The Mellon Foundation Awards $1.8 Million To Agora Cultural Arquitects For BoriCorridor Expansion

With a $1.8 million grant, the Mellon Foundation has renewed its support of Ágora Cultural Architects and its BoriCorridor project for three years, which will allow it to expand its search for cultural organizations that serve Puerto Rican communities in the United States and bring more performances by local artists to the diaspora.

In addition to more than 200 organizations in the Northeastern U.S. already in the BoriCorridor digital directory, Agora Cultural Architects will add others located in regions ranging from Washington D.C. to Florida, as well as Texas and Chicago, Illinois, where Puerto Rican communities are well established.

“This grant from the Mellon Foundation is transformative for an organization like Ágora, whose mission is to make our Puerto Rican and Latin American artists visible and strengthen their ties with communities outside the homeland. But it also represents a recognition of the impact and valuable contributions that Puerto Ricans have long made to the U.S. nation,” said Elsa Mosquera, founder of Ágora Cultural Architects and creator of BoriCorridor.

This is the second grant the main sponsor of the arts in the United States has awarded Ágora Cultural Architects for developing the BoriCorridor. The initial $700 thousand grant awarded by Mellon covered the launch of the research and artistic tour carried out in 2023 and 2024. 

“The call we make to those Puerto Rican cultural organizations or those that work with Puerto Rican communities in the United States is that we want them to be part of the BoriCorridor family, to highlight all that they do for our people, to achieve more artistic collaborations and to share our cultural richness,” Mosquera added.

The new grant will also help to continue producing the BoriCorridor Tour and bring more artists from the archipelago to perform on different stages in the United States. The first tour began last year when five groups presented their shows in New York City, Boston, and Hartford. This year, the second edition of the BoriCorridor Tour will extend to Holyoke, Massachusetts, and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

The lineup of artists performing between March and October on the BoriCorridor Tour 2025 includes Marian Pabón, Haciendo Punto en Otro Son, Los Rivera Destino, and Josean Ortiz and his play Tite Curet Alonso: Lírica y Poesía. Tickets for all events are available at www.boritix.com. 

To register as a cultural organization in BoriCorridor, you can access www.boricorridor.com. 

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