Taller Puertorriqueño (Taller - Spanish for “workshop”) is a community based grassroots organization founded in 1974 to address the lack of access to art and education for inner-city youth. Reflecting a strong Latino heritage common to the majority of residents in distressed North Philadelphia neighborhoods, the organization’s primary purpose is to preserve, develop and promote Puerto Rican arts and culture, grounded in the conviction that embracing one’s cultural heritage is central to community empowerment.
The new community center is located at 2600 N 5th Street in one of the city’s largest and underserved Puerto Rican/Latino neighborhoods. Occupying half of a city block, the one-story structure is subdivided into several finely scaled volumes that are assembled into one multifunctional building. As a result, El Corazón Cultural Center and the new Taller Puertorriqueño offices fit into urban fabric while embracing the neighborhood scale.
