El Museo del Barrio’s Fall 2025 Season: Rooted in Culture, Resistance, and Community Centering Latino Voices

From L-R, top to bottom: Día de los Muertos. Photo by Michael Palma; Día de los Muertos. Photo by Michael Palma; Three Kings Day Celebration. Photo by Michael Palma; Ethel Shipton, Change Cambio, 2020. House paint and vinyl on wooden panel. Collection of El Museo del Barrio, New York. Gift of the artist and Ruiz-Healy Art; and Coco Fusco and Nao Bustamante Paquita y Chata se arrebatan (Paquita y Chata Go Over the Top) (detail), 1996/2023. Pigment prints on cotton paper, wood frames and text. Courtesy the artist and Mendes Wood DM.  

El Museo del Barrio is pleased to announce the launch of its Fall 2025 season. At a time of escalating attacks on our communities—from anti-immigrant policies and censorship to the rollback of cultural funding for BIPOC cultural organizations—El Museo stands firm as a platform for resilience and community. 

This season affirms the power of art as both refuge and resistance. Anchored by two exhibitions—Coco Fusco: Tomorrow, I Will Become an Island and Jangueando: Recent Acquisitions, 2021–2025—El Museo presents an expansive range of programs for intergenerational audiences, including the beloved Día de los Muertos Celebration, the 48th Annual Three Kings Day Parade, artmaking workshops, concerts, and educational programs. All programs are free and open to the public. 

“Our Fall 2025 season reflects the soul of El Museo—artistically bold, community-centered, and unapologetically rooted in the lived experiences of Puerto Rican, Latine, and Latin American communities,” said Patrick Charpenel, Executive Director of El Museo del Barrio. “From groundbreaking exhibitions to beloved community celebrations, our programs honor our past while actively shaping a more inclusive and dynamic cultural future. In a moment when our communities face mounting threats, this identity asserts our presence, our pride, and our power.” 

FALL EXHIBITIONS 

Jangueando: Recent Acquisitions, 2021-2025

August 28, 2025 – Summer 2026
El Museo debuts a selection of approximately 40 newly acquired works from its Permanent Collection in Jangueando: Recent Acquisitions, 2021–2025. The Spanglish title—meaning “hanging out”—evokes both casual gathering and artistic assembly, highlighting spaces of community, joy, and resistance. Featuring artists whose works engage with themes of kinship, identity, and social connection, the exhibition offers a powerful reflection on collective presence and cultural resilience in the face of adversity. 

Coco Fusco: Tomorrow, I Will Become an Island

September 18, 2025 – January 11, 2026
El Museo del Barrio presents the first U.S. survey of influential Cuban-American interdisciplinary artist and writer Coco Fusco (b. 1960, lives in New York). A renowned artist, Fusco has been globally lauded for her distinctly perceptive, acerbic, and piercing voice. Since the 1990s, her films, photographs, texts, installations, and performances have addressed the dynamics of politics and power in relation to issues of representation, culture, and institutional critique. The exhibition will include more than three decades of Fusco’s artistic production, positioning her as one of the foremost artists shaping the contemporary art field. Spanning her now-canonical performance “Two Undiscovered Amerindians Discover the West” (presented with Guillermo Gomez-Peña) to her on-going investigation of post-revolutionary Cuban history and her most recent photographic explorations around U.S. politics, the show will offer an expansive view of her multidisciplinary career. 

FALL PROGRAMMING

Hasta Luego: Latine Council Members Reflect on 8 Years in Office  

Thursday, September 25, 6:00 – 8:00 PM | RSVP Here

Join El Museo del Barrio for a powerful conversation featuring three outgoing Latine leaders from the New York City Council as they transition out of office this year. This timely dialogue will honor their service and recognize their lasting contributions throughout their time in office. During the conversation, they will share key insights from their tenures and engage in a forward-looking conversation about the future of Latine communities in New York City. 

The featured speakers are: 

• Diana Ayala (Deputy Speaker and Council Member, District 8 – East Harlem & South Bronx) 
• Carlina Rivera (Former Council Member, District 2 – Lower East Side, East Village, Gramercy, Kips Bay) 
• Rafael Salamanca Jr. (Council Member, District 17 – South Bronx) 

Additional speakers to be announced. 

Juan Manuel Benítez, award-winning journalist and host of the new podcast Juan Manuel Benítez Wants to Know, will moderate the discussion.  

This panel is co-organized by El Museo del Barrio and MirRam Group. 

This event is co-presented by El Museo del Barrio, Latinx Arts Consortium of New York (LxNY), and Hispanic Federation.

Nadar en Seco: Cuban Poetry  

Thursday, October 9 | 6:30 PM | FREE Admission | RSVP Here 

Accompanying the exhibition Tomorrow, I Will Become an Island, on view at El Museo from September 18 through January 11, this event features Cuban poets Katherine Bisquet, Legna Rodriguez Iglesias, and Mandy Suarez, who will read excerpts from their recent publications and speak with artist Coco Fusco. 

Katherine Bisquet has published the poetry books Algo aquí se descompone (2014) and Uranio empobrecido (2021) and compiled the volume Cielo Raso: Antología de poetas cubanos en Cuba (2025). She directed the short documentary film Inside San Isidro (2023) and is the co-creator of Rialta Magazine’s column “Cuban Cinema in Quarantine”. She was a resident of Künstlerhaus Bethanien in 2021/2022 in Berlin, won the 2022 Ciudad de Alcalá Poetry Prize, and received a scholarship from Florida International University’s program for threatened Cuban researchers in the humanities.  

Legna Rodríguez Iglesias’ most recent publications include the novel Paroled (2025), the short stories collection Mi novia preferida fue un bulldog francés (2017), and the poetry books Ilusiones de botánica (2023), Dame spray (2023) and La merma: un producto en existencia (2025). Her essays and chronicles are compiled in Crítica madre. Lenguajes de la diáspora en Estados Unidos desde Miami (2023) and Princesa Miami. Atlas político y de población (2024). She regularly publishes articles in the Revista Rialta and Incubadora magazines. In 2016 she received the Premio Casa de Las Américas for theater and the Paz Prize for Poetry awarded by The National Poetry Series. 

Armando (Manday) Lorenzo Suárez Cobián is a poet, fiction writer, and filmmaker. The author of the poetry volumes Corre ve dile (1985), Nueva York no eres tú (2013), and La muerte y sus ojos (2025), as well as the short story collection El libro de los amores breves (2014), his work has appeared in anthologies and journals in the Americas and Europe. He has been a dialect coach in films such as Before Night Falls (Julian Schnabel) and Che (Steven Soderbergh) and co-directed the documentary NOLIMITS. 

Super Sábado: Día De Los Muertos Celebration 

Saturday, November 1, 2025 | 12:00 PM – 5:00 PM | FREE Admission | RSVP Here

El Museo’s annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Celebration returns on Saturday, November 1 with a full day of family-friendly, free programming. Honoring the lives of loved ones who have passed, this beloved tradition invites visitors of all ages to come together and experience the vibrant cultural traditions surrounding Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Enjoy live music and dance performances, art-making workshops, calavera (skull) face painting, and a communal altar. 

This year’s altar installation will offer visitors and school groups the chance to engage in collective reflection by contributing messages to the altar at El Café from mid-October through mid-November. 

The artwork of the event will be created by illustrator Andrea Pardo.  

Our Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Celebration is generously supported by Morgan Stanley. 

Morgan Stanley

Miguel Coyula’s Crónicas del Absurdo (Chronicles of the Absurd, 2024, 77 min.) 

Thursday, November 20 | 6:30 PM | FREE Admission | RSVP here

Crónicas del Absurdo, a mesmerizing film by director Miguel Coyula, unmasks the contradictions underlying the social and political dynamics of today’s Cuba, so often invisible to casual visitors. The film’s narrative is assembled primarily from clandestine audio recordings. The screening will be followed by a discussion between the film’s associate producer David Leitner and artist Coco Fusco, whose exhibition Tomorrow, I Will Become an Island is on view at El Museo through January 11, 2026. 

Miguel Coyula’s previous films include Memorias del desarrollo (2010), a follow up to the 1968 Cuban classic Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) that premiered in 2010 at the Sundance Film Festival and gathered twenty awards internationally, as well as the documentary Nadie (2017) and Corazón Azul (2021). 

48th Annual Three Kings Day Parade and Celebration 

Tuesday, January 6, 2026 | El Barrio (East Harlem) | FREE Admission | RSVP Here

Theme: ¡Pa’lante, Siempre Pa’lante!  

El Museo’s cherished Three Kings Day Parade returns to the streets of El Barrio on Tuesday, January 6. This year’s theme, ¡Pa’lante, Siempre Pa’lante! (“Forward, Always Forward!”), is inspired by the legacy of the Young Lords and the enduring traditions of cultural resistance and mutual care in East Harlem.  

The vibrant procession will begin at 106th Street and Park Avenue, ending at 115th Street and Park Avenue, and will feature lively music, colorful floats, majestic camels, and the joyful participation of thousands of schoolchildren and community members. Performers and honored guests to be announced. 

DAY-OF ACTIVITIES 

8:30 AM – 10:30 AM | Kick-off Breakfast in El Café at El Museo del Barrio  

Kick-off breakfast with Honorary Kings, Madrinas and Padrinos, and Elected Officials. 

• 8:30 AM – Doors Open 
• 9:00 AM – Program starts 

11:00 AM – 12:00 PM | The Parade  

El Barrio  

Parade begins at 106th Street and Park Avenue and goes east towards Third Avenue. 

Marchers make a left on Third Avenue until 116th Street, ending at 115th Street and 

Park Avenue. Check in for groups begins at 10 AM on 106th Street. Come celebrate from start to finish—spectators welcome all along the route. 

Want to march in the parade? Fill out this form to join us—K–12 students and community members of all ages are welcome! 

Be part of the excitement! Enter our Banner Contest for a chance to lead the parade. The winning class will march in the top spot reserved for schools, showcasing their creativity and artwork to the entire community. Full guidelines will be available on our website soon. 

Want to volunteer at the parade or learn more? We’d love to hear from you at threekings@elmuseo.org.  

SPONSORS

Jangueando: Recent Acquisitions, 2021–2025 is supported by the Ford Foundation. Additional Permanent Collection funding is provided by The Mellon Foundation.  

Tomorrow, I will Become an Island is supported by the Ford Foundation and The Jacques & Natasha Gelman Foundation and is organized by El Museo del Barrio in collaboration with MACBA Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona. 

El Museo’s public programs are made possible by the generous support of New York State Council on the Arts, the New York City Council, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and the U.S. Department of Education. 

ABOUT EL MUSEO DEL BARRIO 

El Museo del Barrio is the nation’s leading Latine and Latin American cultural institution. The Museum welcomes visitors of all backgrounds to discover the artistic landscape of these communities through its extensive Permanent Collection, varied exhibitions and publications, bilingual public programs, educational activities, festivals, and special events.  

The Museum is located at 1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street in New York City. The Museum is open Thursdays through Sundays from 11:00am – 5:00pm. Pay what you can. To connect with El Museo via social media, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and X. For more information, please visit www.elmuseo.org.