Queens Center on the Arts (QCA) opened its new multipurpose space in Long Island City featuring artist studios, a performance space and staff offices devoted to supporting the borough’s diverse arts community.
At the new facility, young emerging art students can already be found participating in classes through QCA’s High to School Arts School (HS2AS), a free program for high school students to help them gain acceptance into competitive art colleges.
QCA’s new home, replacing cramped office space on Steinway Street in Astoria, is located on the ground floor of the Maximillian Building at 5-11 47th Ave. The organization provides funding to a wide array of individuals and art groups. QCA also offers professional development and other resources for Queens’ artists, who represent nearly 160 nationalities.
In the past year, QCA has directly served approximately 3,200 individual artists, 60 art organizations and an audience of nearly 550,000 throughout the borough.
“Queens’ artists have a new place to call home, a place where they will be recognized as being at the center of our community,” QCA Executive Director Hoong Lee Krakauer said. “Our new location is designed to be inclusive, fully accessible and welcoming to the different needs of artists in our diverse borough. We are thrilled to open our doors and welcome HS2AS as the first of many programs and artists to join us in Long Island City. Thanks to our partners and staff for their hard work in supporting this initiative.”
Founded in 1966, QCA is now at the center of a vibrant local arts scene, just a block away from the Long Island City waterfront and the restaurants and businesses on Vernon Boulevard.
The multipurpose facility includes expanded space to host programming and workshops for artists to create, fund and showcase their art.
In addition to the HS2AS, QCA is celebrating its 2021 Queens Arts Fund grantees — 163 artists and nonprofit organizations that have been awarded grants to offer distinctive arts and cultural programming that directly serves the borough’s residents.
“It has been a challenging year for so many across Queens, especially our local artists,” QCA Board of Trustees Interim President Joe LoBello said. “This is an incredible milestone for QCA, and symbolic of New York City’s reopening. On behalf of our board, I want to thank the supporters and staff for their commitment in helping create this dedicated space for the amazing arts and culture community across the ‘World’s Borough.’”
For more information on QCA, visit queenscouncilarts.org.
