Raíces Cultural Center

10/14/2026

Raíces Caribeñas student performance ensemble is one of our fastest growing initiatives. This program season we have 5 student members dedicated to learning and executing Caribbean traditional music and dance in a performance setting. Raíces roots are growing! Come check some of them out on Tuesday at 7pm at the Highland Park Public Library and wear your dancing shoes because you’ll be moving and grooving with us!

10/12/2026

We are so proud of our student ensemble members for their amazing community performance at the Hunterdon County Public Library in Flemington. Thanks to all of our dancers and drummers for your hard work and dedication, we look forward to continuing our work together. And thanks to more of our community members and students for coming out to support and joining in the interactive section of our presentation. We are grateful to Hunterdon County Library System for inviting us to share our living culture and to Librarian Lisa Johnson for coordinating and organizing this event. Stay tuned for more pics and vids soon!

10/07/2026

Campana night in our Intro to Afro-Cuban Drumming classes!

Want to join next cycle? Fill out our interest survey on our drum class page:

https://raicesculturalcenter.org/drum-song-dance-classes/drumming/

Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund. For information on events, go to MiddlesexCountyCulture.com.

Made possible by funds from Middlesex County, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Additional support has been provided by the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund and the Highland Park Arts Commission.

09/26/2026

ALL Raíces programs are canceled/postponed this weekend due to the current State of Emergency declared in our county. If you are registered for any programs please check your email! We will reopen on Monday, September 28 for our regular weekly cultural arts classes. We hope our community members stay dry, warm and safe this weekend!

09/23/2026

We are SO HAPPY and proud to see groups from our local community and our hometown taking part in the New Jersey Council for the Humanities Community History program. Highland Park friends, check it out!

Come hear the story of how your neighbors came to Highland Park; their successes, their worries, their experiences, in a friendly community setting. Share your own story!
When? On October 28 at 6pm
Where? HP Community Center 220 S. 6th Ave
Light Refreshments Served
If you'd like to participate as part of the panel - please contact [email protected]
Stories will be recorded by the Historical Commission and placed into our archive for future generations to know.

This program, the second in a series of Community History Open Mics, is supported by the New Jersey Council for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities

09/21/2026

See what's happening throughout Middlesesex County this week on the Middlesex County Culture calendar!

09/20/2026

A few weeks back we kicked off our fall program calendar by setting up a booth as part of the NJ Folk Festival’s Heritage Area. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies above and dozens of artists, artisans and culture bearers from a diversity traditions all around us. Thank you to the Arts Institute of Middlesex County for establishing this new tradition. Middlesex County Culture, you have created a place where we can meet one another and members of our community, to share our crafts, our practices and our traditions. Thank you!

09/19/2026

Register now for any or all of our FOUR upcoming visual arts education workshop series, "Collective Body: Body Mapping Inspired by Poetry", organized and led by our fall 2026 artist in residence Sunday Blu.

REGISTRATION LINK:
https://raicesculturalcenter.org/art2026/

ABOUT THE SERIES:

This four part workshop, culminating in a gallery exhibition at Raices Cultural Center on December 6th, 2026, is the result of four local poets engaging their work with the theme of “Othering”, and imagining how the power of the poetic word could inspire visual art on this topic. The theme “Othering” explores various lived experiences such as immigration, BIPOC, LGBTQ, mental health issues, illnesses, and body image.

There is a long tradition of poetry being inspired by visual art, called ekphrastic poetry, but together with the founders of Raices Cultural Center, Highland Park poets Arianna Astuni, Karin Jervert, Jay Silent Knight and Millie Serrano, will lead workshops to explore the opposite — fine art inspired by poetry.

The art-making practice that will help participants create visual art, that will be part of the final gallery exhibition event, is a powerful community activity called “Body Mapping”. Together, as we listen to the words of these poets, each taking their unique perspective on the topic of other, we will paint, draw, cut, paste, and otherwise engage in a free flowing community art piece based on the body.

Each poet will lead one workshop based on their unique perspectives and experiences. It will be a beautiful evening of engagement in the power of poetry and fine art.

The project will culminate in a public exhibition with an opening reception held on December 6. Register for one or all of the workshops in the series, sign up early as space is limited!

Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of County Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund. For information on events, go to MiddlesexCountyCulture.com.

Made possible by funds from Middlesex County, a partner of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

Additional support has been provided by the New Jersey Arts and Culture Renewal Fund