Creators of fiber art, film, music, photography, poetry, textiles, and theater are among 138 recipients who will receive a total of $457,600 from the Queens Arts Fund this year.
Funded by the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts, theses projects will create moments of celebration, emotion, and joy, while exploring topics ranging from community-building to gentrification, grief, health, identity, resiliency, and social activism.
Here are a few 2024 QAF projects.
Concetta Abbate’s Ridgewood-Glendale Soundwalk will take participants on a musical exploration with interactive mapping. It’ll culminate in a performance in Highland Park, spotlighting shifting soundscapes and local infrastructure needs.
The Dream Unfinished’s VITALS is a free outdoor health festival with live classical music by The TDU String Quartet at the Jamaica Center for Arts & Learning.
Woomin Kim’s The Warehouse exhibits textile collages she made to describe the landscape of the warehouse at the Material for the Arts, where she was an artist in residence.
David Manrique’s Made by Us photos showcase BIPOC and immigrant food makers. The Louis Armstrong House Museum will display a related exhibition this summer.
Senior Theater Acting Repertory’s Bringing Live Theater and Songs to Queens organizes live, in-person shows to mostly senior audiences, performed by seniors.
The full list of recipients and panelists is below. Or click here to see it online.
Astoria Film Festival Inc., Astoria Film Festival Media Production Lab.
BERM, Culturally Daylighting Flushing Creek: Reimagining Hydro-Citizenship through Participatory Arts-Based Research.
Chinese Artists and Organizers Collective, The Ciba Punch.
City Gate Productions, Frankenstein.
Colectivo Como Un Lugar, Lugar Común: Cuarta Fiesta de la Poesía Latinoamericana / Lugar Comun: Foueth Latin-American Poetry Festival.
DanceStream Projects, Stories in the Moment: Belonging in Action.
Flamenco Latino, The 2024 Más Allá Series.
Galore Urban Tech Inc., VR Art Tour 2024.
Jackson Heights Beautification Group, Summer Sundays in the Park.
JH Art Talks, Off-Brand 3.0.
New Music Horizons, Collaborative Artists in Concert.
No, YOU Tell It!, True-Life Tales with a Twist.
Open Circuit, Satellite Cinema.
PinProductions, Ducky and Patsy’s Fairytales for Sophisticated Adults: Gretel & Gretel.
Project Attica, Our Art Identity.
Queens Fiber Arts Festival, Queens Fiber Arts Festival & Fashion Show.
Ridgewood Off-Kilter Film Festival, Ridgewood Off-Kilter Film Festival
Rock Rising Inc., Astoria Creative Arts Camp.
Senior Theater Acting Repertory, Bringing Live Theater and Songs to Queens.
Shakespeare on the Beach, 2024 Season: Twelfth Night or What You Will.
Sharlene Chou/Magic Ming Studio, Chinese Calligraphy, Paper Cutting and Craft Workshops for Celebrating Lunar Year of the Dragon.
Son Jarocho NY, The 14th NY Son Jarocho Festival.
Sounds of Cyprus, Sounds of Cyprus: An Evening of Traditional Cypriot Music and Dance.
Stephen Street Gallery, Stephen Street Gallery 2024 Programming.
The Dream Unfinished, VITALS.
The Motor Company NYC, Inc., Communal Spaces: a garden play festival 2024.
Woodside Arts Collective, International Dance Day.
Zazel-Chavah O’Garra, “Look pon you.”
New Work
Concetta Abbate, Ridgewood-Glendale Soundwalk.
Yasmeen Abdallah, The Art of Fashion.
Damali Abrams the Glitter Priestess, Forgotten Black Histories of Queens.
Sienna Aczon, Celestial Siblings & Other Beings: Adapted Filipino Folktales.
Destinie Adélakun, Water’s Edge, Creating awareness of Ocean health through art.
Adult Film and Ryan Czerwonko, Meg Case, Brad Porter, and Mia Vallet; Sea Gull.
Jae Hi Ahn, Solace in Nature.
stefa marin alarcon, End of The Patriarchy To Do List: An EP & Group Poetics Workshop.
Alchemyverse (Bicheng Liang and Yixuan Shao), The Continent has been Wandering in Time.
Alexeya, return to love.
Talisa Almonte: Almonte Studio, World’s Borough Bookshop Mural.
Lowel Alomar, The 6ixth Boro.
Henry Arroyo/Studio East100, Re-Birth.
Asoso International Arts Initi, A Taste of Kumina.
Corrie Aune, The Story of This Place: Young Activists of Queens.
Aileen Bassis, A Place Remembered.
Stephanie Beck, Frame/Forest.
Tom Block, Oud Player on the Tel.
Block Chords Production, Jazz Explorations 2024.
Alexandra Borovski, Untitled (Working Title: Drawing Together).
Jude Brandt, Stephen Foglia, The Astoria Food Pantry; Cascadia.
Natali Bravo-Barbee, Capullo/Cocoon: In the Shadows of Motherhood.
Rachel Brown, Resistance is Fertile: the story of the 45th Street Green Space.
Anna Capunay, SOMBRAS.
Nathan Catlin, Beyond the Window Frame.
Richard Chang, Reflections.
Chengslate, A Freeday.
Denise ‘deLaSNP’ Coke, Portal to Progress: A Futuristic Glimpse of Southeast Queens.
John Colpitts, I Happen To Like New York: New Percussion Compositions and Arrangements.
Mags Colvett, Lionfish.
Squeeze Creations with Cody Umans, Public sculptures for 45th St Greenspace.
Credle Entertainment, Wxlf Pack (Musical Film).
Noelia R. Deza and Robert Kerr (RioNorte), La Marisma (The Marsh).
Jacob Elkin, The Snake.
Carlos Esguerra, Contemporary Architecture Gems of New York City.
Duo Extempore, Ordinary Places.
Emir Fils-Aime, Where Two Rivers Meet.
Daniel Fishkin, Artificial Inhabitants.
Clara Franesca with The Extended Reality Ensemble (XRE) and Wild Tongues Productions, XRE and friend’s “Songs From The Source.”
Afro-Andean Funk, Kani Sonqo/Afro-Andean Funk.
Ben Gassman, Adult Relationships.
GAUCHE, Do you speak Jackson Heights?
Jacq Groves, Embodied Infrastructure.
Greg Hammontree, Transmit: Echoes.
Aya Hirota, Singing Stone Sanukaito.
Michael Hollis, Otoacoustic Emissions.
Margaret Horning, Access Oasis.
Karen Ingram, Biogenetic Blooms: Collaborations with Genetically Modified Yeast.
The Interstitial, Jarek Pastor’s ward.
Annastasia “NWA” Jean Jacques, Transmute.
Olena Jennings, The Language Project.
Lee Jensen, Sewn Cities, Woven Worlds.
Woomin Kim, The Warehouse.
Kissatou, “My Love Story.”
Amanda Krische; Violence is not the home I live in.
Jesse Lambert, The Bowne House Comic.
Heather Lang, Queens of Heart.
Grace Leckey, Hell Gate.
Chun Seung Lee, The Samulnori & Talk Concert.
Durra Leung, Durra Leung’s Lullabies for Motherf*ckers Vol.2.
Jess Levey, Second Spring.
Honglei LI, Asian American Mythology.
Roxanne Lim, MAARTE.
Tasha Lutek, Whatever Walked There, Walked Alone.
Jodie Lyn-Kee-Chow, Valor & Revolt.
David Manrique, Made by Us.
Jodie Lynne McClintock, Nell’s Plague Play.
Lee Melillo, The Peek with Samuel Pepys.
Gail Meyers, Explorations in Dimensionality and Space.
David Mills, Rufus King of Queens.
Patrick Neal, Queens Waterways.
Rossen Nedelchev, The Sounds and Rhythms in Cartoons.
Louis DeVaughn Nelson, Was Beethoven Black.
Alexander Ney, Alexander Ney’s New Sculptures of LIC: A Celebration of the Emigre Artist’s 50th Year in New York City.
Aimée Niemann, Body Songs.
Nasrah Omar, In continuum (a circle of invocation).
Arthur Ou, Viewfinder.
Hsuan Yu Pan, HEAR, EAT, HOME.
Alice Lussiana Parente, Lana Boy, Heloise Wilson, Dorothea Gloria, Christie Stiff; Big Feelings.
J. Pavone String Ensemble, Reverse Bloom.
Jerron Paxton & Dennis Lichtman, Blacks, Jews, & Black Jews: Unlikely Partners in Folk & Jazz.
Avika Penaloza, Awakening Georgie.
Plushie, You Are Everything.
michael rendino, The Forest Fairy.
Ellie Rha, BEING KOREAN-AMERICAN SUCKS.
Adam J. Rineer, THIRD SEX: 1930s transvestite lieder.
Vin Scialla, Ascension.
Nikhil Shah, Parrhesia.
Scott Sheppard, Pop-Up Surprise.
Patricia Silva, Bright Vignettes.
Chitra Singh, Adi Shakti (Moon Song).
Tana Sirois, UnTethered.
Polina Porras Sivolobova, Pomegranate: a small guide of multidiscplinary exercises for the nomadic solo artist.
Christen M. Smith, Blessed Are Those Who Are Angry.
.soundfullness, /flux_sessions.soundfullness.
Sean Spada, Posing with Tigers.
The Square Theatre, Slow Dance.
Studio S II LLC, House of S II.
Lindsay Timmington, Penny Local.
Tiffany Troy, A New Ilium.
B.A. Van Sise, What is Left.
Jevijoe Vitug, PINTA PINTADOS.
Jason Wang, STUY OR DIE.
Deborah Wasserman, Wanderland.
Street Works, Street Work Earth.
Jing (Ellen) Xu, I will be, and what can I do?
Jiemin Yang, Portraits of the Moon.
Crys Yin, Collective Talismans.
Chang Yuchen, Queens Things.
Garrett Zuercher, PRIVILEGE.
QAF offers Arts Access Grants of $1,000 to $5,000 to Queens-based, small-budget nonprofits and unincorporated artist collectives. QAF also offers New Work Grants of $3,000 to Queens-based individual artists, unincorporated artist collectives, and collaborations between multiple artists of all disciplines to support the creation of new work.
Here are some upcoming QAF events, exhibitions, and film screenings.
Saturday, June 1
Astoria Film Festival’s YOUTH FESTIVAL 2024 will take place from 9 am to 9 pm at the Zukor Theater at Kaufman Astoria Studios, 35th Avenue and 35th Street. The Media Lab Session is from 1 pm to 3 pm. There will also be a Media Career Professionals Panel for lab students to hear about industry careers and meet and network with industry professionals.
Saturday, June 1, and Sunday, June 2
Adult Film and Ryan Czerwonko, Meg Case, Brad Porter, and Mia Vallet’s Sea Gull is a multidisciplinary project interweaving a year-long exploratory rehearsal of Anton Chekhov’s eponymous play with documentary filmmaking to investigate the boundaries between process, identity, and art. On June 1 from noon to 4 pm at The Woods at 1826 Palmetto St. in Ridgewood, artistic director Czerwonko will lead a workshop with eight actors across four Chekhov’s plays. Audiences can watch for free or make a donation of their choosing. A special pay-what-you-can performance will be held on June 2 from 7:30 pm to 9:30 pm at Stone Circle Theatre, 59-14 70th Ave. in Ridgewood, a world premiere translation by John Christopher Jones directed by Czerwonko.
Wednesday, June 5
No, YOU Tell It! will present “No, YOU Tell It! True-Life Tales with a Twist,” an event where storytellers work together to develop true tales on the page, then swap stories to embody their partner’s culture, identity, and life experience on stage. In 2024, No, YOU Tell It! is producing two shows where the storytellers’ true tales are inspired by borough history from the Greater Astoria Historical Society archives. The first one (June 5 at 7 pm, Grove 34 at 31-83 34th St.) will feature four storytellers trading true tales inspired by the music and history of Astoria native Tony Bennett.
Top image: QAF/Lily Honglei Art Studio
Second image: QAF/Woomin Kim
Third image: QAF/Araceli Poma and Matt Geraghty/Mavy Roots
Bottom image: QAF/Corrie Aune