In partnership with The Clemente in 2021, we created La Pizarra, a micro-residency for BIPOC multidisciplinary and performance artists from the EMERGENYC alumni and faculty network. The Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural & Educational Center is a Puerto Rican/Latinx multi-arts institution rooted in NYC’s Lower East Side/Loisaida. La Pizarra—the chalkboard—is the guiding image for this space of experimentation and creation housed in studio 406: it invites artists to try new things, erase, try again. Responding to the needs we have identified in conversation with our artist network, and layering on the established resources of our historical building as well as our seasonal programmatic staples, we aim to create—and hold—a space for artists to gather and feel a sense of belonging and solidity that allows them to take risks they wouldn’t be able to elsewhere. The artists in the inaugural 2021-22 cohort are: Kevin Quiles Bonilla (Emerge 2021 alum), Alicia Grullón (Emerge faculty), and John Maria Gutierrez (Emerge 2021 alum).