On May 16th, Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement hosted its 17th Annual Spring Arts Festival to celebrate the artistic talents of our community. This year, the event was listed in the fifth annual LIC Arts Open, celebrating the thriving arts community all across Long Island City and the winners of the second annual Read for Riis! Read-a-thon received their awards. Our festival included art displays and live performances and was curated by professional Artist-Teachers from our valued partners at the Joan Mitchell Foundation. The festival showcased the unique artistic style and creative explorations of our Riis Academy and Senior Services participants, nurtured during weekly classes and workshops. Students were exposed to media such as printmaking, photography, collage, sculpture, and more. Participants who took art classes at the nearby Noguchi Museum and Museum of the Moving Image, showcased their work in sculpture and animation respectively.
In addition to the dazzling array of artwork, the audience enjoyed live vocal performances from Mr. and Ms. Brown, stepping by the Young Pioneer STEP teams from P.S. 111 and I.S. 204 and performances from the Queensbridge middle-school dance group. In keeping with the theme of diversity, immigrant services participant Daisy Castro read her original poetry, ballerinas from P.S. 166 performed and there was a martial arts exhibition!
Read for Riis! Read-a-thon Awards
During the event, Riis Settlement announced the winners of its second annual Read-for Riis! Read-a-thon. The reading contest, designed to strengthen literacy among our young people and serve as a fundraiser for the organization, engaged Riis Academy participants in grades kindergarten through 5 to read picture and chapter books and sign up friends and family as sponsors. The read-a-thon was a big success, thanks in large part to the generosity of businesses such as Astoria Bookshop, the Enigma Bookstore, Artist and Craftsman Supply, Penguin Random House, Duane Reade and Hoo Kong Jewelry by Alexis Davis which donated original pieces. Top reader Sarah Mansour read over 400 chapters! Other top winners included: Zubair Ahmed (Riis Academy-PS 171), Carrington Keith ( Riis Academy-Queensbridge), Brianna Batista and Kobe Talley (Riis Academy-Ravenswood), Salomeja Stonys, and Karoline Deaza (Riis Academy-PS 166). Many thanks must also be given to Board member Sibyl Groff and supporter Fern Letnes, Mr. Will and the West Point Cadets, and local children’s authors Mariah Fredericks, Mackenzie Reide, and Javier Cruz Winnik who visited our elementary school sites and read to the read-a-thoners.
We were also fortunate to have the We The People: The Citizens of NYCHA in Photos + Words on display at the Arts festival. It is a project featuring interviews and photographs of highly successful former NYCHA residents inspired by the documentary Time is Illmatic which looked at the social conditions that shaped rapper Nas. On hand were the project creators, Journalist Rico Washington and photographer Shino Yanagawa, and Time is Illmatic director, One9.
We also thank Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney for stopping by to enjoy the festivities and we congratulate all of the amazing artists and community partners who collaborated to make this year’s event a tremendous success!
