Mexican Culture in New York City

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Mexican New York City

The Upper West Side and “El Barrio” East Harlem have Mexican communities. There are growing Mexican communities in Bayside, Brooklyn; Staten Island; and Queens.

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Mexican Art

The Whitney Museum of American Art said that the biggest influence on American art was not the Europeans, it was the Mexican muralists.

The Mexican Cultural Institute New York is the cultural department of the Mexican Consulate. It regularly presents programs in the Octavio Paz Gallery. mciny.org 🇲🇽

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Mexican Dance

New York City has many excellent Mexican dance companies. The most unexpected one is Limón Dance Company, because José Limón was one of the pioneers of modern dance.

Ballet Folklórico Mexicano de Nueva York is a Mexican ballet folklórico dance company. @bfmny

Ballet Hispánico is a contemporary dance company with a Mexican American founder, and a strong Mexican choreographer. 🇲🇽

Ballet Nepantla is an award-winning contemporary dance company that explores cultural in-between-ness by dancing Mexican folklore as contemporary ballet. 🇲🇽

Calpulli Mexican Dance Company is a strong community folkloric dance organization with a touring company and teaching artists. 🇲🇽

Dzul Dance is a New York/Campeche Mexican dance company that fuses dance, aerial arts, contortion, and acrobatics into a unique bridge between contemporary art and historical heritage. 🇲🇽

Limón Dance Company is the legacy of Mexican modern dance pioneer José Limón. 🇲🇽

Mazarte is an Indigenous Mexican dance company based in The Bronx. mazarte.org 🇲🇽

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Mexican Dancing

La Boom night club hosts New York’s most popular Mexican party on Sunday nights. You can dance banda, corridos, cumbia sonidera, norteño, and more. 🇲🇽

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Mexican Festivals

• Celebrate Mexico Now Festival
• Cinco de Mayo
• Cinco de Mayo Parade
• Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead)
• Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe
• Las Mañanitas a Nuestra Virgen de Guadalupe
• Mexican Independence Day
• Mexican Independence Parade

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Mexican Food

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Mexican Government

The Mexican Consulate and Mexican Cultural Institute New York are in Murray Hill, Manhattan.

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Mexican Music

Regional Mexican is America’s most popular Latin music. Latin rock started in Mexico.

• Flor de Toloache is New York City’s first all-female mariachi. 🇲🇽
• Jarana Beat is a New York Mexican fandango band. 🇲🇽

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About Mexican NYC

Mexican NYC is New York’s third-largest Latin community, and the largest in the United States.

As of 2020, there are about 321,000 of us, around 13% of New York’s Hispanic community. We grew about 10% since 2010, and are New York’s second fastest growing Latin community. We live mostly in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and Queens.

We are among the world’s hardest working people.

Like other Latins, we are a multiracial mix of Indigenous, European, and African. We are the descendants of the great Olmec, Maya, Aztec, and many other civilizations. Corn, which feeds America, was developed in Mexico, so was chocolate.

Regional Mexican is America’s most popular Latin music. There are many forms including: mariachi, banda, norteño, and tejano. Mexican cumbia has been popular since the 1940s. Latin rock started in Mexico.

The Whitney Museum of American Art said that the biggest influence on American art was the Mexican muralists, not the Europeans. Let that sink in a minute.

Mexican culture is one of the cultures that defines American culture. The western two-thirds of our country was once New Spain, which became Mexico, so we have a lot in common.

Mexican Americans are the largest Latin community in the U.S., and the third largest in New York City.

Mexican culture is mostly Indigenous with Spanish and African influences. There are even some Asian influences because Acapulco was the American side of Spain’s colonial trade with Asia.

Mexico was the home of three of America’s great civilizations, the Olmec, Maya and Aztec.

Our big festivals include Three Kings Day (January 6), Cinco de Mayo (May 5), Holy Week (varies), Mexican Independence Day (September 16), Day of the Dead (November 2), the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe (December 12). Our Posadas Navideñas (Christmas processions) are famous.

Mexican Music

Reik is a Mexican pop band.