FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM MARСH 12, 2020 • BUZZ • THE QUEENS COURIER 47
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Photos by Miria Sabina
L-R: Ava Lehrer, 92Y Director of Center for Arts Learning & Leadership; Citizen-Artist Awards winners Marcel Bryan (Staten Island); Naima Ryan, Frank Sinatra High School (Queens); Javy Polanco
(Manhattan); Emerald Lloyd (Bronx).
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts student recognized for
increasing inclusivity in New York City art institutions
BY BENJAMIN MANDILE
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
92Y, a community center located in
the Upper East Side, recognized a Frank
Sinatra School of the Arts High School
student for his contributions in increasing
accessibility and inclusivity in art institutions
in the city Monday, March 2.
Naima Ryan, a senior at the Astoria
school, said that he wasn’t aware of
how big of an impact he had made and
that he was shocked to learn he won an
award.
Ryan interned as a youth ambassador at
Th e Metropolitan Museum of Art in 2019,
when he was tasked with sharing with the
museum how it could improve its environment
to be more inclusive of a younger
audience and for creating events for
teenagers and improving its educational
programming.
In the past, “Th e Met” and other institutions
have had a problem with inclusion
in terms of racial and economic biases,
according to Ryan.
Ryan said these same
feelings of “exclusivity”
continue to be present
at these institutions,
especially if someone
doesn’t consider
themselves an artist.
Now, these institutions
are making
attempts
to improve in
this regard, he
said.
Ryan will
c o n t i n u e
his work at
the museum
through
the returning
internship
program
which recently
formed
to allow
interns to
come back — something that
the museum did not allow in
the past.
“I’m really excited,” Ryan
said. “I love working there.”
He said that the biggest takeaway
from his fi rst
internship at “Th e
Met” was that there
is room for people
like him. Ryan
has been creating
art since
he was 4 years
old when he
started drawing
with his
mom at museums
in New York
City when she
was attending art
school herself.
He fi nds a lot of
his inspiration for his
work through
G r e e k
mythology, he said in an interview with
QNS. Th is inspiration comes from the
mythology he learned when he was
younger and his attempts to connect
those stories and their moral teachings
to modern-day politics. It also comes
from the nostalgia he feels around Greek
mythology from when his dad would tell
him old Greek mythology stories and
watching Jim Henson’s Greek mythology
as a kid, he added.
Moving forward, Ryan plans on pursuing
a degree to work as a graphic designer.
He hopes to work for a company but said
he also would want to branch off and possibly
start a business of his own.
Ryan encouraged any teenager who is
looking to get an internship in art in New
York City to start by visiting museums
and applying for teen leadership roles. He
said that art in the teen community in the
city is prevalent and that many teens use
art to express their daily struggles and
political struggles.
He is currently working on a piece for
the Ron Hubbard scholarship.
Naima Ryan with his mom Jeanine King.
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