Galería de Arte Infantil, Casa Paoli
What is Casa Paoli ?
This elegant and stately 19th-century building, located in the scenic city of Ponce, Puerto Rico, is the restored residence of the great Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli, "the tenor of kings and the king of tenors"—in his time, an artist admired around the world.
The historic building is part of the cultural heritage of Puerto Rico and is one of the most important places to visit in the southwestern area of the island. It was the birthplace of tenor Antonio Paoli (1871–1946), an artist recognized as the "first Puerto Rican to achieve international recognition in the performing arts" and "one of the most outstanding opera singers of all time." Casa Paoli was the artist's home as a child, and the place where he lived with his family until he the age of twelve.
After its restoration in 1987, the building was transformed into a house-museum to honor his memory. It also became the home of the Puerto Rican Folklore Research Center.
In 2009, Casa Paoli was accepted into the National Register of Historic Places. The restoration and maintenance of this exceptional site has been the arduous work of a small group of citizens proud of the musical and folkloric legacy of their country. They have managed to create an impressive cultural center, home to not only several fascinating exhibits, workshops, and public activities, but also replete with historical archives that have formed the basis of numerous important publications on the life and work of noted island artists, as well as the island's musical genres and folklore.
Casa Paoli currently houses the Puerto Rican Folklore Research Center, Inc. [Centro de Investigaciones Folklóricas de Puerto Rico, Inc.] and a regional center of the Puerto Rican Foundation for the Humanities. It is sponsored by the Flamboyán Fund for the Arts.
Hear a décima sung by troubadour Cándida Colón from Villalba, Puerto Rico, which extols the value and importance of Casa Paoli to Puerto Rican culture.
"The Center has distinguished itself by creating and implementing highly effective, innovative projects. It also has been characterized for promoting research and study in neglected or underserved areas, serving as a forum for groups that lack support from other institutions." La Perla del Sur newspaper (February 6, 2013)
Current activities
Click each link for more information.
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We have just completed our first e-book on aspects of music and musical instruments of Puerto Rico
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Presentation and distribution of a new method of jazz theory for the Puerto Rican cuatro.
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Driving the activities of a commemorative commission of the sesquicentennial of the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico.
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Project Rescue from Oblivion: recreating lost Caribbean musical instruments.
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Establishment of a virtual shop of the Center's publications.
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Diffusion of our new video documentary of the history of the Puerto Rican tiple.
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Dissemination of our new video-manual on the construction of a Puerto Rican tiple.
In focus:
current activities sponsored by the center
We invite you to join this important effort being carried out by Casa Paoli, with the support of the Centro de Economía Creativa and its Project Maniobra, with the community of the Bélgica neighborhood of Ponce, to enrich, stimulate, and strengthen various aspects of our culture.
Dialogues about our social problems are also essential in order to resolve or mitigate them. It is crucial to discuss and analyze our social issues. The conversation we organized with Dr. Manuel Mayo López was free of charge.
It is very important that we also continue developing and implementing BEAUTIFUL CRAFTS (ceramics, textile design, macramé, embroidery, screen printing, etc.) in every neighborhood in Puerto Rico. In the past, crafts in each neighborhood of our country were part of its culture. During times of crisis, beautiful crafts are a fundamental part of our daily life. Let's support trades, which, like professions, maintain a good balance in the economic development of our community.
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Screenprinting Workshop for Adults
Barriada Bélgica Community Center, Ponce
SATURDAY
November 21, 2025, at 12:00 pm
A Play for Boys and Girls
Abraham Lincoln
School
46 Calle Campeche Barriada Bélgica Ponce
SATURDAY
December 4,
2025, at 1:00 pm
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Conversation and Exhibition
The Tiple's Trunk
School of Fine Arts
20 Calle Lolita Tizol Ponce
SATURDAY
November 6, 2025, at 4:30 pm
Art Workshop for Boys and Girls
Barriada Bélgica Community Center, Ponce
SATURDAY
November 22, 2025, at 1:00 pm
Conference
Violent Tendencies in Youth
Abraham Lincoln School
Barriada Bélgica Ponce
FRIDAY
November 14, 2025, at 12:00 pm
SILENT AUCTION
Saturday, October 4, 2025, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm
Casa Paoli of the Puerto Rican Folklore Research Center invited friends, collaborators, and the general public to an exhibition and silent auction of works by artists donated to the institution over its 50-year history. A number of local and international collectors and artists, concerned about the lack of funds needed to partially support the Center's administrative tasks, have aligned with our Casa Paoli by donating valuable works from their collections for strictly philanthropic purposes.
Among the participating artists are Antonio (Tony) Maldonado, José R. Alicea, Teo Freites, Diógenes Ballester, Fernando Santiago, Nitza Tufiño, Oscar Martínez, Camilo Carrión, Paoli Marichal, Irene Delano, Fernando Santiago Camacho, Martin García, Osvaldo De Jesús, Dennis Mario Rivera, Luis Hernández Cruz, Orlando Salgado, Artemio Rodríguez (Mexican), among others. In addition, there are figures of the Three Wise Men by Domingo Orta (1985 and 1989); and traditional musical instruments from Puerto Rico; among others.
Néstor Murray-Irizarry, Founder/Director of Casa Paoli and the NMI Cultural Fund, and Ana Emmanuelli Rivera, President of the Board of Directors of the Center-Casa Paoli, art professor at the San Germán campus and Ponce School of Fine Arts, invite collectors, art lovers, and the general public to visit Casa Paoli at 2648 Calle Mayor in Old Ponce by appointment to participate in this silent auction. Each work has a suggested price, and interested individuals can bid in excess of that amount. On Saturday, October 4, 2025, from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, Casa Paoli opened its doors to welcome everyone interested in participating in this silent auction. That day, there was also a sale of books and posters published by Casa Paoli at special prices.
Those interested in financially supporting Casa Paoli can do so via ATH Móvil (casapaoli), PayPal (Centro de Investigaciones Folklóricas), personal check (account 074-430122 - Banco Popular - PR), or postal or bank money order.
Photography Exhibition Opening
Cuerpo de agua
[Body of Water]
by Reynaldo J. Hernández
Commemorating Casa Paoli's 50th anniversary
SATURDAY, APRIL 26, 2025
4:00 PM
CASA PAOLI
2648 CALLE MAYOR
PONCE, PR
New Center publication
Insularismo de Antonio S. Pedreira: El investigador y el artista
[Insularism by Antonio S. Pedreira: Researcher and Artist]
By Félix Córdova Iturregui
Insularism emerged from a meticulous research process accompanied by extensive and continuous reading, as well as group activities and discussions. It was also the result of a persistent artistic will. Pedreira not only crafted numerous powerfully effective metaphors, but also organized them into a literary structure that projects the impression of being an inexhaustible source. While his essays were carefully constructed, with their own unity and mature stylistic profile, they must be studied as part of Pedreira's encompassing intellectual movement, immersed in a society in profound crisis. They responded to an impressive display of searching and struggle to overcome the relationship of colonial subordination. Insularism was a significant milestone on that complex path. It is a text with a tropological framework capable of speaking on multiple levels.
NOW AVAILABLE IN OUR VIRTUAL SHOP
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New Center publication
Brujería y Hechicería en el Caribe hispano, siglo XVII
[Witchcraft and Sorcery in the Hispanic Caribbean, 17th Century]
is the second volume in the series "Inquisition and Imaginary." This anthology of 21 essays revolves around the inquisitorial trials in the Hispanic Caribbean and the imaginaries that were explored and analyzed within them. The main themes are the magical arts in their diverse practices, the inquisitorial trials in Cartagena de Indias, inquisitorial literature, demonism as a historical phenomenon, and the witch hunts. Readers will encounter various historical figures such as the inquisitor Alonso Manso, Puerto Rican mulatto Ana de Mena, Portuguese Isabel Noble, mulatto Bárbola de Arbornoz, Creole Lorenzana de Acereto, and the Black Antón Carabali, among others.
NOW AVAILABLE IN OUR VIRTUAL SHOP
Pablo L. Crespo Vargas (1974) is a native of Lajas, Puerto Rico. He holds a PhD in American History from the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico, Metropolitan Campus. He has experience as an educator at the secondary and university levels and in creating virtual content. His research interests include cultural and religious imagery, microhistory, education development, military history, the Inquisition, and the magical arts as a historical phenomenon. Crespo Vargas is the author of a variety of works and is the editor of the blog and publishing project "Akelarre: History and Fiction."
New Center publication
Voces de Libertad: El sesquicentenario de la abolición de la esclavitud en Puerto Rico (1873-2023)
[Voices of Liberty: The Sesquicentennial of the Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico (1873-2023)]
This book, published by Casa Paoli of the Puerto Rican Folklore Research Center, thanks to the collaboration of a group of researchers and scholars of our historical memory, is part of the efforts of a group of leaders, artists, musicians, and humanists who organized a Commemorative Commission for the Sesquicentennial of the Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico (1873-2023).
The work consists of five historical essays that trace the development of slavery, colonialism, and racism in Puerto Rico:
1) "Past and Present of the Abolition of Slavery on its 150th Anniversary," by Francisco Moscoso, is the keynote address for the Sesquicentennial of the Abolition of Slavery.
2) "The Road to Abolition in Puerto Rico," by Juan R. González Mendoza, reminds us that the end of slavery was a long and complex process.
3) "Ponce's Abolition Park: Between the Monumental Visibility of Abolitionism and the Fading Memory of the Slave Past," by the late historian Marta M. Flores Collazo, analyzes the function of a monument or "place of memory" of abolition in the city of Ponce at the end of the 19th century.
4) "Slavery, Servitude, and Freedmen in Puerto Rico in the Second Half of the 19th Century: Dynamics and Daily Life of Pre-Abolition Slavery and Negotiations of Freedmen During the Post-Abolition Period," by Raúl Mayo Santana, highlights the need to understand the phenomenology of the structure of the slave system and the lives of enslaved and freed people.
5) "Freedman Refusal Strategies in Response to the Post-Abolition Contract Mandate (1873-1876)," by Daniel Morales-Armstrong, deals with the strategies of struggle and resistance of freedmen along the southern coast of the colony.
NOW AVAILABLE IN OUR VIRTUAL SHOP
New Center publication
CASA PAOLI STARTS NEW SERIES OF PUBLICATIONS ABOUT THE MUSIC AND MUSICIANS OF PUERTO RICO
In its efforts to continue contributing to the dissemination and enrichment of our cultural values, the Casa Paoli of the Folklore Research Center of Puerto Rico, Inc. has begun the publication of a series of books inspired by musicians and their work throughout history. musical of our country.
The first volume, now available in bookstores under the suggestive title of Puerto Rico Musical under the authorship, editing or supervision of the retired university professor, the historian Néstor Murray-Irizarry, aims to continue providing new titles to the private, public and private libraries of the nation.
The first volume contains articles and essays that Professor Murray-Irizarry wanted to leave on the table dedicated to: the Synopsis on the development of musical hobby in Puerto Rico; Juan Morel Campos with the collaboration of Rossana Duchesne; Federico Ramos Escalera; Simon Wood; Antonio Paoli and Marcano; Domingo Cruz (Cocolía); Juan Narciso Ríos Rodríguez; Elio Adriano Llorens Rivero; Juan Ríos Ovalle; Julio Alvarado Tricoche; Mercedes Arias; Francisco (Paco) Cortes González; From hymns and other memories and Praise to our traditional musical instruments
AHORA DISPONIBLE EN NUESTRA TIENDA VIRTUAL
Casa Paoli
starts a traveling exhibition
of ancient Puerto Rican musical instrument replicas
Replicas of an antique cuatro and a small 19th century bordonúa recreated by artisan William Cumpiano for the Casa Paoli collection of native instruments
Recently the Puerto Rico Folkloric Research Center, Inc. at Casa Paoli inaugurated the first phase of a series of events related to the traveling exhibition of replicas of ancient musical instruments of Puerto Rico, titled "Rescue from Oblivion." The first exhibit stop opened at the library of the Ponce Art Museum. The exhibition includes the exhibition of several replicas - cuatros, tiples dolientes, tiples requintos and mandonuas - of the traditional musical instruments of our country that in 1888 were taken from Puerto Rico to Germany and in 1898 to Washington. For more informationClick here.
Additional features
RESCUED FROM OBLIVION
It is our effort to bring to public view the traditional musical instruments of the past that have disappeared from the sight and memory of the peoples of the Caribbean. Three experts in performance, craftsmanship, and musical history have dedicated themselves to discovering and creating replicas of lost and forgotten instruments once heard in many of the country's cities and fields, as well as undertaking the effort to recreate the music and the technique of execution of said instruments.
Commemorative commission
celebrating the Sesquicentennial of
the Abolition of Slavery
in Puerto Rico (1873-2023)
The Center has brought together a group of leaders, artists, musicians, humanists and scholars in a Commemorative Commission of the Sesquicentennial of the Abolition of Slavery in Puerto Rico. The Commission has created a work plan that includes talks, concerts, seminars, exhibitions, publications, symposiums on the contribution of Afro-descendant Puerto Ricans to the arts, education, the economy, historical research, cinema, radio, television, politics, literature and other fields of knowledge.
Upcoming Workshops
Since its founding, the Center has been dedicated to researching, enriching and disseminating Puerto Rican cultural values. The sheer number of events and editions carried out by the Center bear this out. One of our most important objectives is to raise awareness and provide our youths and adults with the opportunity to learn to build the traditional instruments of our country. Currently, the Center organizes the William Cumpiano Workshop at the facilities of our headquarters in Ponce; where with the support of the Flamboyán Fund for the Arts, workshops will be offered, in face-to-face or virtual form, in instrument-making, screen printing and engraving on wood and linoleum.
Antonio Paoli and Family
Casa Paoli, the headquarters of the Centro de Investigaciones Folklóricas de Puerto Rico, Inc., is a historic building that is part of the Historic Zone of Ponce. It is the place where Antonio Paoli (1871-1946) was born and lived until the age of twelve; the great tenor who was "the first Puerto Rican to achieve international recognition in the performing arts" and "one of the most outstanding opera singers of all time." View out page dedicated to Antonio Paoli by clicking on his image above.
Large commemorative banner created for the Center
A large educational banner commemorating the sesquicentennial (150 years) of the abolition of slavery in Puerto Rico has been created for the Center by the renowned New York visual artist Perla de Leon, a work that will be installed on a wall in view of a of the main streets of the city of Ponce, Puerto Rico. The banner displays for city passersby a list of the most important dates in the history of slavery and its abolition in Puerto Rico, along with old important documents related to slavery and faces of twenty prominent Puerto Ricans of African descent.
LISTEN TO OUR DIRECTOR explaining the reasons for the creation of the commission during a recent radio interview on WPAB Radio 550 Ponce