2026 to 2027 season
Every Cultunio program is built around one simple structure: something to share, a small group, and a host who makes sure you are never left standing alone with a paper cup. Prices are in US dollars and every date holds back pay-what-you-can seats.
Someone greets you at the door by name and introduces you to your first two people.
At least 20% of seats on every date are offered from $5, no questions asked.
Wheelchair access, accessible restrooms, quiet corners and free entry for personal care attendants.
Cancel up to 48 hours before for a full refund or move to another date for free.
The full lineup
Feeling sociable? Try the supper club. Prefer to listen first? Start with a storytelling night. Want to use your hands? Stitch & Story. Showing 9 programs.
Every Thursday a home cook from one of New York's communities takes over our kitchen and cooks the food they grew up with. You sit wherever there is a chair, pass the dishes, and hear the story behind each plate between courses. Vegetarian options at every supper.
Six tellers, one theme, no slides. We coach first-time tellers in a free workshop the Saturday before, so the lineup is a mix of seasoned voices and people who have never spoken in public. Held in partner library branches across Brooklyn and Queens.
Each circle starts with a question that has no right answer: what did your grandparents argue about, where do you feel at home, what would you never throw away. A trained host makes sure everyone speaks and nobody lectures. Pay what you can, from $5.
Our guides live in the neighborhoods they walk. Routes include the tenements of the Lower East Side, Caribbean Crown Heights and Polish Greenpoint. Every walk ends at a family-run bakery or cafe where the conversation carries on.
Pairs of one older and one younger participant learn a traditional craft over six sessions every other Sunday: Bengali kantha stitching, Polish paper cutting, Puerto Rican mundillo lace, Irish crochet. Materials are included and every finished piece goes into a shared exhibition.
Tables are labeled by language pair, from Portuguese and English to Spanish, Polish, Bengali, Haitian Creole and Tagalog. Twenty minutes in one language, twenty in the other, then switch. Hosts bring conversation cards for anyone who freezes. First drink included.
Songs come from the members themselves: a Yoruba hymn, a Haitian lullaby, a Gujarati wedding song. Our music director teaches every part by ear, and each term ends with a free concert for the neighborhood. Reduced rate $40 per term.
A morning workshop covers asking open questions, sitting with silence and getting good sound in a kitchen. You then borrow a recorder and headphones for two weeks. With permission, recordings are archived with our partner local history collection.
We design and run listening sessions, intercultural team days and resident engagement that does not feel like a public hearing. Every engagement starts with a free scoping call and ends with a written summary of what people actually said.
For city agencies, schools, employers and housing nonprofits
Most engagement fails because it asks people to come to a meeting about a meeting. We bring the format that works at our own tables, food, a small group and a good question, to the people you need to hear from.
Half day from $1,500, full day from $2,600, plus venue costs. Free 30-minute scoping call.
Request a scoping callNot sure where to start?
Come to Tell Me Something True. You can sit in the dark and listen, and the intermission is a natural moment to talk about the stories with whoever is next to you.
A Neighborhood History Walk gives you the story of your new neighborhood and a dozen people to have coffee with at the end. Many walkers go on to the Language Swap Cafe.
Join the Many Voices Choir or a six-session Stitch & Story pairing. Seeing the same faces every week is the fastest way from acquaintance to friend.
Record a Family Story gives you a reason to sit down together, and our afternoon Conversation Circles finish before the evening rush hour on the subway.
From the regulars
The language swap is the only place in New York where I have made friends who are not from work. I came for Portuguese and stayed for the people.
I was nervous I would be the only one who could not sing. Nobody can, really, and that is the point. Tuesday is my favorite night of the week.
Our tenant meetings used to be the same six people shouting. Cultunio ran three listening sessions and we heard from forty households we had never met.
Book or ask a question
We hold your seat and confirm by email within one business day, with payment details and access notes. Paying at the door is fine for walk-in friendly events.
Someone from our programs team will reply within one business day. If your question is about a gathering this week, you can also call us at +1 (718) 555-0143.
