The Center opened on April 9, 1981 under the administration of Governor Carlos Romero Barceló after ten years of planning, project financing, and construction.

In January 2019, Lin-Manuel Miranda’s musical Hamilton began its third touring production at the venue, with Miranda reprising the title role of Founding Father and Secretary of Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, with higher praise than his original run on Broadway.

[2] Miranda returned to the venue after nine years since he reprised the role of Usnavi exclusively in San Juan during the North American touring production of In the Heights, which he also wrote.

These are two separate works of art, one being an assortment of 6-foot-tall (1.8 m) bronze female sculptures along the Juan Morel Campos Plaza, by Annex Burgos; and the second being a large mural at the center's façade (pictured above), made from a mixture concrete and crystal stones and designed by Augusto Marín.

Each muse represents the different arts and cultures which the Center embraces, including local and classical music, theater, literature, dance, films, architecture, sculptures, and painting.