On Saturday, May 11, 2014, Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement celebrated its 16th annual Spring Arts Festival. Community members came together to enjoy arts, dance, and family-friendly activities at our Queensbridge headquarters from 12pm to 4pm.
The festival showcased wonderful artwork from Riis Settlement participants much of it made with guidance and support from professional teaching artists with the Joan Mitchell Foundation and the Noguchi Museum. To keep the audience well fed and hydrated, we offered healthy juices, homemade sangria, hotdogs, salads, and Moroccan delicacies from the Arab-American Family Support Center.
One of our Riis Academy youth, Ramon Henderson-Best, talked about the creative process he used to make his collage. His artists-teachers were Maia Palileo and Paul De Muro. “We took a picture of ourselves and we had to look at different parts of the collage and combine different colors and textures. Now I see myself in a different way, see myself from a different perspective,” he said.
Lilibeth Vasquez created her water color with the help of artists Sher Wouters and Taylor Burton. “Each square is supposed to represent a season,” she said. “Like winter, spring, summer and fall but in an abstract way,” she said.
In addition, our seniors presented their black and white artwork created using charcoal on paper and immigrant services participants created a map that celebrated their countries of origin.
Among the many special presentations during the festival, the winners of our first ever Read for Riis! Read-a-thon were announced. Ata’an and Rosemary Garcia tied for first place. Together, they read nearly 70 books. All of our top readers went home with items such as brand new color e-readers, gift certificates, books and t-shirts thanks to the support of local bookstores Astoria Bookshop and Enigma Bookstore, and local business Lukas Lighting.
Riis Settlement is also proud that our local elected officials came by to show their support and see the talent in our community. New York State Senator Michael Gianaris said, “It’s important for our kids and our seniors to appreciate artwork and to understand that there’s an ability to do something beautiful and creative with the skillset that they have.” Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer said he is proud to represent our district in the New York City Council where he is now Majority Leader, and added that he was very excited to see the “beauty and wonder inside every child in Queensbridge and Jacob Riis.” We were also pleased to see Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, who congratulated all who took part in this year’s outstanding Spring Festival and said, “It’s about family, it’s about community, and I’m just so happy to be part of it today.”
(from l-r) NY City Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer, NY State Senator Michael Gianaris and NY State Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan
There was a feeling of non-stop fun as festival-goers watched martial arts demonstrations and dance performances featuring ballet, merengue, and popular tunes on stage, then studied the artwork on the walls, had conversations with friends and wandered out to the street to get a hotdog or a cup of Moroccan tea and a pastry. Riis Settlement is proud to present this wonderful event to the community every year. There was lost to enjoy and it felt like home!
