By Gabrielle Prusak
In honor of the new Kaufman movie lot, Queens Council on the Arts will be hosting Saturday another block to support the High School to Art School portfolio program.
During the block party, which will be held from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Kaufman Astoria Studios, people who attend will pay $35 to help fund the HS2AS program and will also have the chance to see some of the best films from Queens film festivals within the last year.
Different restaurants from Queens, such as Bareburger, Snowdonia, Ovelia and William Hallet, will be serving food throughout the event. There will also be breweries such as SingleCut Beersmiths and Rockaway Brewing Co. present at the block party as well.
One portion of the block party will be a screening of different types of films ranging from animation to fiction, with a documentaries from different Queens film festivals. The films range from three minutes to about 20 minutes.
Two of the films being presented are from students at the Frank Sinatra School of Arts. The school was invited to present works from the students to the block party so they had their own film festival. The best films from that film festival were chosen.
Another activity that will be going on during the event will be a literary slam hosted by Audrey Dimola, a Western Queens poet. The literary slam will be a spoken-word poetry presentation from poets throughout Queens.
“There will also be a 10-by-10 interactive installation that you walk into to take selfies,” said QCA Development Manager Jackie DeDios. “It’s a vintage photo booth that will encourage people to take selfies.”
Throughout the event, there will be live bands from Make Music New York playing at the entrance and DJ Locke will be deejaying inside the event.
HS2AS was originally a program from MoMA PS1 but was later brought over to Queens Council on the Arts. The program itself has been around for more than a decade. It was designed to help juniors and seniors in high school develop a portfolio for art school or college.
“They create their own artistic style and voice through paintings, mixed media, sculptures [etc.], that they can show to a [college] admission representative,” said DeDios.
The program runs from the fall until the summer and consists of five-hour classes Monday through Thursday at Queens Council of the Arts, going to museums and putting their art together.
“We are trying to help the students in the program go to the college of their dream, so we have a lot of talented students who really need the support,” DeDios said “Come to the block party to help support that scholarship.”
The block party is at the Kaufman lot at 34-12 36th Street in Astoria.
