I’ve been wanting to take a peek inside The Clemente for a while after I heard about the beautiful studio spaces that are housed inside.

My chance arrived when The Clemente held its 23rd annual building-wide “Open Doors Open Studios” that featured five floors of visual and performance art plus theater, film, dance and musical showcase.

The building was formerly P.S. 160 and designed by architect Charles B.J. Snyder in the collegiate neo-gothic style, which is featured in many school buildings erected in NYC in the late nineteenth century. The building shows some age here and there, but I love the tall ceilings and the giant windows out of which you can see the streets of the Lower East Side.

I had a wonderful time meandering through the various hallways and artist studios, listening to artists talk about their work and their processes. I also loved seeing how different artists utilized the space they were given. Some artists built smaller loft spaces inside their studios, taking advantage of the tall ceilings in the building while others opted to leave their space completely open, letting light from the big windows interact with everything in it.

The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center is a Puerto Rican/Latino cultural institution on the Lower East Side that houses and promotes artists and performance events that are multicultural and inclusive, reflecting the cultural diversity of the neighborhood and New York City as whole. I’m so happy to have gotten a chance to see the work of some of its resident and guest artists and will definitely return for the next rendition of the event next year.