architect Charles B. J. Snyder in the collegiate neo-gothic style. It is a representative example of the large number of school buildings that were erected in New York City in the late nineteenth century. In the 1970s a fire caused the school to be vacated and it remained so until 1981, when Solidaridad Humana, a community based educational organization, began to use the building as a school for Spanish-speaking immigrants. Since 1993 the administration of The Clemente has been managing a growing program of long term studios for artists, available at a subsidized license fee. The Clemente has developed an on-going performing arts and exhibition programming, and houses 4 theaters, 3 exhibition galleries, 46 subsidized artists studios, and 12 subsidized offices for arts and education non-for-profit organizations. In December 2019, urban anthropologist, scholar, curator and cultural organizer/producer, Libertad O. Guerra, previously Director and Chief Curator of the Loisaida Cultural Center, was selected as Executive Director of the Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center.