San Juan’s Artists Are Shaping Puerto Rico’s Cultural Future One Space at a Time
Bad Bunny—and reggaeton more broadly—has undeniably helped bring Puerto Rico and its culture back to the center of the international stage. After becoming the most-streamed artist globally for three consecutive years (2020-2022), the artist returned to the top in 2025, dethroning Taylor Swift as Spotify’s most-streamed artist worldwide with roughly 19.8 billion streams that year. In the same year, his sold-out San Juan residency drew fans from around the world to the island.
What’s important here is that, rather than simply exporting Puerto Rican music, Bad Bunny helped re-center Puerto Rico as a cultural reference point. He catalyzed a multilayered spillover across tourism, local economies and global visibility, turning reggaeton from a worldwide genre into a form of cultural infrastructure with tangible economic and cultural consequences for the island.
But Puerto Rico’s cultural vitality extends well beyond the music industry. The island has long had an active arts scene, but in recent years—and particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria and now with the new Trump policies—that ecosystem has entered a period of renewed intensity and expansion. This growth has been driven by grassroots initiatives and the endemic creative energies of local artists, even as the scene continues to struggle for the international visibility it deserves.
“After Hurricane Maria and the pandemic, the art scene has grown significantly, with more options for artists such as artist residencies, fellowships, and grants both within and outside of Puerto Rico,” art dealer Walter Otero told Observer. Otero has been actively involved in championing Puerto Rican artists through his gallery and as a board member of Museo de Arte (MUSA) in Mayagüez. He noted that the scene has gotten stronger over many years, not only through the work of artists, gallery owners and institutions but also thanks to Puerto Rican curators who hold important positions in American institutions. The 2023 Whitney show “no existe un mundo poshuracán: Puerto Rican Art in the Wake of Hurricane Maria,” curated by Marcela Guerrero, helped bring many Puerto Rican artists to international attention. “We also can’t overlook the fact that music and phenomena like Bad Bunny and Ricky Martin, among others, are greatly helping to bring global attention to what’s happening on the island,” said Otero. “The incredible thing about our artists is that they achieve success abroad and always end up returning to continue strengthening and supporting the local scene.”
During a brief press trip, we were able to glimpse just how much is happening on the ground—and how urgently this moment calls for closer attention. Driven largely by artists themselves, a network of galleries, collectives, monthly initiatives and adaptive institutions is redefining how art is produced, shared and sustained amid political uncertainty, public debt and accelerating gentrification. Most of the spaces in San Juan are run by artists and local creatives, often embracing a more fluid model that avoids rigid distinctions between art and artisanal work, as well as between visual art and other disciplines. Importantly, these spaces also tend to reject the white-cube model, resisting separation from the life of the surrounding community while aiming to attract a broader local audience.
EMBAJADA
One of the first spaces of this new generation was EMBAJADA, which opened in San Juan in 2015 with the explicit mission of functioning as an “embassy,” as the name suggests, providing international visibility for Puerto Rican art. The project was founded by Christopher Rivera and Manuela Paz, who were living and working in New York at the time. Since then, they have served as key bridges between the island’s art scene and the U.S., as well as the broader international art world. EMBAJADA has participated in fairs such as NADA in Miami and New York, mounting pop-ups and regular collaborations with galleries in the U.S. and abroad. What began as a project space has, over the past decade, evolved into a fully structured gallery that now represents multiple Puerto Rican artists and plays an active role in building the careers and visibility of emerging talents and overlooked masters.
The artists recently added to EMBAJADA’s roster reflect the breadth of its program, spanning established figures such as Pablo Delano and Edra Soto, as well as a younger generation that includes Joshua Nazario Lugo, Jean-Pierre Villafañe, and Georgina Treviño, whom the gallery will present at NADA New York in May. Taína Cruz, who will participate in the forthcoming Whitney Biennial and was recently spotlighted by the gallery at NADA Miami, also features prominently, as do artist-choreographer Kíani del Valle and Jonathan Torres, both of whom will appear in EMBAJADA’s upcoming presentation at NADA New York. The gallery was the first to showcase Daniel Lind-Ramos’s work, well before his acclaimed exhibition at MoMA PS1 brought him broader institutional recognition.
In 2022, EMBAJADA moved into a new permanent space in San Juan’s Hato Rey district—a historic house the founders were able to purchase just ahead of the post-pandemic surge in real estate prices. The timing proved critical, anchoring the institution locally while counteracting the displacement pressures now intensified by rampant gentrification across the city. “There’s a new wave of colonization happening in Puerto Rico, sadly,” Rivera told Observer in a recent interview, noting how the current context gives even deeper meaning to the gallery’s name and mission. “EMBAJADA is intentional. We are still a colony—but we’ve built our own embassy to represent Puerto Rican art and culture to the world.”
El Kilómetro
Opening around the same time, in 2015, was another artist-run space, El Kilómetro, which has also played a central role over the past decade in defining and supporting a new generation of Puerto Rican art. Founded by artists Yiyo Tirado and Karlo Andrei Ibarra, El Kilómetro has operated from the outset as a non-commercial, nonprofit platform focused on exhibitions, residencies, public programs and research-driven projects. It often pairs the founders’ own work with that of artists from their generation. The name signals both a conceptual and geographic point of departure—a ground-zero site for rethinking artistic production from Puerto Rico outward, rather than filtering local practice through dominant Western frameworks.
“The Puerto Rican art scene is highly dynamic and deeply grounded in self-management, a model we have long been accustomed to,” Andrei Ibarra told Observer, noting that at a moment when museums and galleries were closing or undergoing institutional transitions, El Kilómetro emerged—alongside other initiatives—as a self-managed response to the lack of resources and the absence of platforms needed to sustain the ecosystem.
On view during our visit was “AMÉRICA INFINITA | UNA DÉCADA DE KILÓMETRO,” a 10-year anniversary exhibition celebrating the gallery’s trajectory and bringing together a diverse chorus of voices from both inside and outside Puerto Rico who made the project possible. The show also functioned as a tribute to shared experiences and to the community that has grown around the space. As the title suggests, the exhibition embraces an idea of America not as a fragmented territory, but as one defined by a rich plurality of histories, cultural expressions and voices.
Today, El Kilómetro intentionally occupies a hybrid format, combining its exhibition space with Bar 0. As Ibarra explained, the idea emerged from observing how exhibitions often naturally spill into after-parties—so why not combine the two? “Art and cocktail culture are closely connected, but beyond that, this format fundamentally expands the audience, which was something that concerned us,” he said. Some visitors arrive for the exhibitions and stay for the bar, where conversations around ideas, projects and collaborations unfold; others come primarily for the social atmosphere and unexpectedly encounter strong artistic proposals by local and international artists. “This synergy is important and emerges from the intersection of both cultures and interests.”
More recently, El Kilómetro has begun participating in fairsincluding NADA, Untitled and Pinta Lima, operating more overtly as a gallery while maintaining a strong emphasis on experimentation and artistic production. One reason for its close relationship with artists is that both founders are artists themselves. “That allows us to understand their needs and engage with them on equal footing,” Ibarra reflected. Beyond sales, one of the gallery’s primary concerns is connecting artists with projects and institutions that can support their long-term development. “One of the challenges we all face—and I say this as an artist—is visibility,” he said, underscoring how the Puerto Rican art community still lacks sufficient institutional infrastructure to facilitate sustained international recognition and make artistic practice viable as a full-time endeavor.
Many curators and museum directors do visit Puerto Rico, Ibarra noted, but they often engage with a small, recurring group of artists rather than the broader ecosystem. “I believe this needs to change. There are countless artists and strong artistic proposals here that are well worth exploring.”
SABROSO!
When we visited, El Kilómetro’s second space—largely occupied by artist studios—was hosting a capsule exhibition by Sabroso!, a curatorial platform formally launched in 2017 by Antonio Del Valle with artists Hernán Ayala Tirado and Larissa De Jesús Negrón. The project, however, grew out of an earlier initiative: Flightcult, a gallery Del Valle operated from 2012 to 2016 in half of his mother’s beauty salon in Hato Rey. In response to the lack of space to fully develop his curatorial practice or build community, Del Valle converted the front of the salon into a gallery while the business continued to operate in the back, creating a much-needed platform for emerging local artists at a time when the area had only two galleries.
Supported through grassroots fundraising—including car washes and pool parties—Flightcult became a vital incubator for artists who later thrived. One of its final exhibitions, “Sabroso Nostalgic,” inspired the name of Del Valle’s subsequent project. Today, Sabroso! operates as an inherently collaborative collective focused on democratizing art through exhibitions, an online shop and nomadic, curated experiences that amplify the voices of Puerto Rican, Caribbean and international artists.
“Sabroso focuses on building bridges—bringing artists based outside Puerto Rico into dialogue with local artists while nurturing the talent already here,” De Jesús Negrón told Observer. After establishing her career in New York, she returned to Puerto Rico last year with Del Valle, who is also her partner, to care for ill relatives. “I had always hoped to return, but I wasn’t sure sustaining a full-time artistic practice on the island would be possible. After nearly two years here, I feel a sense of purpose I hadn’t experienced before.”
The move reconnected her with the colors and energy of the Caribbean, now central to her work. “What once felt nostalgic has become documentation,” she reflected. “Natural life now sits at the center of my compositions.” She noted a broader post-pandemic shift in Puerto Rican art toward introspection and personal history, while also acknowledging persistent structural challenges. “Many artist-led spaces operate with care and commitment, yet face burnout due to limited funding,” she said, calling for institutions—both on and off the island—to recognize Puerto Rican culture beyond narratives of trauma. “Artists here are redefining what Puerto Rican art can be through complex stories of resilience and imagination that still haven’t been fully embraced.”
Martes de Galería
A new initiative—once again driven by artists—is now attempting to provide a connective platform for San Juan’s fragmented art ecosystem, creating opportunities for cross-promotion while expanding accessibility and community engagement beyond the local art world. Now in its fourth edition, Martes de Galería functions both as a monthly event, during which galleries and spaces remain open late into the evening, and as a connective tool linking projects, initiatives and audiences—offering visibility to an entire scene that has long operated in parallel rather than in unison.
Tuesday was deliberately chosen, explains Javi Olmeda, a local artist who runs the initiative with his partner, Alexis Figueroa. It is the least busy day for cultural events, he notes, whereas weekends are already oversaturated. At the same time, the decision reactivates an older tradition dating back 20 or 30 years, when galleries in Old San Juan would open simultaneously on the first Tuesday of each month. “People would move from space to space, and it became a staple event for nearly 15 years before slowly fading from public consciousness,” Olmeda recalled. “What we’re doing now is reviving that idea, but instead of Old San Juan, we’re activating Santurce, which is really the city’s contemporary arts district and a more urban cultural zone.”
At first glance, art spaces in Puerto Rico can feel widely dispersed, lacking a clearly defined district. Martes de Galería has helped identify—and actively build—that sense of community, with nearly a dozen galleries and studios now participating across Santurce and more spaces actively seeking to join. “Each space brings its own audience, so we start expanding our bubbles—your followers, my followers, other people’s followers—all gathering in the same area at the same time,” Olmeda explained
While a few commercial or more traditional galleries are involved, he added, most participants are artist-run spaces and working studios. “That allows for a much more intimate experience. Artists open their studios for the day, and visitors can see how they work and what they’re working on. It becomes a very enriching, educational experience.” Scrolling through the project’s Instagram or visiting its website already offers a living map of a growing network of spaces in San Juan and beyond. Both virtual and printed maps are updated with each edition as participation continues to expand. The map of the latest event—already the fifth since the launch—included more than 20 spaces, spanning galleries and art residencies like San Juan 721, Galería Manifiesto = Arte, Recinto Cerra, Olmeda’s woodwork space and studio Constructo, as well as several artists’ studios and roughly 25 local restaurants and bars.
Martes de Galería’s programming is not limited to visual art. Theater companies, designers, and architects are also integrated into the program, bringing together multiple creative communities in a single cultural moment. When we spoke, the January edition had taken place the night before, and Olmeda enthusiastically cited attendance in the thousands. “The whole thing has grown very organically,” he said. “We are a nonprofit organization, but our role is really about coordination—working with each gallery, artist and business that wants to be involved.”
The project, he emphasizes, is as much about culture, urbanism and mobility as it is about art. “We’re introducing an innovative model that moves people between venues using a trolley bus. Otherwise, you’d have to walk long distances or pass through areas that people still perceive as unsafe. Addressing that stigma is very much part of the project.”
Martes de Galería also operates as a tool for urban recovery and development. The team has conducted urban surveys—documenting and mapping parts of the city in a process akin to architectural walkthroughs. “We’ll go to specific buildings and look at their histories, how they were constructed and how they relate to the city and our culture,” Olmeda said. “That adds another educational layer to the project, alongside the cultural and social dimensions.” Over time, he argued, this can translate into tangible improvements such as better lighting, increased security and enhanced pedestrian accessibility—real opportunities to convert cultural activity into physical change.
Martes de Galería is already laying the groundwork for what could become a larger art week. “That’s what the island needs—to attract international professionals and create more opportunities for exchange within and beyond Puerto Rico,” Olmeda said. “It also brings tourists, making it a win-win for artists, for the community and eventually for the municipality, once it begins to integrate with the project.”
“There has always been a scene in Puerto Rico; the island has been very prolific in the arts,” Olmeda added. But artists and spaces often worked in parallel, without coming together to form a collective ecosystem. “There was a need for coordination, for someone to organize across artists, producers, galleries and institutions like museums and cultural centers. We’re trying to respond to that need.”
Pillars of institutional support
Today, most of the forces driving the Puerto Rican art scene come from the artists themselves. But this was not always the case. Since the 1950s, when the island established its Constitution and formal government, there has been a strong emphasis on culture as a pillar of public life, initially focused on preservation and cultural identity. This early commitment helps explain why Old San Juan is today one of the best-preserved colonial cities in the world. Puerto Rico, in fact, created a centralized cultural institution well before comparable federal structures in the mainland U.S.: the Instituto de Cultura Puertorriqueña was founded in 1955 with a mandate to research, preserve, promote, enrich and disseminate Puerto Rican cultural values and heritage, spanning archaeology, historic preservation, music, visual arts, traditional arts and museums.
As the island continues to grapple with the consequences of its public debt crisis, public funding for cultural institutions has steadily contracted. Many organizations have been forced to pivot toward private fundraising, philanthropy and U.S.-style gala models in order to sustain their programs.
Among the must-see museums in San Juan is the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, located in Santurce. Housed in a striking building with gardens and outdoor public art, the museum holds a more traditional collection centered on Puerto Rican art from the 17th Century to the present, while also situating it within broader Caribbean and global contexts. Another key institution is the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Puerto Rico (MAC), which opened in 1984 inside a former public school in Santurce. Rather than focusing on blockbuster exhibitions or a static collection, MAC has built its identity around commissions, site-specific projects and sustained dialogue with Latin America and the Caribbean. For many years, under the curatorial leadership of Marina Reyes Franco, the museum decisively shifted toward experimental, process-driven practices, positioning Puerto Rican artists in conversation with regional and international peers while remaining deeply grounded in local contexts. When we visited, MAC was hosting “Trópico Agridulce (Bittersweet Tropics),” a thoughtful, collection-based group exhibition exploring the politics of food in the Caribbean through works that address agriculture, trade and ancestral knowledge. Also on view was “Caribe por venir [Caribbean-Yet-To-Come],” curated by Arnaldo Rodríguez Bagué, a research-driven platform that examines the relationships between performance, ancestral traditions, territory and materiality in contemporary Caribbean art.
MAC has also been among the museums most adept at adapting to post-bankruptcy realities. As government support diminished, the institution developed private fundraising strategies, international partnerships and donor-backed initiatives—including acquisition prizes supported by corporate and philanthropic partners—to sustain its programming and grow its collection.
Another cornerstone of Puerto Rico’s cultural landscape is the Museo de Arte de Ponce, which houses one of the most distinguished art collections in the Caribbean and the Americas, comprising roughly 4,500 works spanning six centuries, from the 16th century to the present. The museum is particularly renowned for the quality of its European holdings, especially Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite works, as well as for its role in elevating Puerto Rican and Caribbean art internationally. Founded in 1959 by philanthropist and later governor Luis A. Ferré, and relocated to its Edward Durell Stone-designed building in 1965, the museum has remained closed since 2020 following severe earthquake damage. During this period, its collection has continued to circulate through loans, traveling exhibitions and collaborations with major museums across the U.S. and abroad, with a small selection currently on view at the Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico.
As the chronic lack of public funding continues to limit opportunities for large-scale public and urban commissions, ARTEYUNQUE—now in its third edition—has emerged as a rare and vital exception on the island. Developed in collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service, the program supports ambitious, site-specific commissions within El Yunque National Forest, a sacred Taíno site and the only tropical rainforest in the U.S. National Forest System. Today, ARTEYUNQUE operates as a living laboratory for sustainability, ecological awareness and community engagement, offering Puerto Rican artists, performers, musicians and poets one of the island’s few platforms for publicly supported commissions and long-term visibility, while reimagining how contemporary art can exist in dialogue with nature rather than in opposition to it.