QMA develops a program to empower immigrant teens and young adults through education, artmaking and civic action. / El Museo de Arte de Queens desarrolla un programa para empoderar a los adolecentes inmigrantes y jovesnes a travéz de la educación, talleres de arte, y activismo cívico.
/ translate article/traducir articulo
The famous Lemon Ice King is a reminder of Corona's Italian heritage./El famoso Rey de hielo de limón es un recordatorio de la herencia italiana de Corona.
The Corona community is divided among the paradigm of Old and New Queens. Old Queens was an Italian immigrant stronghold with a long-standing and thriving business district in “Corona Heights”, complete with a bocce court, and numerous Salumerias and Italian Ice stores. Beginning in the 1940s, Corona was also a haven for middle- and upper-middle class African Americans who were shut out of the housing market in Manhattan, including such notable figures as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Malcolm X.
In the last twenty years Corona has become home to the fastest-growing Latino community in New York City. According to most recent Census data, 70% of Corona’s population is Latino (the main groups being Dominican, Colombian, Mexican, and Ecuadorian) with an additional 10% being Asian immigrants from countries such as India, Pakistan, Korea, and China. Together, these groups make up the face of New Queens, with 70% of the population born in another country, and up to one third without English fluency. It is difficult to assess the number of undocumented residents in Corona, but by some estimates up to one quarter of the population does not reside in the US legally. Approximately 7% of the households take home $100,000 or more (mainly Old Queens, with “middle class” values and identity) while 21% live below the poverty level (mainly New Queens). Only 56% of Corona’s adult residents have completed a high school degree, in comparison with 72% of all city residents, and only 8% have achieved a BA or greater.
See the NY Times Real Estate profile for Corona
LTAP participants editing their work in Sound & Synergy audio production class taught by Carlos Tejada/Participantes del programa de Liderazgo a traves de las Artes, editando su trabajo de Sonido y Sinergia en las clases de producción de audio dictadas por Carlos Tejada
QMA first sought to bridge gaps between old and new Queens by initiating a Leadership Through the Arts program specifically targeted to young folks 16-23 that met every Saturday for a year . The reason we reached out to this demographic was that two fold. We knew new immigrant adults were working long hours and didn’t always have time to be involved in a year-long intensive program, and that we would be able to access adults if we provided a service for their children. We also knew that a lot of undocumented youth aged out of programs once they graduated high school and could not pursue higher education as they could not get financial aid.
Mediante un programa de Liderazgo a través de las Artes, creado específicamente para jóvenes, que podrían reunirse cada sábado por un año, y que contaban entre los 16 y los 23 años de edad, el MAQ quiso soldar brechas entre el Queens viejo y nuevo. Se escogió este grupo demográfico porque se sabía que los nuevos inmigrantes adultos trabajaban largas horas y no siempre tenían el tiempo suficiente para involucrarse en un programa intensivo de un año y que únicamente podríamos tener acceso a los adultos si ofrecíamos un servicio para el cuidado de sus hijos.
También se tuvo conocimiento de que mucha de la juventud indocumentada, una vez graduada, o sobre pasaba el limite de edad para un programa gratuito o no conseguían ayuda financiera para seguir una educación superior.
Project Design
Using the arts as a uniquely powerful communication device, the youth were equipped with the skills and tools needed to navigate American civic and educational power structures. The program combined anti-oppression and political education curriculum implemented by local activist groups with artmaking workshops led by established artist educators to develop critical thinking skills alongside opportunities to coordinate concerts, performances, lectures and workshops to be held at the Museum and at sites throughout the community.
Each cohort of 25 young adults, who were paid a stipend to participate, addressed the tension points in their communities and interacted with community and political leaders, seniors, local businesses and entrepreneurs, and faith communities through exhibition and presenting theater, photography, film and art projects. Finally they had funds which which to administer grants to community based organizations, through a rigorous process guided by the North Start Fund. In the short term, the initiative sough to promote social integration through cross-cultural interaction amongst the participants. In the long term, it sought to create upwardly mobile engaged citizens of tomorrow trained to effect positive social change in Queens neighborhoods.
LTAP produced video on Corona in 2006
[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/4994164]
Outcomes
The LTAP participants (assisted and steered by the professional expertise of the partnering organization staff members and a team of instructors) were charged with following tasks:
- Discover how arts and culture has historically (and can still) responded to community tension points and ultimately effected positive social change.
- Articulate those issues in the local media (Queens Courier) and at meetings with elected officials from the New York City Council and New York State Assembly and Senate.
- Address those issues with the community at large through interactive educational and cultural programming, workshops, and events that will take place at local businesses, senior centers, places of worship, and the Museum.
- Create action networks at the events to encourage community volunteerism and advance the cause of social justice.
- Produce an RFP and administer grants of $5,000 to community-based organizations addressing the tension points identified.
- Take action themselves to advance these social justice issues through skill building internships with partnering community based organizations.
In addition to profiting the members of the Corps, this program extended its reach into the community by providing these benefits:
- Allow 500+ community members to give voice to local tensions points.
- Provide enriching and educational cultural experiences for a socially integrated audience of 10,000 attending 15 events and workshops centered on these issues at local businesses, places of worship, and at partner venues that include the Museum itself.
- Introduce elected officials and community leaders to young advocates, the critical issues in their communities, and new ideas and prospective reforms in public policy.
- Provide 20 community based organizations with new volunteers ready to advance the cause of social justice.
- Measure and monitor the changing perceptions of the community improvement and social empowerment within the tri-neighborhood region and the extent to which culture plays a positive role in improving those perceptions.
In the coming weeks, you’ll get to see some blogposts by participants in the program (check out the People Profiles Tab), as well as check out audio and video production produced during the projects, as well as blogposts by some of our participants. The experiences we had through running this program were crucial in helping us identify community needs, as well as provided us with the feedback we needed to launch even more targeted community-based programs in the future.
