Workshop April 30, 2017 (Photo: Renee Sing)
Jan. 5, 2018 By Tara Law
Storytellers from Jackson Heights, Corona and Elmhurst will gather on Jan. 27 for an evening of music, poetry, art and stories.
The event, called “Almost Home/Casi Llegando a Casa,” will feature five local artists who will tell stories, recite poetry and perform music that address topics such as gentrification, displacement, immigration and housing justice.
Attendees are invited to the floor to share their stories about these issues after the featured artists perform.
The event will take place from 6 p.m. to 8:30 at D’antigua tapas bar and restaurant, located at 84-16 Northern Blvd. Attendance is free.
Pop-up artwork will on display, including an installation of “Fragile City” by artist Priscilla Stadler. The work is a model city with buildings created from cheesecloth.
Attendees are also invited to participate in the “City of Stories” art project. Participants are encouraged to write their own stories on paper houses, which are hung up together to create a city.
The night is the final event of “Almost Home/Casi Llegando a Casa,” a yearlong storytelling workshop project in Jackson Heights, Corona and Elmhurst. Neighborhood residents have gathered throughout the past year to tell stories about different topics relevant to their neighborhoods.
Almost Home was organized by members of the Five Boro Story Project, which conducts storytelling programs across the city.
The group collaborated with The Queens Neighborhoods United, a grassroots activist group, to create the event themes. The Queens Neighborhoods United promotes community control over land-use, policing, and immigration policies.
Bridget Bartolini, founder of the Five Boro Story Project, said that the project’s goal was to foster a sense of community and to consider issues that affect the neighborhood.
“People said it was powerful to hear others’ stories and to share their [own] stories,” said Bartolini. “They saw that they had things in common. It helps us to understand each other and turn strangers into neighbors.”
