Past Events

NEH Oral History Talk: Connecting with Community and Building Relationships through Oral History projects

NEH2023Seminar

Thursday, December 14th, 2023, 3:00 - 7:00 p.m.

LaGuardia Community College, 31-10 Thomson Ave, Room E-255

Bridget Bartolini will introduce the Five Boro Story Project and 34th Avenue Oral History and discuss her process for creating multimedia profiles of narrators, sharing insights from her background in socially engaged art and public humanities. Participants will learn about building and maintaining relationships with narrators, and various avenues for engaging the public with oral history projects.

This talk is part of the seminar series Oral History in Interdisciplinary Community College Pedagogy: Centering the Community in the Classroom, which is funded by the National Endowment of Humanities (NEH) for 2023-2025 to introduce oral history techniques to community college faculty's pedagogical practices.

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Queens Stories & Oral Histories

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Friday, June 30th, 2023, 3:00 - 7:00 p.m.

34th Avenue & 93rd-94th Street, Jackson Heights

Celebrate immigrant stories that help define the World’s Borough, Queens!
In this outdoor exhibit on the 34th Avenue Open Street, listen to oral histories, explore Queens neighborhoods through stories, hear from experts, enjoy limited free snacks, and let us know your thoughts!

Exhibitions include:
34th Avenue Oral History by Bridget Bartolini
Queens Night Market Vendor Stories Oral History Project by Storm Garner
COVID-19 Asian American Oral History Project from LaGuardia Community College
Queens Memory exhibit from Queens Library
* "People of Queens" photo exhibit by Rob MacKay and Queens Tourism Council

FREE EVENT

Queens Stories is part of This Is NY: Celebrating Our Immigrant Heritage and Communities.

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2023 Earth Day Celebration

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Saturday, April 22nd, 2023, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m.

34th Avenue & 77th-78th Street, Jackson Heights

Celebrate Earth Day on car-free streets filled with music, dance, games, snacks, demonstrations, and more! We’ll be on the 34th Avenue Open Street between 77th-78th Street displaying photos from 34th Avenue Oral History and hosting a 34th Avenue Love Letter activity.

Find more family-friendly fun up and down the street:

34 Avenue Open Streets Coalition will host free activities at 77th-78th Street (including Zumba, bubbles, a magic show, meditation, Mexican dance, hula hooping, and more) and between 93rd-94th Street (including a choir, food demonstrations, tug of war, a fashion show, bike fixing, and more)! See the schedule below.

Friends of 34th Avenue Linear Park will host free activities at 73rd-74th Street, including an obstacle course, arts and crafts, balloons, and snacks and Girl Scout Cookies for sale.

Open Streets: Car-Free Earth Day is an annual car-free event hosted by NYC DOT.  Twenty-four Open Streets across the city are taking part in Car-Free Earth Day!

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Solidarity & Safe Spaces Exhibition

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Saturday, March 4th, 2023, 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Culture Lab LIC, 5-25 46th Avenue, Long Island City, Queens

Our friends Diverse Streets Initiative have planned an opening celebration for their “Solidarity & Safe Spaces” zine launch and exhibition! Come enjoy a sound bath, self defense classes, live performances and artwork from artists and poets represented in the zine, and explore the connection between solidarity, safety, home, and belonging. The exhibit includes a multimedia installation with photos and video of 34th Avenue Oral History participant Manuela Agudelo. The zine includes a written piece on how the 34th Avenue Open Street has enhanced a sense of safety, with interview excerpts from Manuela Agudelo and Nuala O'Doherty-Naranjo.

SCHEDULE

4:00 PM – Community Fair
Connect with local community organizations
4:00 PM – Self Defense Classes
Learn the basics of self-defense and strategies to help you remain safe in public spaces with coach Jess Ng, also known as “Southpaw Stitches”
4:45 PM – Meditation & Sound Bath
Join urban shaman and spiritual healer Milena Carvajal George for “Evoke the Love: Inner Music,” a healing sound experience and workshop
5:30 PM – Performances
Enjoy a variety of playful and heartfelt sounds and dances from katrina sotera, NATICA, Kalra Florez School of Dance, and Linda EPO.
6:00 PM – Show Opening
Walk through Culture Lab’s Fire Room gallery, and see sculpture, film, photography, mixed media and more. Many of the works in the exhibit are referenced in “Solidarity and Safe Spaces,” Diverse Streets Initiative’s first joint Zine!

Space is limited! Advance registration is recommended. Please RSVP here.
The event and workshops are FREE but donations are appreciated. Contribute what you can; suggested donation of $5-20. A donation guarantees a copy of the zine.

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Paseo Park Portraits Gallery Talk

Flyer for Paseo Park Portraits Gallery Talk

Wednesday, December 14th, 2022, 7:00 - 9:00 p.m.

Espresso 77, 35-57 77th Street, Jackson Heights

During the pandemic, an Open Street grew in the epicenter of the epicenter, giving space to community. Local Jackson Heights photographers set out to capture stories of their neighbors along the 34th Avenue Open Street, from skateboarding teens to hula hoopers, from dog parents to street vendors.

Stop by cafe Espresso 77 to see the Paseo Park Portraits exhibit between December 13th-Jan 18th, and on December 14th, join photographers and subjects at a gallery talk moderated by S. Mitra Kalita of Epicenter NYC.

Photos and stories captured by Kisha Bari, Bridget Bartolini, Patrick Chang and Dawn Siff.

FREE EVENT

The Paseo Park Portraits exhibit is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

DIRECTIONS:
Espresso 77 is located at 35-57 77th Street near the corner of 37th Avenue. The closest train station is the 74th Street Jackson Heights/Roosevelt Avenue stop on the E, F, M, R and 7 trains.

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Queens Immigrant Stories and History

Mickey sits at her station in front of the Farmers Market. Signs by her wagon advertise cookies. Behind her, a man sits on the median with a drink, talking with friends.

Wednesday, June 15th, 2022, 4:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Queens Borough Hall's Helen Marshall Center

120-55 Queens Blvd, Kew Gardens, NY, 11424

Celebrate immigrant stories that help define the World’s Borough, Queens!

Explore exhibits highlighting the immigrant experience in Queens. Listen to oral histories, see historical photos, hear from experts, enjoy live dance and music performances, snack on complimentary international treats, and let us know your thoughts!

Exhibition Open 4:00-8:00pm
Performances 6:00-7:30pm

Exhibits will include:

* 34th Avenue Oral History by Bridget Bartolini
* Queens Night Market Vendor Stories Oral History Project by Storm Garner
* COVID-19 Asian American Oral History Project from LaGuardia Community College
* Immigrant Housing by Rob MacKay and Queens Tourism Council
* Immigrant Photo Exhibit by Jason Antos and the Queens Historical Society
* Queens linguistic landscape map from the Endangered Language Alliance
* Queens Memory from the Queens Library

PLUS live music by INFUSION and theatrical skits and dance from Newcomers High School

FREE EVENT

DIRECTIONS:
We will be inside the Helen Marshall Center at the Queens Borough Hall, located at 120-55 Queens Blvd, Kew Gardens, NY, 11424. It’s steps from the E/F train at Kew Gardens/Union Turnpike and the Q46, Q10 and Q37 buses. There is also a parking lot behind the borough hall.

Queens: Immigrant Stories and History is part of This Is NY: Celebrating Our Immigrant Heritage and Communities, a festival within the citywide Festival of NY happening throughout Summer 2022.

 

Festival of New York Heart-Logo-Color

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34th Avenue Story Circle: Reflecting on the Past & Future of Urban Streets

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Wednesday, May 4th, 2022, 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.

The Heyman Center, Second Floor Common Room, Columbia University

74 Morningside Drive, East Campus Residential Center

Join us for a participatory workshop centered on city streets and oral history.

Bridget Bartolini will present 34th Avenue Oral History, and project participants Jim Burke and Esthi Zipori will speak on the history and future of urban streets and their activism around reimagining post-pandemic New York City. Attendees will be invited to share their own experiences in a story circle workshop and join a facilitated discussion around city streets and street life.

Registration is required. Please register here.

This event is part of the Heyman Center’s Building Publics series, which showcases how Public Humanities Graduate Fellows bridge humanistic thinking with civic engagement and social justice, scholarly research with public building and communication in order to unleash new, more critical modes of scholarly imaginations.

A flyer for the Building Pubclis Workshop series lists dates of six workshops.

DIRECTIONS:

The Heyman Center is located at 74 Morningside Drive on Columbia University's campus.
The closest train is the 1 train at 116th Street-Columbia University.

Below is a map with walking directions from the 116th stop at Broadway. You'll see there are two routes; the lower route (entering from 116th Street) is more direct. The little u-turn you see at the end of that lower route takes you up a short flight of stairs, where you'll see a glass double-door and a security desk with a guard. If you have a Columbia ID you can swipe in; otherwise, we'll leave a list of registrants' names at the desk and the guard will let you through. After you pass security, the Heyman Center is at the end of the courtyard.
We'll be in the second floor Common Room.

Directions will be emailed to you when you RSVP.

Heyman Map

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Micailhuitl: Día de Muertos on 34th Avenue

Micailhuitl Flyer

Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021, 4:30 - 7:00 p.m.

34th Avenue between 93rd-94th Street

Join us for an afternoon filled with dance, music, and storytelling performances on the 34th Avenue Open Street!

‘Micailhuitl’ translates to ‘Día de Muertos’ (Day of the Dead) in Nahuatl, one of Mexico’s many indigenous languages. In a tradition celebrated all throughout Mexico, from midnight on October 31st through November 2nd, the spirits of our deceased loved ones crossover the spiritual world into the living world to rejoin their family and friends for a time of remembrance and festivity. For their honored guests, the living families make an ofrenda (altar), decorated with colorful papel picado, pan de muerto, cempasuchiles (marigolds), sugar skulls, incense and things that the deceased enjoyed during their time living.

For Micailhuitl we'll set up a community ofrenda and an art installation on 34th Avenue. We encourage the public to bring framed photos of deceased loved ones and white candles for the ofrenda, and to paint your faces as either a sugar skull or regular skull!

Performances by:

Manuela Agudelo - Colombian-born, Queens-raised dancer, choreographer, model, rollerskater, activist, and cultural producer

Kacia Flórez - Queens-born artist and singer with a sincere love for her Andean roots

Erick Modesto - dancer, pastry chef, and Director of Ballet Folklorico Nueva Juventud, a group that preserves Mexico's culture and traditions through dance

Valentina Ortiz - storyteller, musician, and writer who speaks the stories of ancient and modern Mexico.

And an art installation by:

Mark Saldana – Queer Mexican multimedia artist whose work is influenced & inspired by his Mexican cultural background

 

This is a FREE community event, and will be outdoors on the 34th Avenue Open Street between 93rd-94th Street (in front of P.S. 149/Christa McAuliffe School). Please dress warmly, and feel free to bring folding chairs or something to sit on.

 

This project is supported by a Public Humanities Grant from Humanities New York and the Humanities in Practice Initiative of the Society of Fellows/Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University.

Micailhuitl Photos:

Micailhuitl: Día de Muertos on 34th Ave

Click through above, or see the whole album here.

Micailhuitl Highlight Video:

 

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34th Avenue Oral History Launch Celebration

Flyer for the 34th Avenue Oral History Launch Celebration

34th Avenue Oral History Launch Celebration

Sunday, July 11th, 2021, 4:00 - 5:30 p.m.

34th Avenue between 93rd-94th Street

Celebrate our website launch at this free, outdoor community event featuring storytelling by Manuela Agudelo and Jim Burke, and a dance performance by Erick Modesto and Ballet Folklorico Nueva Juventud!

Featuring:

* Manuela Agudelo – Dancer, choreographer, and community organizer who advocates for black and brown liberation, and roller skates on 34th Avenue as a healing mental health ritual

* Jim Burke – Safe streets activist and Co-Founder of the 34th Avenue Open Streets Coalition, who organizes volunteers and community programs on 34th Avenue

* Erick Modesto – Dancer, pastry chef, and Director of Ballet Folklorico Nueva Juventud, who holds dance rehearsals on 34th Avenue

Q&A will follow the performance.

This project is supported by a Public Humanities Grant from Humanities New York and The Laundromat Project's Creative Action Fund.

Launch Celebration Photos:

34 Ave Oral History Launch Celebration

Click through above, or see the whole album here.

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