One year ago, Uptown Voices launched their first episode
with NOMAA. Now, for their anniversary, Led Black and Octavio Blanco
return — this time live inside the breathtaking Sorolla Gallery at the
Hispanic Society Museum in Washington Heights.

Joined by NOMAA Executive Director Niria Leyva Gutiérrez and Uptown Art
Stroll Director Martin Collins, this is a deep, joyful, urgent conversation
about art, community, resilience, and what it means to build something
beautiful when so much feels uncertain.

The Uptown Art Stroll's 24th year. And it has never felt more necessary.

🎨 UPTOWN ART STROLL 2026 — ALL OF JUNE
40 exhibitions. Open studios. Monday concerts. Walking tours. Free events.
Community buy-in from local businesses across West Harlem, Washington
Heights & Inwood. A 72-page printed guide with QR code linking to the
full online calendar.

🖼️ AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL? — JUNE 5TH
NOMAA's new exhibition opens Friday, June 5th, 6–8 PM at 176th & Broadway. 46 artists. 35% brand new to NOMAA. Art that asks: Where are we? Who are we? What is this grand experiment called America?

🎵 MONDAY EVENING CONCERTS
June 1st — Opening at Audubon Terrace | Langston Hughes Quartet
June 8th — Et A Aguilar & the String Beans at Dyckman Farmhouse
June 15th — Berta Marino quintet at Cabrini Shrine Lawn
June 22nd — Kumba Karey at Montefiore Square Park, 137th & Broadway
June 29th — FINALE: Reg Wins at Jackie Robinson Park Band Shell

🏆 2026 NOMAA HONOREES
Michael Palma | Joyce Adewumi | Morris-Jumel Mansion | Myra Lenaris |
Ronaldo Garcia Pantaleon

🎟️ OPENING RECEPTION — JUNE 1ST, 6–8:30 PM
Hispanic Society Museum & Academy of Arts and Letters, Audubon Terrace. FREE. Open to the public. Rain or shine.

💙 NOMAA MEMBERSHIP — $50, TAX DEDUCTIBLE
Access to all programs, NOMAA Labs (free with membership), studio rentals, grants, and special events. Join at nomaanyc.org

📌 nomaanyc.org | @nomaanyc on Instagram & Facebook

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 "Happy Defiance" — Arts in a Time of Uncertainty
00:59 Welcome: One-Year Anniversary in the Sorolla Gallery
01:37 Octavio on the Hispanic Society — Uptown's Hidden Gem
03:00 Niria's Journey: From Graduate Student to NOMAA Director
05:46 Martin's Story: Born & Raised, 24 Art Strolls Deep
07:27 The Audubon Terrace — Open Every Day
07:58 A Night at the Palace: NOMAA's Annual Gala
10:21 Arts Funding in the Current Political Climate
11:36 Community Buy-In: Local Businesses Are Showing Up
12:47 From 24 Pages to 72: The Growth of the Stroll Guide
13:15 What to Expect at the 24th Uptown Art Stroll
15:15 Renewal, Purpose & Why This Moment Feels Critical
17:46 America the Beautiful? — The Exhibition & the Question Mark
20:16 Multi-Generational Artists at NOMAA
22:20 Marta Blair: First Two-Time Grand Prize Poster Winner
24:07 "Happy Defiance" — Why NOMAA Wasn't Afraid to Make a Statement
27:31 Planning the Stroll: Starting in August for the Following Year
31:06 Monday Evening Concerts: Full Schedule
32:12 The Uptown Art Scene — What Makes It Different
35:12 The Urgency: Grant Requests 4x More Than Available Funds
37:34 How Artists Sell Their Work During the Stroll
40:29 The Origin Story: As Grassroots as It Gets
41:45 NOMAA as the Engine, Not the Driver
45:46 46 Artists at America the Beautiful? | June 5th Opening
47:10 Life Flourishing in the GWB Bus Terminal
49:14 Hamilton Grange, Dyckman Farmhouse & More
50:12 The 72-Page Guide: Why Print Still Matters
51:57 Fireworks Over Yankee Stadium: A Founding Memory
56:08 The 2026 Honorees
58:25 How to Find NOMAA & Show Up June 1st
59:13 The Origin of Uptown Voices: Two Guys Arguing on a Sidewalk
01:01:53 NOMAA Membership: $50, Tax Deductible, Open to All
01:03:22 NOMAA Studios: Four Spaces, All Disciplines
01:05:24 Tom Sanford's Installation at the Hispanic Society
01:06:38 Closing: Support Uptown Voices & Spread Love

🎙️ The Uptown Collective documents the culture, community, and voices
that make Northern Manhattan one of the most extraordinary places
in the world.

▶️ SUBSCRIBE: https://youtube.com/@uptowncollective?si=68xPv3IIxHrhJ2BQ
🔔 Hit the bell. Like. Share. It costs nothing and means everything.

❤️ SUPPORT UPTOWN VOICES — TAX DEDUCTIBLE
The Uptown Collective Podcast is a fiscally sponsored project of the
Maysles Documentary Center — your contribution is 100% tax-deductible.
👉 Donate: https://bit.ly/4eddiWT

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBmbtE4yILFqSWCJtf2Day6NBwHp2FYkU

Spread love — it's the Uptown way. 💙

What does it look like when someone takes everything life threw at them

— homelessness, single motherhood at 19, a stage two cancer diagnosis

— and turns it into fuel to transform an entire community?

Meet Zulaika Velazquez.

In this episode of Uptown Voices, Led Black and Octavio

Blanco sit down with one of Northern Manhattan's most extraordinary

educators, directors, and community builders. Zulaika is a South Bronx

native, Juilliard-trained, and the woman who produced In the Heights at

George Washington High School — with Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jon M. Chu, and

Warner Brothers in the audience. But this conversation goes far deeper

than theater.

🎭 DISTRICT 6 SHOWCASE — MAY 29TH AT UNITED PALACE

750 students, K–12, from 37 schools. Free, open to the public. Art

exhibit from 4 PM, performances 5–7 PM. The only district-wide production

of its kind in the country.

🏫 THERE ARE NO BAD KIDS

Why labeling schools and students ignores the real story — underfunded

classrooms, overcrowded schools, and kids reacting to their circumstances.

Change the resources, change the outcomes.

🌎 ARTS AS LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Kids who didn't speak a word of English performed a full two-hour

production in English at United Palace by year's end. The method works.

🎬 IN THE HEIGHTS AT GW

While on chemo, Zulaika produced In the Heights at GW with a 250-person

waiting list. Lin-Manuel Miranda, Jon M. Chu, and Bette Midler's team

were in the house. It made Oprah Magazine.

🎓 GETTING UPTOWN KIDS INTO SPECIALIZED HIGH SCHOOLS

Why performing arts schools are harder to get into than Stuyvesant —

and how to level the playing field.

🤖 ARTS IN THE AGE OF AI

Why humanities, critical thinking, and storytelling are the skills

AI can't replace.

🗳️ CIVIC EDUCATION IN THE CLASSROOM

How Zulaika navigates politics with students — research the platforms,

register to vote, understand why local elections matter most.

📌 zulaika@spanglishvoces.com

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 There Are No Bad Kids — Opening Statement

01:08 Welcome & Subscribe Reminder

02:06 Introducing Zulaika Velazquez

04:12 District 6 Showcase at United Palace

05:27 750 Students K–12: The Scale of It

06:19 Respecting Every Artist's Work

07:41 The Jukebox Musical Format Explained

08:12 The Only Production of Its Kind Nationwide

09:05 How It Started in 2017

10:46 Free & Open to the Public — May 29th Details

12:10 From South Bronx to Juilliard

14:12 Opera, Word Painting & Why She Left Classical

17:38 Vagina Monologues in Spanish & Arts as Activism

18:05 Language Acquisition Through Musical Theater

19:01 Full English Musical With Non-English Speakers

20:06 Getting Uptown Kids Into Specialized High Schools

22:01 Theater as Community Space at GW

22:20 In the Heights at George Washington High School

35:08 Stage Two Cancer & the Kids Who Showed Up

37:00 Warner Brothers, Lin-Manuel Miranda & Jon M. Chu

39:35 Oprah Magazine & Breaking the Internet

40:57 Latin Grammy Foundation & $40K in Instruments

42:50 LaGuardia vs. GW: The Real Competition

46:20 Arts in the Age of AI

47:07 Saving Lives: Newly Arrived Students & Changed Trajectories

48:09 When the System Fails Newly Arrived Students

52:28 Student Strikes, Civic Power & Social Activism

56:28 How to Get Teenagers to Listen

58:00 The NYC Subway Metaphor for Life

01:02:20 Students, Trump, Andrew Tate & Open Conversations

01:05:51 Research the Platforms, Register to Vote

01:08:54 The Student Who Was Homeless & Became Pro-Trump

01:09:31 Making Better Human Beings Through Art

01:10:29 How to Reach Zulaika & May 29th Details

🎙️ The Uptown Collective documents the culture, community, and voices

that make Northern Manhattan one of the most extraordinary places

in the world.

▶️ SUBSCRIBE: https://youtube.com/@uptowncollective?si=68xPv3IIxHrhJ2BQ

🔔 Hit the bell. Like. Share. It costs nothing and means everything.

❤️ SUPPORT UPTOWN VOICES — TAX DEDUCTIBLE

The Uptown Collective Podcast is a fiscally sponsored project of the

Maysles Documentary Center — your contribution is 100% tax-deductible.

👉 Donate: https://bit.ly/4eddiWT

📺 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBmbtE4yILFqSWCJtf2Day6NBwHp2FYkU

Spread love — it's the Uptown way. 💙

What does it take to build a 30-year career in tech, media, and social media before anyone else in your community even knew those were careers? Ask George Torres — the Urban Jibaro.

In this episode of Black & Blanco Uptown Voices, Led Black and Octavio Blanco sit down with George Torres, a true Latino pioneer in the digital space. George created the first Latino blog on the internet in 1997 — before social media, before smartphones, before most people had a computer at home. Three decades later, he's still ahead of everyone.

This conversation is essential listening for creators, entrepreneurs, podcasters, and anyone building a personal brand in the digital age.

🖥️ THE FIRST LATINO BLOG (1997) — George built Sofrito for Your Soul on GeoCities and grew it into an international audience before most people had internet at home.

🏷️ PERSONAL BRANDING — He's worked with Lin-Manuel Miranda, HBO, Disney, CNN, JetBlue, Fat Joe, Angie Martinez, John Leguizamo, Hot 97, and Univision. Most people don't know it. He breaks down why staying humble is leaving money on the table.

📱 THE FUTURE OF THE CREATOR ECONOMY — Big corporations are outsourcing. Individual creators are filling the gap. George explains what that means for anyone building right now.

💰 KNOW YOUR WORTH — The story of running a Twitter campaign for Top Five and discovering he was charging 10 times less than the actual budget.

🏥 THE HOSPITAL BED CAMPAIGN — Hired as a COVID spokesperson, George tested positive before launch. He ran the campaign from a hospital bed, brought in Fat Joe, DJ Khaled, Angie Martinez & Led Black — and won a Telly Award in eight weeks.

🧠 MENTAL HEALTH IS YOUR BUSINESS PLAN — Siembra Connect puts mental health, community, and mutual aid at the center of the creator economy.

📌 siembraconnect.com | @siembraconnect on Instagram and Threads

⏱️ CHAPTERS

00:00 Mental Health, Creator Burnout & Siembra Connect Intro
01:15 Welcome: George Torres, the Urban Jibaro
02:02 How Octavio, Led & George Have Always Moved Together
03:34 The Howard Beach Bias Incident of 1986
05:50 Meeting Richie Perez & the Young Lords
06:56 What Is a Jibaro? Brooklyn Meets Puerto Rican Roots
08:23 The First Latino Blog on the Internet (1997)
10:12 GeoCities, Sofrito for Your Soul & Going International
12:29 The Nassau County Museum of Art & Latino Masters Expo
13:58 How George Started Building Websites to Keep the Lights On
15:16 MiGente.com & the Rise of Latino Social Media
34:02 What's Next for Social Media & the Creator Economy
36:09 Why Uptown Collective's Framework Could Work Anywhere
37:29 The Top Five Twitter Party & the $500 vs $5,000 Lesson
40:20 Speed, Reputation & Being the A-Team of Social Media
41:35 Running a Telly Award Campaign From a COVID Hospital Bed
44:05 Fat Joe, DJ Khaled, Angie Martinez & Latinos Out Loud
45:06 Claiming Your Genius: Stop Letting Others Hold Your Awards
47:37 Personal Branding, Latino Identity & the Politics of Self
48:33 The Projects Nobody Knows: UN, HBO, Disney, JetBlue & More
51:27 The Charlamagne Lesson: Don't Lose Your Community Chasing Bigger
53:08 LinkedIn, Photo Ops & Why You Have to Talk About Yourself
55:00 Brands, Politics & Why Your Business Is Not a Megaphone
59:39 The My Pillow Warning: When Politics Destroys a Brand
01:04:18 COVID Backlash, Remdesivir & Speaking Up Anyway
01:06:52 Respecting Your Community With Real Health Information
01:09:42 Creator Isolation & How Siembra Connect Breaks Through It
01:10:33 The Convite: A Community Gathering for Creators
01:13:49 Siembra Connect: Teaching From Experience, Not From a Guru
01:14:35 George's Offer: A Fireside Chat in Washington Heights
01:15:11 How to Find George Torres & Siembra Connect
01:15:35 Closing: Community Is More Than Business

🎙️ The Uptown Collective documents the culture, community, and voices that make Northern Manhattan one of the most extraordinary places in the world.

▶️ SUBSCRIBE: https://youtube.com/@uptowncollective?si=68xPv3IIxHrhJ2BQ
🔔 Hit the bell. Like. Share. It costs nothing and means everything.

❤️ SUPPORT UPTOWN VOICES — TAX DEDUCTIBLE
The Uptown Collective Podcast is a fiscally sponsored project of the Maysles Documentary Center — your contribution is 100% tax-deductible.
👉 Donate: https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/CJ5HJSZ2JF97S

Spread love — it's the Uptown way. 💙

Sarina Prabasi co-founded Buunni Coffee in Washington Heights with her husband Elias in 2012 after moving from Ethiopia with two contacts, no business network, and a vision of what a neighborhood coffee shop could be. Thirteen years later, Buunni is one of upper Manhattan's most beloved community institutions — and Sarina is one of its most compelling voices.

In this episode of Uptown Voices, hosts Octavio Blanco and Led Black sit down with Sarina to trace the full arc of the Buunni story: from roasting coffee in their kitchen and delivering bags door to door, to opening the Bronx's first specialty coffee roastery in Hunts Point, to landing their newest location inside Columbia University Medical Center. Along the way, Sarina reflects on what the Ethiopian coffee ceremony taught her about community, why she left a career in international development to plant roots in upper Manhattan, and how Buunni survived the pandemic without laying off a single employee.

Sarina also opens up about writing her book The Coffee House Resistance — and why she's not sure she'd feel free enough to write it today. She talks candidly about navigating economic instability, tariffs, and the political climate as a small business owner who refuses to be neutral. And she shares the story of Melody — the Buunni regular who famously organized customers to babysit the café for a day so the entire staff could go to the beach.

This is a conversation about coffee, yes — but really it's about what it means to build something that belongs to a neighborhood.

❤️ Support Hyperlocal Media Uptown Voices is a fiscally sponsored project of the Maysles Documentary Center. Your tax-deductible contribution helps us keep telling the stories that matter in upper Manhattan. Donate here: https://bit.ly/4eddiWT

Find Buunni Coffee at buunnicoffee.com and on Instagram at @BuunniCoffee. Their new location opens May 4th at 701 West 168th Street in NYC.

Led Black and Octavio Blanco are back for another live Sunday session, bringing the energy, the community love, and the unfiltered conversations that make Uptown Voices essential listening for anyone who calls uptown home — or wishes they did.

In this episode:

🎵 Uptown Cultural Roundup The guys kick off with a packed calendar of uptown events. Led shouts out NOMA's "America the Beautiful?" exhibit (today's the last day to submit!), plus the stunning free subway art installations at the 181st and 190th Street A train stations featuring artists like Fuego, Josefina Hernandez, and Frank de la Melcez. Mark your calendars for the Emmett Cohen Trio at Harlem School of the Arts on May 19th — Led calls him a straight-up wizard who literally plays inside the piano.

🎻 Gustavo Dudamel Comes to the Heights This one had them both buzzing. The legendary conductor Gustavo Dudamel and the New York Symphony are performing at United Palace — and tickets start at just $25 on boletos.com. Octavio connects Dudamel's roots in Venezuela's El Sistema — a music program for underserved youth — to the same community-uplift mission driving organizations like Jazz Power right here uptown. Don't sleep on this.

🌿 Cleaning Up the Block Uptown People's Project, in collaboration with Carmen De La Rosa's office, is organizing a neighborhood-wide spring cleaning on May 2nd across Washington Heights and Inwood — Dyckman, Nagle, 207th, Bennett Park, and more. Supplies provided. Volunteers needed. Octavio leads by example (Led caught him out here with a trash picker after a meeting 😄).

📚 Word Up + Boonee + Community Events Shoutouts to Word Up Books for their upcoming event at the Bronx Music Hall featuring authors Julia Alvarez and Angie Cruz (April 28th, 7–9pm). Plus, Boonee Coffee is hosting weekly writers' groups, chess nights, open mics, and more — and their episode drops this Tuesday! And don't miss the WAHEE Chamber of Commerce Policy Breakfast on May 7th — Led and Octavio will be live-streaming it since it's already sold out.

💬 The Hard Conversation: Youth Violence & Social Media A viral video of a 14-year-old boy body-slamming and stomping a girl in East Harlem hits different when Led and Octavio break it down. They dig into the dangerous intersection of poverty, social media, peer pressure, and toxic masculinity culture — and refuse to let it be just another headline. Their take is nuanced: hold the young man accountable, but ask why, and use this as a community wake-up call, not just outrage fuel.

🗳️ Politics, Anger & Accountability — No Sacred Cows Led doesn't hold back on his frustrations with both parties, and the guys get into it on the latest Trump news — from conspiracy theories around the Butler assassination attempt to the administration's pattern of disinformation. Octavio brings balance; Led brings fire. Che Guevara closes the show. Spread love is still the Uptown way — even when the hate is earned.

Subscribe to Uptown Collective on YouTube — you're helping them hit their first sustainability milestone. Every sub counts. New episodes drop every Tuesday and they go LIVE every Sunday at 10am.

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Spread love is the Uptown way. 🙏