Thank you to our community partners at Humanidades Puerto Rico for hosting 2025 Public Humanities Day!

The day, offered in conjunction with our 2025 Annual Meeting, brought together programming that celebrated the intersection of scholarship and community engagement. Attendees experienced film screenings, performances, an author reading and discussion, and other curated events. Throughout Old San Juan, arts and culture organizations opened their doors to ASA members through self-guided walking tours, providing opportunities to discover and support community-based projects. The day also included an invitation-only community of practice focused on anti-racist and anti-colonial digital archiving and public humanities work, along with a cemetery public history initiative.

Events were held at Humanidades Puerto Rico's headquarters in the Cuartel de Ballajá. This building, originally constructed by the Spanish army, has been transformed into a cultural hub that champions arts and culture year-round. The space is also home to El Museo de las Américas, Academia Puertorriqueña de la Lengua Española, La Oficina Estatal de Conservación Histórica, and other cultural organizations. Like state Humanities Councils across the mainland, Humanidades Puerto Rico is navigating federal funding challenges, making our collaboration particularly meaningful as we work together to showcase the importance of humanities work to diverse audiences.

Public Humanities Day Schedule: Wednesday, November 19th 

Location
Humanidades Puerto Rico
Cuartel de Ballajá, 3rd Floor
San Juan, PR 00902

Click the links for expanded descriptions, where available

Special Exhibit at Humanidades Puerto Rico

"Acerca del Amor...." (“About Love....”) An Exhibit by Ita Venegas Pérez at Humanidades Puerto Rico

Housed at Humanidades Puerto Rico, “About Love…”, an exhibit by Ita Venegas Pérez, ran through November 22nd. In this intimate showcase, Venegas Pérez weaves her art as an illustrator, designer, writer, performing artist, mother, and lover around the central theme of love for work and the relationships that have inspired her. Through her work, Venegas Pérez explores the profound relationships that have shaped her artistic journey, celebrating love in all its forms—romantic, familial, creative, and professional. The exhibition presents a deeply personal narrative that resonates with universal experiences, inviting visitors to reflect on their own relationships with love, work, and artistic expression.

Free and open to the public, this exhibit was generously sponsored by the Puerto Rico Center for the Book and Humanidades Puerto Rico. 

About the Puerto Rico Center for the Book

The Puerto Rico Center for the Book, established in 2018 as the 53rd affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book, is dedicated to promoting books, reading, libraries, and literacy throughout the island. Working in partnership with Humanidades Puerto Rico, the Center champions Puerto Rican literature and print culture while fostering connections between local and diasporic literary communities. The Center actively participates in the National Book Festival and hosts the yearly "Fiesta de las Humanidades" book and humanities festival each December, along with a diverse range of lectures, book presentations, workshops, and reading and discussion events throughout the year.

Additional Offerings

• Self-guided Walking Tours: Maps were available at Humanidades Puerto Rico for visitors to explore arts and community spaces in Old San Juan at their own pace.
• Museum of the Americas Exhibits: Located in the same building as Humanidades Puerto Rico, with an admission fee of $6.
• Memoria Decolonial Guided Walking Tours: These incredible tours of Old San Juan ran throughout the day.