QCA, QAF offer grants to local art programs
BY TAMMY SCILEPPI
Did you ever notice how
art — in all its forms — makes
life more interesting, and how
every artist has something to
say via their work?
Each year, some lucky
creatives of every discipline,
as well as several nonprofit
organizations, have been
getting a much-needed boost
from Queens Council on the
Arts (QCA) and the Queens
Arts Fund (QAF), which offers
grants to distinctive arts and
cultural programming that
serves and enriches the lives
of everyone living here.
QCA and QAF have
empowered one repeat awardee,
Queensboro Dance Festival, to
keep pushing to serve the local
dance community and their
audiences. LIC-based dancer/
Festival Executive Director
Karesia Batan wanted to
remind readers that the
popular performance tour will
be taking place across Queens
throughout the year (most
weekends, from May through
October).
“QCA not only offers
funding opportunities, but
also professional development
support in grant writing and
running a local non-profit
project. Having QCA as a
resource also encourages
us and validates our work
here in Queens – that being a
creative part of the borough is
important and deserves to be
supported,” said Batan, who
was awarded $5,000.
New grantee Divya
Jyoti Association (www.
Diwalimotorcade.com) —
which will be hosting its
annual Diwali Motorcade in
Richmond Hill on Oct. 19 —
was happy to receive $4,500.
“We are so excited to
show such a diverse range of
projects and programs, both
in terms of artistic discipline
and geography. Awardees hail
from every New York City
Council District in Queens,
including about 40 different
neighborhoods,” said Grants
and Residencies Manager
Daniel Bamba.
“QCA received about 500
applications in total, which is
the largest applicant pool we’ve
ever had for QAF. With such a
large increase in applications, it
just goes to show how active the
arts community is in Queens.”
Jamaica-based mixed
media artist/paper maker
Rejin Leys, co-founder of
the Southeast Queens Artist
Alliance, will be putting her
$2,000 grant to great use as
well.
“We are very grateful
to QCA for the support and
resources they’ve provided
to help us grow, and thrilled
that this year’s Arts Fund
grant will enable us to
publish a number of zines and
artists’ books and make them
available to the community as
part of our interactive cartbased
project, ‘Art Like Air
and Water,’” said Leys.
“Art Like Air and
Water” will begin holding
zine-making, poetry and
bookbinding workshops this
spring, with public hours,
participation in community
events in the neighborhood
(including at Queens Library/
Central) for the rest of the
year. Workshop/event details:
www.seqaa.org and instagram
(@southeastqueensartists).
Awardee Jared Harél’s debut fulllength
poetry collection, “Go
because I love you,” won several
awards. Photo by Ilan Harel
Award-winning Rego
Park-based writer/poet Jared
Harél, was first introduced to
QCA through their Artist Peer
Circle program back in 2014,
where he met “a wonderful,
diverse community of local
writers.” The official APC
program ended years ago, but
the writing group still meets
monthly “to set goals, share
new work and support one
another,” said Harél who was
awarded $3,000 and is “damn
proud” of his debut fulllength
poetry collection “GO
BECAUSE I LOVE YOU.”
Harél sits on the editorial
board for Newtown Literary,
Queens’ first literary journal
dedicated to supporting local
writers, and on the advisory
board for QUEENSBOUND,
a collaborative audio-project
curated by KC Trommer, with
the goal of telling the stories
of Queens.
“In 2015, while writing
my book, I was fortunate to
have QCA support me with an
Individual Artist Grant. It was
instrumental in terms of me
completing my collection. As a
parent to two young children,
writing time can prove rather
expensive,” he said.
Harel’s official ‘book
launch’ recently took place at
Kew & Willow Books in Kew
Gardens; he has been featured
in a few local reading series.
Harel, who also teaches
writing at Nassau Community
College and plays drums
for the New York City-based
rock band, Flyin’ J & The
Ghostrobber, is hard at work
on a new poetry collection.
CATERING MENU
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(Bottle & Tap) Wine & Soda..............................$26.95/pp
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�� Dinner w/ Mixed Drinks, Domestic Beer
(Bottle & Tap) Wine & Soda................................$27.95/pp
�� Dinner w/ Top Shelf Liquors, Imported &
Domestic Beer (Bottle & Tap), Wine & Soda...$37.95/pp
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TIMESLEDGER,32 FEB. 15-21, 2019 TIMESLEDGER.COM
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