Flushing Town Hall to celebrate its 40th anniversary with Red Envelope Show

By Carlotta Mohamed

Starting Jan. 5, 2019, Flushing Town Hall will partner with curator Bert Chau of the Grumpy Bert gallery for the Red Envelope Show in honor of the 2019 Lunar New Year and Flushing Town Hall’s 40th anniversary.

Chau has curated the inventive Red Envelope in the past in Brooklyn and now the global arts institution is soliciting submissions from local artists, students, and community groups to participate in the exhibition.

A Red Envelope Show workshop will be held Jan. 13 by Flushing Town Hall Teaching Artist Tina Seligman. All are welcome to join to create their own envelope.

The Red Envelope Show is an homage to the red celebration envelopes the Chinese community distributes during the Lunar New Year. Traditionally, money is included in the envelopes, but many past artists have included a special “mystery” gift or prize. This is optional but an opportunity for participants to show their creativity.

Submissions by local visual artists will be displayed and for sale in Flushing Town Hall’s gallery. All visual artists work will be for sale – with 25 percent of the proceeds going towards Flushing Town Hall’s visual arts programming. Pieces by community and school groups will be displayed throughout the building for all visitors to enjoy.

Visual artists who wish to participate in the exhibit can contact Bert Chau at bert@grumpybert.com with the subject line “Red Envelope 2019” for details and to receive their blank red envelopes.

Artists may request more than one envelope. Red envelopes can also be picked up from Ellen Kodadek at Flushing Town Hall located at 137-35 Northern Blvd. All submissions must be delivered by mail or in person to Flushing Town Hall by Dec. 14.

Community groups and students can contact Flushing Town Hall’s Education Department at ghamilton@flushingtownhall.org for details. All submissions must be delivered by mail or in person to Flushing Town Hall by Dec. 21 at noon.

Instructions for all participants:

Please keep the envelope in VERTICAL format.

Please do NOT embellish the flap – that area will be used for hanging.

Please do NOT seal the envelope.

Please add a mystery gift, if so desired. It can fit into the envelope, or kept separate if larger/3-dimensional

You may focus on the Year of the Pig, but this is not mandatory.

For more details, www.flushingtownhall.org/ or by calling (718) 463-7700 x222.

Reach reporter Carlotta Mohamed by e-mail at cmohamed@cnglocal.com or by phone at (718) 260–4526.