Daniel Gallant, Nuyorican Poets Cafe

Jeannie Hopper sits down with Daniel Gallant, the Executive Director of New York's iconic Nuyorican Poets Café. Established in 1973 as a living room salon by Miguel Algarin, the Café is renown as a multicultural, multi-arts platform for innovative works of poetry, music, hip-hop, visual art, comedy and theatre. Since its earliest years, the Café has championed these art forms as a means of social empowerment for minority and underprivileged artists, leading Allen Ginsberg to describe it as "the most integrated place on the planet.”

Gallant describes the evolution of the Café over the past four decades, including their plans for an expanded performance space and programming. He notes the ongoing importance of the Café and other likeminded cultural spaces, at a time when many younger performers are being priced out of New York.

Daniel Gallant is a playwright and theatrical producer based in New York. Before taking on the role as the Executive Director of the Nuyorican Poets Café, he served as the Director of Theater and Talk Programming at the 92nd Street Y’s Makor Center and at 92YTribeca.

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