The Latinx Project will honor Elia Alba, Gilberto Cardenas, and Nitza Tufiño at 2026 Spring Celebration
L-R: Photos of Elia Alba; Gilberto Cardenas; and Nitza Tufiño. Cardenas is photographed by Roj Rodriguez. Tufiño is photographed by George Malave.
The Latinx Project: Interdisciplinary Center for Arts and Culture announces the selection of multidisciplinary artist Elia Alba, scholar and advocate Gilberto Cardenas, and foundational artist Nitza Tufiño as Honorees. The three honorees will be recognized at The Latinx Project’s Spring Celebration on April 8, 2026 at HK Hall in New York City. The celebration and fundraiser is open to the public and supports the sustainability of The Latinx Project’s programs and the center’s endowment for arts and curatorial programs. Tickets are available through this link.
This year’s celebration marks The Latinx Project’s fourth annual fundraiser. It will include an online auction launching on February 12, 2026 featuring works by 23 artists who have participated in one of the center’s sixteen exhibitions since its founding. Additionally, there is a special lot supporting the Tomás Ybarra-Frausto Curatorial Fund with works by the De la Torre Brothers, Alejandro Diaz, and Maria de los Angeles.
The three honorees will be presented with awards designed by Victoria Martinez, an interdisciplinary artist whose work is inspired by ancient sites, architecture, and the urban environment. She her Mexican-American ancestry through textile-based projects including painting, sculpture, and public art.
At the party, Peruvian-born and Queens-based DJ Undocubougie will perform. She is the founder of Arrebato —a monthly pop-up pachanga & collective honoring TGNCQ, Black and brown women and femmes in Jackson Heights.
About the Honorees
Elia Alba (she/her) is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice explores the social and political complexities of race, identity, and collective community. Born in Brooklyn to Dominican immigrants who arrived in the 1950s, Alba earned her degree from Hunter College and completed the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program in 2001. Her work has been exhibited globally at institutions including the Studio Museum in Harlem, El Museo del Barrio, the Stedelijk Museum, the Science Museum (London), and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. Alba’s practice is documented in Elia Alba: The Supper Club (Hirmer 2019). Notably, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture acquired her entire Supper Club photography project. Her accolades include the Anonymous Was A Woman Award, the Latinx Artist Fellowship, and grants from the Pollock-Krasner and Joan Mitchell Foundations. Also a curator, she served on the team for El Museo del Barrio’s Estamos Bien: La Trienal 20/21. Her work is held in the permanent collections of the National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and El Museo del Barrio. She lives and works in Harlem.
Gilberto Cardenas is an internationally recognized sociologist, one of the founders of Latino Studies as a field in the United States, and avid collector of Latino art. At the University of Texas at Austin, and later at the University of Notre Dame, where he founded the Institute for Latino Studies and the Notre Dame Center For Arts and Culture, he became one of the nation’s leading voices in the sociology of the Mexican American experience. His research and teaching illuminated the struggles and triumphs of immigration, labor, identity, and community, shaping generations of students and expanding the presence of Latino studies in American higher education. Beyond academia, he has served in foundational roles with the Smithsonian Latino Center, MALDEF, Self Help Graphics, Galería Sin Fronteras, Latino USA! and many other institutions, championing equity and access while amplifying underrepresented voices.
Nitza Tufiño (b. 1949, Mexico City) is a recognized muralist, public artist, printmaker, and painter based in New York City. Raised in San Juan, Puerto Rico, she brings a transnational perspective to her work rooted in Puerto Rican, Caribbean, and urban cultural histories. She was the first female founding artist of Taller Boricua in 1969 and currently serves as director of their Rafael Tufiño Printmaking Workshop. She also played a foundational role in the development of various community-based arts organizations including Loisaida, Inc., El Museo del Barrio, Friends of Puerto Rico (d/b/a Cayman Gallery) and the Museum of Contemporary Hispanic Art (MOCHA). As a public artist and muralist with numerous commissions, she holds the distinction of being the first artist of color to receive two commissions from the MTA. Tufiño has received grants from the NEA, Mid-Atlantic Arts Foundation, and NYFA and awards from the New York City Council, Manhattan Borough President, and the State of New York. Most recently, she was one of the artists awarded the 2025 Latinx Artist Fellowship by US Latinx Art Forum.
Click here to learn more and register for The Latinx Project’s Spring Celebration and Fundraiser. Discounted tickets are available for Artists, Cultural Workers & Students. Individual patrons and organizations are invited to consider sponsorship opportunities. All contributions directly support the sustainability of arts and culture programs at The Latinx Project.