This past summer, La Sala Libre transformed Casa Saffra in Santurce into a living room for the culture — a space pa’ la memoria, la comunidad y el jangueo con propósito. From August through mid-September, the residency hosted six weekends of programming that brought together artists, thinkers, and everyday Boricuas from the island and diaspora to connect, resist, and reimagine together.

Over the course of the residency, we shared powerful Sala Chats on identity, displacement, return, and belonging; live Sala Sessions with musicians like Cita, La Necedad, and Afroversiva; and creative pop-ups like La Marketa, Café Saffra, and La Merienda. Each weekend layered conversations, performance, and community care — turning a simple sala into a site of healing, reflection, and joy.

La Sala Libre became more than an exhibition — it became an experiment in diasporic connection. Visitors moved between poetry readings, DJ sets, and murals, surrounded by personal archives from Diaspo Rico, a multimedia storytelling project documenting Boricua migration stories.

As the residency came to a close, it left behind something intangible but deeply felt: proof that our stories, when shared across geographies, can build bridges stronger than distance.

La Sala Libre was created by Diaspo Rico in collaboration with Casa Saffra, produced with the support of Defend Puerto Rico Media, and powered by a community of artists, cultural workers, and neighbors who believe that our freedom begins in the spaces we make for each other.