The people behind CenterStage: The Queens Center for the Performing Arts are filling a void left by the closing of the Queens division of the Brooklyn-Queens Conservatory of Music and have big dreams for their newly formed organization.
Norman Pors, the Director of Education at CenterStage, explained that the closing of the conservatory in Queens happened in stages. Shortly before it actually closed, Pors and CenterStage Executive Director Barbara Speedling had been talking about doing a class for jazz vocals, since the conservatory had canceled that particular workshop already and its dedicated members still wanted to participate.
The two then met and spoke with Clyde Bullard, a jazz producer at Flushing Town Hall.
“That started the ball rolling,” Pors said.
Once the conservatory closed, Speedling, who had at one time served on its Board of Directors, began getting calls from teachers asking for help.
“That’s when I started talking to [Pors and Bullard] about just picking it up and seeing what happened,” Speedling said. “That’s what we did.”
CenterStage, a non-profit organization, officially began working near the end of December. It now has 58 students ranging in age from about two to 73 and has about 17 faculty members.
Along the way, they have received assistance from parents, the sponsorship organization Fractured Atlas, and members of the arts community. The advisory board is currently made up of Grammy winner Bill Withers, NEA jazz masters Barry Harris and Clark Terry, New York Grand Opera conductor and artistic director Vincent La Selva, and 2006 Bollywood Lifetime Achievement recipient Asha Puthli.
“So many people have helped us,” Speedling said. “It’s been incredible.”
Bullard said that parents have been happy that they did not have to find a new place to take their children. He also said that the mission of CenterStage “to keep music alive, keep the arts alive in a time where arts all over the country are being decimated,” is why people have been so eager to help.
The philosophy of CenterStage reads, in part, “Our goal at CenterStage is to teach our students the technical aspects of music theory and harmony, to enable them to channel the music that they desire through their instruments and voices. We believe that the performing arts are spiritual as well as technical, and, as such, we are teaching students to heal the planet through the arts as they perform for others, bringing joy, concert by concert, show by show.”
Currently, students can take private or ensemble lessons. They are vocal and instrumental and cover classical, jazz, contemporary music, and the Suzuki method.
CenterStage, which is located in St. George’s Church in Flushing, will have its first performance, “CenterStage World of Music,” on Saturday, April 25, beginning at 7 p.m. The event will also act as a fundraiser.
Following a cocktail party, there will be a performance featuring CenterStage students and faculty. They will be joined by special guests, including Kodanda, saxophonist Marsha Heydt, songwriter/pianist Billy Ayres, drummer Greg Barrett, trumpeter Eddie Allen and jazz vocalist Kim Kalesti.
Tickets are $25 for adults and $12 for children.
CenterStage has many future plans for their organization. Although they are currently open as an after school program, running from 3 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays, Speedling said they would like to become full-day for six days a week by the fall.
“Some people think that’s a big dream, but dreaming got us this far,” she said.
Other goals of CenterStage include doubling current enrollment, developing a professionals program, becoming a charter school, and expanding to include dance and theatre.
For more information on CenterStage, call 718-321-8496 or e-mail CenterStageMusic@aol.com.
