Taller Boricua has been an advocate for East Harlem artists and residents through providing work and gallery space, curating exhibits and performances, conducting in-school arts education programs, and spearheading the rehabilitation of several buildings in El Barrio, including the Julia The Burgos Latino Cultural Center at 1680 Lexington Avenue, New York, New York 10029
Taller Boricua, was founded in 1969 by artists Marcos Dimas, Adrian Garcia, Manuel Otero, Armando Soto, and Martin Rubio. In 1970 it was incorporated as the Puerto Rican Workshop Inc.—a 501(c) non-profit arts organization. The Puerto Rican Workshop has been instrumental with East Harlem’s “El Barrio” community’s cultural and long-standing social well-being. Taller Boricua’s mission statement describes its purpose “to establish a cultural and educational center for the Puerto Rican community in New York City and enhance the “aesthetic, cultural, historical, political, and economic experience of Puerto Ricans in New York.”