[title]
There's no New York culture without Dominican culture, a fact that we can attribute to the more than the one million Dominicans and people of Dominican descent who call the NYC area home.
Yet, despite their presence and lasting impact on our town's social and cultural fabric, there's currently no museum or public building dedicated to Dominicans' contributions to the city.
RECOMMENDED: Flying to the Dominican Republic from NYC has just become much cheaper
That might be about to change: last weekend, on the day of the Dominican Day Parade, Governor Kathy Hochul announced that she will allocate $12 million to the building of a new Dominican Center for the Arts and Culture at 375 West 207th Street in Upper Manhattan's Inwood neighborhood. The project will be led by the Dominican Studies Institute (DSI) at the City College of New York.
According to an official press release, the new venue will feature a museum and exhibition space displaying works by Dominican and Latinx artists; a theater for performances, film screenings and lectures; and a children's library that will focus on preserving the Spanish language. Also on site will be an oral history and archives project dedicated to preserving the culture and history of New York Dominicans.
"Dominican culture and the diaspora have had an undeniable impact on communities throughout the nation, and nowhere is that more evident than here in New York City, and especially in Northern Manhattan," said representative Adriano Espaillat in an official statement. "There is a pressing need for a Dominican cultural center to recognize and celebrate the contributions of our community."
The location of the cultural center is significant, too: Inwood and neighboring Washington Heights are home to a significant portion of the local Dominican population.
The news about the new cultural center comes at the heels of a recent aviation agreement that is about to make flights between New York and the Dominican Republic significantly more convenient and cheaper as part of an effort to improve relations between the two countries. We're here for it all!