WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES NOVEMBER 9, 2017 27
BUZZ
Seven Queens schools to get free
after-school theater program
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
SMONTEVERDI@QNS.COM / @SMONT76
Students at seven Queens schools
will have the opportunity to embark
upon a unique creative journey
over the course of the next few months.
Inside Broadway, an arts education
nonprofi t, will bring aft er-school theater
programs to schools throughout
Queens, Brooklyn, Manhattan and
the Bronx. The program will reach
approximately 75,000 students with
interactive arts programming.
The following Queens schools will
begin the program this fall: P.S. 224,
Glen Oaks; P.S. 69 and P.S. 222, Jackson
Heights; P.S. 7 and P.S. 13, Elmhurst; P.S.
113, Glendale; and P.S. 162, Flushing.
Students will meet twice a week for
25 sessions to rehearse and collaborate
with their peers, professional artists
and designers on “NYC Musical Mystery
Melodies,” a performance that
will allow the viewer to take a journey
through the city to the tune of Broadway
standards.
Programs will run into early
2018 and culminate with a final
performance.
The program is funded by the New
York City Council and the NYC Department
of Cultural Aff airs under
the Council’s Cultural Aft er-School
Adventures (CASA) initiative.
Learn more about Inside Broadway
by visiting their website at www.insidebroadway.
org.
File photo
Students at P.S. 113 in Glendale perform their musical in a previous
Inside Broadway program.
Long Island City community arts center needs
help to continue providing free programs
BY ANGELA MATUA
AMATUA@QNS.COM / @ANGELAMATUA
A nonprofi t in Long Island City
that provides free access
to the arts is looking for
funding to continue its work in the
neighborhood.
Long Island City Artists (LIC-A),
which was established in 1986, operates
out of a 12,000-square-foot space
provided by a plastics manufacturing
company, Plaxall, last October.
Since then, LIC-A has used the
space to display artwork, host dance,
music and theater performances, provide
free drawing classes, children’s
art workshops, tours for English as
a Second Language students from
LaGuardia College and more.
But according to Edjo Wheeler,
artistic director for LIC-A, funding
has dried up and unless they get help
from the community, it won’t be possible
to run these programs.
“We love this neighborhood,” he said.
“We want to serve the community. We
just can’t do it without some help. Our
volunteers are really getting burned
out. They all have rents and jobs. They
have other lives, and it’s a lot to ask
someone to donate 20 hours a week
to keep the place running.”
A Kickstarter page has been
established and the group hopes to
raise $15,000 by Nov. 10. So far, $6,593
A Long Island City community arts center is asking for help to continue operating.
has been raised. If the group doesn’t
reach its fundraising goal of $15,000,
those who have donated will get their
money back.
People who donate will receive
prizes such as T-shirts, pins, artwork
by LIC-A artists, tickets to a dinner
party and more.
The money will help the group hire
a director that can run day-to-day operations,
provide monthly stipends to
volunteers, cover expenses like supplies
for free art classes, computers,
Wi-Fi, furniture and more.
“People can come and see beautiful
art by mostly local artists,” Wheeler
said. “They can see dance, full
theatrical runs and we are also expanding
and we want to provide studio
space for artists to use who have
lost their studios. We’re a community
arts center and we want to continue
to provide these free services to the
community.”
LIC-A, which boasts more than
180 members, has seen its membership
double since it acquired
the Plaxall Gallery. Despite its deep
roots in the community, Wheeler
said that it’s been “challenging”
to raise money. The organization
currently has enough money to
continue its programs until the
end of the year.
Photo by Steven Spellotis
“We don’t have enough volunteers to
cover everything we want to do so we’re
going to have to start cutting back,” he said.
If the money isn’t raised, the free
programming will be difficult to
continue, he said.
“We doubled in membership since
we started running the Plaxall
Gallery, so we defi nitely have really
strong forward momentum,” he said.
“More and more people are coming
to us with proposals and ideas for
performances. I think we’re doing
amazing things and we want to continue
to do amazing things.”
To donate, visit the organization’s
website at licartists.org.
