Eric Avilés served as an artist-in-residence with Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture (HCAC) to enhance theater arts opportunities in the South Bronx, New York. He collaborated with HCAC to produce a monthly theater open mic, The Playground, featuring acclaimed playwrights of color from the Bronx. The Playground provided a platform for local and regional artists and theater enthusiasts to perform and share their work in a supportive and safer space. The Playwright & Theatre Workshop offered several weeks of free classes for adults in playwriting, focusing on holistic self-exploration in a nurturing and collaborative environment. The workshop included activities like connection-building, meditation, and creative games. The collaboration culminated in showcasing participants’ short plays to the Bronx community. This partnership also supported Eric in developing and producing a staged reading of his new play, “Of Love and Resistance” presented at Hostos Repertory Theatre.

Named “the powerful locus for Latino art” by the New York Times, the Hostos Center serves the cultural needs of South Bronx residents and neighboring communities. As a leader in Latinx and African-based programming, the Center creates performing and visual arts forums in which the diverse cultural heritages of its audiences are celebrated and nurtured.The Hostos Center consists of two state-of-the-art theaters of 900 and 367 seats each, an experimental Black Box theater, and an art gallery.