Presented by The Clemente and the Latinx Arts Consortium of New York (LxNY)
Hosted by The Museum of Modern Art, Public Engagement Department
Saturday, November 22, 2025 | 9:30 AM – 3:00 PM | Cullman Education Center MoMA
RSVP here!
The Clemente and the Latinx Arts Consortium of New York (LxNY) are thrilled to announce CRUCES: Youth Summit, a daylong forum celebrating the next generation of storytellers, culture bearers, movement builders, and the youth programs that inspire them.
Hosted by MoMA’s Public Engagement Department, the Summit brings together youth, Latinx educators, and cultural leaders from across New York City for a vibrant day of presentations, performances, workshops, and networking.
Participating organizations include: Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI), Flushing Town Hall, Teatro SEA, Calpulli Mexican Dance Company, The Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP), Pregones / Puerto Rican Traveling Theater, R.Evolución Latina, YA-YA Network, The People’s Theater, LxNY, El Puente, and UpBeat NYC.
MC: Yazmany Arboleda, Founder, The People’s Creative Institute
About CRUCES
CRUCES (Spanish for Crossings) is a signature series within Historias, The Clemente’s multi-year initiative dedicated to re-centering Latinx narratives in New York City’s cultural landscape. These multigenerational convenings foster dialogue, solidarity, and collaboration across disciplines and communities.
The Youth Summit, the second iteration of CRUCES, focuses on empowering the next generation of cultural workers, scholars, and organizers – those shaping the future of storytelling, research, and advocacy around Latinx histories and social justice in the city.
At its heart, Historias seeks to rescue, amplify, and reimagine Latinx narratives. The Youth Summit asks:
How can we build a collective and empowered vision for the next generation of storytellers, journalists, educators, and historians?
What role can youth and youth educators play in ensuring that Latinx narratives need not be “rescued” again?
How do we prepare young people to carry forward the enduring impact of Latinx communities on our city’s civic and cultural life?
What to Expect
The CRUCES: Youth Summit highlights innovative youth programs led by LxNY members and partner organizations across the city. Through on-stage presentations, hands-on workshops, and creative showcases, participants will share their experiences and strategies for storytelling, leadership, and community engagement.
The day also offers opportunities to meet peers, educators, and mentors, and to take away practical roadmaps for strengthening youth-led cultural work.
SCHEDULE (subject to change)
9:30 AM – Attendee Check-In:
Visit organizational tables and connect with participating programs.
10:00 AM – Welcome Remarks:
Opening words from The Clemente and MoMA’s Public Engagement Department.
10:15–10:35 AM – The People’s Theater:
Education Director Abe Johnson and young artists Genesis Perez and Dannalee Arias introduce The People’s Theatre Academy, a multi-year leadership and social justice program for immigrant youth and youth of color in Upper Manhattan. Learn how devised theater becomes a tool for advocacy and community-building through a brief interactive exercise.
10:40–11:00 AM – El Puente
Organizers Joe Matunis and Jorge Berrios share the story of the El Puente Cycling Club, a youth leadership and environmental justice program in Williamsburg. Joined by youth members Raymond Moreno, Karly Rosas, Miseal Ante, Debora Folgar, and Asli Mendez, they’ll reflect on biking as a form of healing, empowerment, and civic engagement.
11:05–11:25 AM – CCCADI
Team members Tamara Thomas, Sabine Blaizin, and Jordan Martins present CCCADI Youth Pathways, featuring youth representatives from For the Culture, Sankofa Young Women’s Leadership Program, and Sou Sou! Saturdays. Expect photography and spoken word showcases exploring how mentorship and cultural exchange inspire creative leadership.
11:35–11:45 AM – LxNY: Latinx Arts Consortium of New York
Eva Mayhabal Davis, LxNY Project Manager, introduces the network’s citywide youth initiatives and collaborative opportunities connecting arts, education, and civic engagement.
11:45 AM–1:00 PM – Lunch + Workshops
Grab a complimentary brown-bag lunch, visit the info tables, and choose from interactive workshops:
Center for Urban Pedagogy (CUP): “Make Your Mark! Printmaking for Youth-Led Activism” With teaching artist Katie Loos, explore how art and design can visualize civic issues and create change through collaborative printmaking and collage.
Flushing Town Hall / Calpulli Mexican Dance Company Led by co-founder Alberto Lopez, this participatory workshop celebrates Mexican dance and music traditions. Learn zapateado footwork and faldeo skirt movement while exploring their cultural roots.
Teatro SEA: “The Colors of Frida / Los Colores de Frida” A bilingual performance and interactive session introducing educators and youth to storytelling, music, and visual art as tools for creative expression and bilingual learning.
1:00–1:30 PM – UPBEAT NYC
Recharge with a performance by the UpBeat NYC Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble – young musicians from the South Bronx rooted in Afro-Latin and Black American musical traditions. Following their performance, learn more about UpBeat with brief introductions from leadership and young ensemble members.
1:35–1:55 PM – YA-YA Network
Education Director Divine Ndombo and youth members present YA-YA’s programs in social justice education and leadership. Learn about narrative-building around identity in activism and the power of redefining ourselves outside hegemonic narratives through storytelling and poetry.
2:00–2:20 PM – Pregones / R.Evolución Latina
Leaders Arnaldo J. López, Ph.D., and Denisse Ambert showcase the Raúl Juliá Training Unit & Beyond Workshop Series, featuring a musical performance from youth alumni and cast members of BARBA, a new Brazilian musical.
2:30–3:00 PM – Closing Reflections
Participating organizations and youth presenters share final thoughts and next steps for collaboration.
Participating Organizations
Rooted in Washington Heights and Inwood, The People’s Theatre (formerly People’s Theatre Project) makes theatre with and for immigrant communities to build a more just and equitable world. The People's Theatre is Manhattan’s largest performing arts organization north of Harlem. Through ensemble-based, multilingual, and multigenerational programming, our unique brand of theatre is a powerful artistic platform for immigrants and members of the Latine, Black, and Queer communities.
El Puente is a human rights institution founded in 1982 with a mission to inspire and nurture leadership for peace and justice. Based in NYC and Puerto Rico with national and international impact, El Puente directly serves approximately 12,000 individuals annually from nine youth Leadership Centers across the Southside of Williamsburg and Bushwick, Brooklyn, and Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico.
The Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute (CCCADI) is an arts, culture, education and media organization that advances cultural equity, racial and social justice for African descendant communities. We envision a global landscape where African descendants achieve cultural equity, racial and social justice. CCCADI's programs serve children/youth, families, young professionals, elders, local and international artists, and practitioners of African-based spiritual traditions. Through our work CCCADI offers a collective space where African descendants honor the contributions of the global African Diaspora through exhibitions, performances, conferences, educational programs, and international exchanges.
Center For Urban Pedagogy envisions a world where all people—regardless of identity, ability, or migration status—have the agency they need to participate in civic life and shape their communities’ futures. Our mission is to use the power of art and design to increase meaningful civic engagement in partnership with marginalized communities.
Calpulli Mexican Dance Company’s mission is to celebrate the rich diversity of Mexican and Mexican-American cultural heritage through dance-based programming, including live music. To this end, the organization produces professional performances via its touring company, designs arts-in-education programming, and provides low-cost, high-quality arts-in-education programming throughout New York City, most notably its program Calpulli Community.
LxNY | Latinx Arts Consortium of New York is an intersectional network of Latinx-serving cultural organizations based in New York City. Our mission is to foster knowledge exchange, resource-sharing, and collective action towards systemic change. We envision a New York City where Latinx arts and culture are fully funded, deeply valued, and celebrated as an integral part of the city’s diverse and vibrant cultural fabric.
The mission of Flushing Council on Culture and the Arts (FCCA) is to present multi-disciplinary global arts that engage and educate the global communities of Queens, New York, and New York City, New York, in order to foster mutual appreciation. As advocates of arts equity since 1979, we support local, immigrant, national, and international artists, developing partnerships and collaborations that enhance our efforts. As a member of New York City’s Cultural Institutions Group (CIG), we serve as stewards of Flushing Town Hall, restoring, managing, and programming the historic 1862 landmark on behalf of the City of New York.
The Society of the Educational Arts (Teatro SEA) is dedicated to empowering and advancing the education of Latinx/Hispanic youth and the immigrant community through arts and cultural programming. As NYC’s and the nation’s only Latinx Bilingual Children’s Theater, we offer multidisciplinary arts instruction, cultural festivals and events, online educational programming, and bilingual educational publications. Our mission is to elevate self-esteem, reinforce cultural identity, and promote educational success for Latinx children and youth.
UpBeat NYC uses the pursuit of musical excellence and ensemble performance to bring about positive change in the lives of South Bronx children. UpBeat NYC is an open-door community music center in the South Bronx that offers free, comprehensive music education to students of all backgrounds. Our teaching artists—accomplished working musicians from across New York City—provide instruction and mentorship from students' first encounters with music through to advanced ensemble performance and paid internships.
The YA-YA Network advances youth organizing as a strategy for youth development and social transformation. Through training and leadership experience, YA-YA prepares participants to become the next generation of activists in the movement for social and economic justice. We build young people's capacity to influence policy, improve institutions, and change systems that directly impact youth, their families, and the communities they live in.
Pregones/Puerto Rican Traveling Theater (aka Pregones/PRTT) is a multigenerational performing ensemble, multidisciplinary arts presenter, and owner/steward of bilingual arts facilities in The Bronx and Manhattan. Our mission is to champion a Puerto Rican/Latinx cultural legacy of universal value through the creation and performance of original plays and musicals, exchange and partnership with other artists of merit, and engagement of diverse audiences.
R.Evolución Latina is an organization that activates individual and collective human growth through artistic experiences for transformation and social change. A Revolution of Evolution, Making a difference through the Arts.
Based in New York City, The People’s Creative Institute serves as a gymnasium for the imagination—an incubator where underserved and immigrant communities grow ever more resilient through interdependence, collective visioning, shared artistic practice, and leadership training. Developed with the people themselves, The Institute nurtures a program of fellowships to enable the creation of public-facing artwork and thereby realize beautiful urban spaces through shared cultural knowledge and expertise. We foster new knowledge, develop capacity ,and forge strategic alliances across the arts and other sectors. We work to develop arts leadership, entrepreneurship, and innovation; expand career pathways; and demonstrate the economic and social value of the arts. Critically, because we are focused on supporting the immigrant communities in New York, we are also intent on developing a pathway to citizenship through our programs.
Yazmany Arboleda is a Colombian-American artist based in New York City. An architect by training, Yazmany activates communities through large-scale art projects that foster heartfelt connections and meaningful relationships. He is the Founder of The People’s Creative Institute.