Flushing Town Hall has awarded $91,032 in grant funding that will be split across 33 organizations and 10 additional grants of $2,500 each to individual artists, after being named a regranting partner for Queens County by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) for its Statewide Community Regrants program.
These Arts Grants for Queens administered by Flushing Town Hall will fund arts and culture projects created and is presented in Queens with the aim to enrich and enliven the community and provide support for artists and arts organizations based in the borough.
“We thank NYSCA for this opportunity and are overjoyed to be able to award our neighbors and peers in the borough with well-deserved funding,” said Ellen Kodadek, executive and artistic director of Flushing Town Hall. “The pandemic took a painful toll on the arts sector, and on Queens, but together we are resilient. With these regrants, we proudly invest in the artists and organizations who will bring us catharsis, healing and occasion to gather together again.”
Dan Bamba, director of Arts Services at Flushing Town Hall, said the venue may be best known as an arts presenter, and as an arts council, but it also offers an array of services for aspiring and professional artists as well.
“In addition to these NYSCA regrants, we also offer Space Grants for artists developing work in our space and we host Artist Professional Development Conversations, a series of workshops addressing the business needs of artists, with topics ranging from fundraising to marketing to bookings,” Bamba said.
With guidelines provided by NYSCA, this year’s Arts Grants for Queens recipients were chosen by a peer panel of artists, cultural workers and Queens community stakeholders. The grantees consist of artists and organizations creating and presenting arts and culture projects that will enrich and enliven the cultural fabric of the Queens community.
Two of this year’s individual artist grant recipients include:
- Magaly Colimon-Christopher of Flushing for “Aftershocks: A Tetralogy of Our Times,” a presentation of short plays about the effects of the pandemic on the Caribbean-American community.
- Magdalena Kaczmarska of Rego Park for “Stories in the Moment,” which amplifies the creative voice of people living with dementia in Queens through dance, movement and storytelling.
Two of this year’s organizations to receive grants include:
- Astoria Film Festival Inc. for its series of four Youth Film Workshops and Screenings with students in grades 3-12.
- LaMicro Theater in Sunnyside for Escena Sur 2022, a series of virtual and in-person readings of short stories and plays by Latin American writers.
For the full list of this year’s recipients, visit flushingtownhall.org/agq-grantees.
