Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact is located in the Nancy Cantor Warehouse in downtown Syracuse.
For half a century, Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact (POC) has served the University and local communities as a hub for artistic and literary exploration. Two special programs will be held this year in celebration of the organization’s 50th anniversary.
Poet Diana Marie Delgado will read from her work April 2 as a guest of POC’s Cruel April poetry series.
On Thursday, April 2, a reading by acclaimed Mexican American poet Diana Marie Delgado will kick off POC’s Cruel April poetry series, which is held annually in observance of National Poetry Month. The reading will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Syracuse University Art Museum, located in Shaffer Art Building on campus.
The event will also feature a pop-up show of five artist books commissioned in honor of POC’s 50th anniversary. The exclusive works—created by POC advisory board members Juan Juárez (board president and associate professor of studio arts in the College of Visual and Performing Arts), Pedro Roth, Matías Roth, Joseph Kugielsky and Maritza Bautista—are inspired by Delgado’s poems and by poetry selections from POC’s early literary publications, including Argentine author Julio Cortázar’s “Five Erotic Sonnets.”
The 2025 Cruel April series is dedicated to the memory of poet Michael Burkard, associate professor emeritus of English in the College of Arts and Sciences, who died in December. Burkard was a longtime partner of and contributor to POC, and his poetry was published in the POC poetry collection “Corresponding Voices, Vol. 4.”
Guests at the Delgado reading will also be able to view the exhibit “Joiri Minaya: Unseeing the Tropics at the Museum,” curated by Cristina Pardo Porto, assistant professor of Latinx literature and culture, who will also speak at the event.
POC’s second 50th anniversary event will be a major exhibition of Latin American art from the permanent collection. “50 Sin Cuenta” will open Friday, Sept. 19, at the College of Visual and Performing Arts’ Warehouse Gallery in the Nancy Cantor Warehouse, 350 West Fayette Street, Syracuse.
Punto de Contacto/Point of Contact was founded by late scholar Pedro Cuperman. It began in 1975 as an independent editorial project at New York University, where Cuperman first taught when he migrated from Argentina in the late 1960s. He brought POC to Syracuse in 1976, and it evolved to include the “Corresponding Voices” book series, poetry editions and, in 2005, an art gallery. Cuperman, who died in 2016, taught Latin American literature and semiotics in the Arts and Sciences’ Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics for more than 40 years.
“I’ve always felt that Point of Contact is sort of a rare, hidden gem—a fiercely creative space where voices correspond across borders, disciplines and cultures,” says Teresita Paniagua ’82, executive director of the Office of Cultural Engagement for the Hispanic Community. “I am incredibly fortunate to have spent 22 of those 50 years working closely with Pedro Cuperman and with so many amazing colleagues, artists, poets and scholars. Point of Contact has also served as a training ground for students, many who now hold top positions as arts administrators, curators and museum professionals across the country, extending the impact of our mission far beyond Syracuse.”
For more information about POC and scheduled events, visit puntopoint.org.
