Open Mic

The Café is home to several weekly and monthly Open Mic events. Our stage is home to artists of all phases, and our enthusiastic crowds are ideal for rookies and seasoned performers alike.

Though music and poetry are among the most popular categories of Open Mic performance, these events are open to all forms of expression, and a unique mix of comics, story-tellers, and miscellaneous performers have graced our stages.

Our open mics operate on a first-come-first-serve basis. Interested performers may line up at the venue 1 hour before doors open (e.g. 8pm for a 9pm show). When doors open, the sign up sheet is opened and the first 25 names on the list receive 3-4 minutes to perform.

Since closing for NUYORICANSTRUCTION, our Open Mics are held ONLINE and at community partner venues in the Lower East Side including the Loisaida Center and The International Center of Photography. For tickets and specific dates, please visit our Event Calendar.

Poetry Slam

The first poetry slam in New York City was held at the Nuyorican Poets Café in 1989. Decades later, our Slam programming forms a key part of the city’s cultural life, and we remain the venue most commonly associated with slam poetry in the United States and abroad. Today’s Nuyorican Poetry Slam is the result of our tradition of talented hosts, amazing performers and heart-stopping performances. Each one has helped to develop the legendary Poetry Slam reputation that is associated with the Café. Our slam programs have received coverage from PBS, CNN, the Wall Street Journal, New York Magazine and NPR, and a social justice grant from the Rubin Foundation.

Poetry Slam at the Nuyorican is truly poetry of and by the people. Winners of any Nuyorican Poetry Slam are chosen entirely by our varied audience members, a continual stream of changing faces, ages and backgrounds that make up New York City on any given night. Audience judges are not required to have any special skills or history and that’s what makes our slam so exciting and unpredictable.

Since closing for NUYORICANSTRUCTION, our Poetry Slams are held in community partner venues Bowery Poetry Club, and the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater. Each Monday, we host the Nuyorican Bowery Slam, an open-mic-style poetry competition in which members of the public are welcome to share their skills. Winners of the Nuyorican Bowery Slam are eligible to compete in the Monthly Grand Slam at the Puerto Rican Traveling theater.

For tickets and specific dates, please visit our Event Calendar.

Hip Hop

Since the late ‘80s-early ‘90s, the Café has been a platform for generations of Hip Hop artists and a key contributor to the form’s evolution. Giving rise to such fabled MCs as Big Pun, Jim Jones and Lloyd Banks, we remain dedicated to honoring Hip Hop’s legends, and supporting and promoting its rising stars. Our audiences come to experience the deep history of our stage that has been embedded in both mainstream and underground Hip Hop culture.

Theater

The Café is proud to be a home for Downtown theatre’s most innovative artists, and our unique setting invites audiences to broaden their perceptions and interact with groundbreaking works onstage. Our Theater Program has received an OBIE Grant for Excellence in Theater, and productions at the Café have been honored with over 30 Audelco Awards through the years. Our award-winning productions include “Julius Caesar Set in Africa” (8 Audelco Awards), “Don’t Explain” (7 Audelco Awards), “Life During Wartime” (5 Audelco Awards), “Shango de Ima” (11 Audelco Awards) and “Monk” (2 Audelco Awards).

Visit our Event Calendar to see upcoming theater events, and take part the Café’s rich theatrical tradition.