On Pablo Casals #66, across from Plaza del Mercado and near Plaza Colón in the town of Mayagüez, joy, art, theater and community take shape.
Since April 2017, Taller Libertá has been open as a multidisciplinary arts space in the western part of the Island, and it has become an ideal place to engage with culture or take a break while younger visitors explore.
Its offerings are varied and mostly free: a space to encourage creativity for all ages with free internet, a place for creative workshops and artistic programming, an art gallery, a free store with donated goods and books, and an "ocioteca," a space to relax with friends or family. On the first Sunday of each month, there is a bomba session at 3:00 p.m.
Founded by Vueltabajo Teatro, a self-managed theater research and experimentation lab, Taller Libertá has become a space for fun and creativity with art as its banner.
"We are a space for the arts, we are neighborhood, we are barrio, we are Taller Libertá", reads the description on Vueltabajo's website.
Open call. Their most recent project is a photography exhibition called La Parada Libertá, through which they want to collect photographs, whether you are a professional photographer or not, of the wall where the name Taller Libertá was painted, where they used to place a bench, the free little store and plants to make it a space for conversation.
Since last October, they were ordered to "clean and paint" the wall, and with that in mind they want an exhibition that brings back to life the eight years during which those letters built community.
The exhibition will open this August. "Send us that special photo you took in front of the painted letters of Taller Libertá with your family or friends when you visited the space," the call reads. You can send it to taller.liberta@gmail.com.
How did Taller Libertá come about?
In what was once an old warehouse on a somewhat quiet street in the town of Mayagüez, across from Plaza del Mercado, Taller Libertá was created in 2017 as a self-managed space intended to house work brigades and mutual aid.
Behind the project are artist Eury González and artist and cultural manager Zuleira Soto-Román, both members of Vueltabajo Teatro, who believe in the arts as community revolution.
The name's origin. Although it is now called calle Pablo Casals, the group holds that it was previously known as calle Libertad, which is why the workshop took that name, dropping the D as Puerto Ricans would pronounce it and to give it more strength.
After the hurricane, allied organizations including ISER Caribe, Agitarte, María Fund and the Amigas de Taller Libertá were key to keeping the space going. In the middle of the darkness that had fallen across the island, they painted the 13 letters of Taller Libertá in giant size on the adjacent wall so they could be seen at night, so that anyone could find the space and feel at home, free to create.
What does Taller Libertá do?
For nine years, neighbors and visitors have come to the space, whether out of curiosity or to take part in one of the many cultural activities that take place there:
Every first Sunday of the month they hold an open bomba session at 3 p.m.
They have organized outdoor screenings and theatrical and artistic presentations.
Art exhibitions: through May 3 there is one on peasant struggles, organized by the Centro de Apoyo Mutuo de Utuado (CAMU).
On April 18, they marked the International Day of Peasant Struggles. They discussed how those struggles appear in Puerto Rico and included music and theater.
On March 22, they celebrated World Puppet Day with a showcase of pieces created in the Teatro Pal Barrio workshops, offered at Taller Libertá by mask maker and puppeteer Deborah Hunt.
On Feb. 12, they held the screening of the video "Barrio no se borra en Puerto Rico: costa, calle y comunidad como archivos vivos," which documents spaces in Cabo Rojo and Mayagüez that resist as a community, including Taller Libertá, Vueltabajo Teatro and Defiende Cabo Rojo.
Workshops. In addition to artistic events, they also offer a variety of workshops focused mainly on different art forms, some free and others paid or with scholarships available. The most recent was a puppetry workshop, but you can request information about upcoming workshops at taller.liberta@gmail.com.
What is the "Ocioteca"?
The Ocioteca is an open shared-time space that Taller Libertá also calls a "climate refuge," as it serves for studying, resting and creating, as well as for getting water and using the restroom during a visit to the town.
The Ocioteca includes:
Free Wi-Fi,
A specialized library with books on theater, art, literature and social sciences,
Coffee and water to share,
Work tables for studying and reading,
An experimental room with a wood floor for artistic practice,
A gallery with an art exhibition,
Free books (you can donate or take one),
A piano for personal practice.
The space is suitable for children and pets.
Hours: Monday, Wednesday and Friday: 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
