‘A sense of community’: Taller Puertorriqueño celebrates 50 years at 40th annual Feria del Barrio

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On Sunday, the 40th Feria del Barrio celebrated not only Philadelphia’s diverse Latino cultures through art but also the 50th anniversary of one of its cultural institutions.

Down the street from Taller Puertorriqueño and in the heart of El Centro de Oro, at the corner of 5th Street and Lehigh Avenue, was a melting pot for music, dancing and food and a place for folks to connect through the festival. For 50 years, the organization has worked to connect people through Puerto Rican arts and culture, eventually growing to connect the entire Latino diaspora through its resources.

Erikka Goslin, interim executive director, was handed the reins earlier this year. She came to Philly at the age of 12 with her family from Vermont. She grew up with Dominican and Puerto Rican relatives, which influenced her to seek out working with Taller.

“I was looking for community and colleagues, and that’s what I found at Taller,” Goslin said. “It’s been an incredible way of blending my background as a social worker to the power of arts and culture and social services.”

One of the organization’s main tenets is providing education resources to the community through the arts with its Youth Artist Program. Goslin said students participating often want to “exemplify their own roots” in the works they create.

“Puerto Rico is very featured in it, but there’s a lot of Dominican and other backgrounds,” Goslin said. “At Taller … everybody is welcome.”

Former board member Maria Mills-Torres echoed Goslin’s comments while soaking in the positive vibes from the day’s festival. She said with the many cultures present within Philadelphia, it’s important to make sure the organization is open to all.

“After the closing of the first two semesters, there’s a program that the kids perform,” Mills-Torres said. “In the summer program, they do the same, and we had two little Asian girls dancing and doing Puerto Rican music, it was awesome … We don’t restrict ourselves to just Puerto Rican.”

Looking past the 50th anniversary of the organization, Goslin said it wants to make sure it’s “secure for our future” and making sure to “communicate the value and importance of what we do.”

“I think that events like this really speak for themselves in terms of, like, the need for people to have that sense of community for neighbors to come together,” Goslin said. “We started as a group of printmakers and artists who were making social commentary, and that was in the ‘70s, and it has been through like all the way through. That’s no different today.”

Entertainment was provided throughout the day by multiple acts, including Los Bomberos de la Calle and Mariposas Galácticas.

Taller Puertorriqueño will continue celebrating its 50th anniversary through the end of the year with a Sept. 30 book event featuring the father of Lin-Manuel Miranda, a Nov. 1 gala and exhibits at its headquarters and the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The festival was produced by Taller with help from the Asociación de Puertorriqueños en Marcha (APM), Congreso de Latino Unidos, HACE and Raíces Culturales Latinoamericanas.