Tag: Sunnyside Arts

Gratitude & Support

Happy Thanksgiving! We are so grateful for so many things this year: our storytellers for sharing their experiences, the community for participating in our shows, and the vibrant art and history all around us.

Giving Tuesday is one week away. Look below to see what your generosity helped create in 2024, and click here to make a tax-deductible donation for a new year of No, YOU Tell It!

Every dollar you donate directly supports our storytellers and artists.

Bonus: For every donation of $50 or more, we will send you a copy of  “The Hell Gate Kid on Holiday” zine created by A. King McCarty and inspired by Bob Singleton’s poem “The Legend of the Hell Gate Kid.”

Another great way to support our series is following us on your favorite social media platform and encouraging friends to do the same:

Watch this highlights video from our “Left My Heart” show for a snippet of what’s filling our hearts this holiday season.

Shout out to the Greater Astoria Historical Society and Sunnyside Arts for all their help and support in creating and hosting the special “Art Heart” community workshop that kicked off our show.

Huge thanks to our lovely venue, Grove 34.

Thank you for your continued support of No, YOU Tell It! by donating on Dec 3 and helping spread the word about our series.

Look! “Hell Gate” Program

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

See you tonight at Grove 34! Tickets are still available here.

Take a look at our four storytellers whose stories started at our “Hell Gate” Sip & Scribe at Sunnyside Arts. Want to join in on the creative writing fun? The next Sip & Scribe is October 4th! Register here. 

Stories

CROSSING THE BRIDGE by Jackie Sherbow, performed by Mia Arias Tsang, directed by Erika Iverson

REAWAKENING by Mia Arias Tsang, performed by Jackie Sherbow, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons

THE BRIDGE TO THE BRIDGE, by Alicia Lieu, performed by A. King McCarty, and directed by KJ Fitzsimmons

UNDER THE HELL GATE, by A. King McCarty, performed by Alicia Lieu, and directed by Erika Iverson

Special Guests

Bob Singleton, Executive Director, Greater Astoria Historical Society, and A. King McCarty present “The Hell Gate Kid.”

Plus, a live performance from Natalia ‘Saw Lady’® Paruz!

Thank You

Shout out to our wonderful story coaches, Tim Lindner and Pichchenda Bao.

Bios

Jackie Sherbow is the Woodside, Queens-based author of Harbinger (Finishing Line Press, 2019), publisher at THRASH Press, and senior managing editor of Ellery Queen’s and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazines. Their poems and stories have appeared in places like The Sierra Nevada Review, Luna Luna, Mystery Magazine, and Asimov’s Science Fiction. They are the former editor-in-chief and currently serve on the board of directors of Newtown Literary, the journal and organization dedicated to the writers of Queens.

Mia Arias Tsang is a writer and freelance editor based in New York City. Her work explores themes of queer desire, intimacy, and disconnect. A Tin House Summer Workshop alum, her work has appeared in Copy, Autostraddle, Half Mystic Press, Fatal Flaw Magazine, and Broad Recognition Magazine, among others. She is a copy editor for the literary magazine Identity Theory and program coordinator at the literary nonprofit House of SpeakEasy, and writes a newsletter called Overripe Peach. She lives in Queens with her cat, Peanut, and is currently working on a novel.

Alicia Lieu, Jackson Heights/Elmhurst based composer/conductor hails from San Jose, California. As a composer, she has been awarded grants from QCA and City Artist Corps. She is the creator of Dance-it-Yourself Nutcracker and co-founder of nonprofits Composers Collective, Pitches Brew, and New York Conducting Institute. She spent two years living abroad in Shanghai, China, before moving to NYC and conducting has taken her to Russia, Bulgaria, and the Czech Republic. She earned her B.A. in Music Composition from UC Santa Barbara, M.M. in Composition from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from UT El Paso.

A. King McCarty (Ashley King) is an artist, writer, actor, musician and founder of Artstoria New York with her husband and fellow creator, Graham McCarty. She is a two-time recipient of the Queens Community Art Grant and an Art Hotel resident artist. She lives near the Hell Gate Bridge with her husband, son and lots of plants and comic books. Visit her on Instagram at @artstoriany and @akingmccarty

Natalia ‘Saw Lady’® Paruz can be heard playing the musical saw on movie soundtracks such as Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, HBO’s The JinxTime Out of Mind with Richard Gere, Fox Searchlight’s Another EarthDummy with Adrien Brody, etc. She performed with the Israel Philharmonic conducted by Zubin Mehta, with the Westchester Philharmonic, Royal Air Moroccan Symphony, Manhattan Chamber Orchestra and at Lincoln Center with PDQ Bach composer Peter Schickele and with the Little Orchestra Society. She was chosen by Time Out New York and the Village Voice for their “Best of New York” lists and was featured in articles by the New York Times and the Boston Globe.

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THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2024 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT

The Greater Astoria Historical Society is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Learn more at astorialic.org.

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

No, YOU Tell It! “Hell Gate” is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

Event Information

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (31-83 34th St, Astoria)

“Hell Gate” News

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

PROUD TO BE A QUEENS BOOKEND EVENT. TICKETS HERE!

Less than two weeks until the show and we have two pieces of news to share:

Unfortunately, due to an unavoidable scheduling conflict, Barrie Miskin will have to join us for a future show.

Meanwhile, grab your copy of her searing memoir of Motherhood, Madness, and Hope Hell Gate Bridge at the Astoria Bookshop – you could also win one playing story trivia!

***

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2024 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT

The Greater Astoria Historical Society is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Learn more at astorialic.org.

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

No, YOU Tell It! “Hell Gate” is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

Event Information

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (31-83 34th Street, Astoria)

Fantastic “Hell Gate Bridge” Sip & Scribe

Together
Ever-exploring
The evolving landscape as beautiful as it is exhausting
Alone
– “Hell Gate Bridge” poem by artist A. King McCarty

Did you know that Kelly Jean leads a monthly Sip & Scribe at Sunnyside Arts? Last Friday, our four “Hell Gate” storytellers attended the sold out evening of writing, mingling, and drink-sipping with other Queens creatives.

Want to join us next month? Register here for the 10/4 Sip & Scribe or email kjfitzsimmons@gmail.com to be added to Kelly Jean’s weekly newsletter of upcoming writing fun.

This community event also helped the storytellers generate ideas for the true tales they will trade and perform at our upcoming 9/25 “Hell Gate” show at Grove 34. Grab a ticket to come hear the stories the night inspired!

Everyone explored the history of the Hell Gate Bridge from the Greater Astoria Historical Society archives. One breathtaking fact: The February 2005 issue of Discover magazine estimated that, if humans were to disappear, the Hell Gate Bridge could last for at least a millennium; most other bridges would fall in about 300 years.

Or, as Bob Singleton, Executive Director of the Greater Astoria Historical Society, put it:

“With a regular coat of paint that bridge can last as long as the pyramids.” – from Hell Gate Bridge, an Astoria icon, turns 100 years old in AMNY, March 27, 2017

Key takeaways:

  • As strong as it is, the Hell Gate Bridge is overlooked the most. What other structures and marvels do we overlook in Queens? In our lives?
  • “How do bridge?” I want to learn more about how bridges even work!
  • Personal bridges in our lives that transport us back to safe harbor: friends, family, old journals.
  • Art as a bridge to communicate through writing, theater, and drawing. 

Participants also rotated through the “Four Seasons of Hell Gate” for some guided writing inspired by the spectacular artwork of A. King McCarty.

The night culminated in a lovely sharing of “Hell Gate Bridge” poems like this one from founding member and story director, Erika Iverson:

Breeze
Blows Suddenly
Rain pulls down the blossoms like an angry mom at the end of a party
Still

This fantastic poem from story coach and social media guru, Timothy Lindner, captured the energy of this magical evening:

Summer is over, and we’re here
writing about Hell Gate Bridge, somewhere
I’ve never been – it’s stood
for a lifetime and will be here longer
than any of us. How does one decide
which books to read, what shows
to start, when we have so little time,
we can only cross this bridge so much.
Summer, can’t you be more durable?
Let me swim in your oceans
for a little while longer?
Two more minutes, two more minutes.
Winter beckons. I’m never ready
for the fading, migrations, but spring
sips her wine, fall dons her overalls,
both waist-deep in the revolution.
We’ll keep circling, circling, crashing
into the shore, longer than our bodies.

Hell Gate Tickets Available

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 is an intimate venue, so get your tickets for our No, YOU Tell It! “Hell Gate” show.

For this Bookend Event, four Queens storytellers are trading tales inspired by the iconic Hell Gate Bridge. Plus, a special presentation from the Greater Astoria Historical Society and story trivia for fun literary prizes!

Want to meet our four storytellers and learn more about the Hell Gate while doing some writing of your own? Join us at Sunnyside Arts on Friday, 9/6 for Kelly Jean’s monthly Sip & Scribe.

***

THIS IS AN OFFICIAL 2024 BROOKLYN BOOK FESTIVAL BOOKEND EVENT

The Greater Astoria Historical Society is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Learn more at astorialic.org.

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

No, YOU Tell It! “Hell Gate” is made possible (in part) with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund, a re-grant program supported by New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.

Event Information

Sep 25 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (31-83 34th Street, Astoria)

Fantastic Art Heart Event!

On Saturday, we kicked off our upcoming “Left My Heart” show with a fantastic Queens community-building event at Sunnyside Arts.

Join us at Grove 34 on June 5th to hear how the true tales inspired by Tony Bennett’s life and music that we brainstormed together evolved. Get your tickets here, and tell friends! 

The four NYTI storytellers, creative team, and fun friends engaged with this imaginary interview published in the Queens Gazette by Bob Singleton, Executive Director of the Greater Astoria Historical Society.

“Although the interview is imaginary, the quotes are real. When I started to do research to write something about Tony Bennett, I checked the Notable Quotes page on the in­ternet and found a cornucopia of comments by him and it immediately hit me that if they were brought together, it would be very reveal­ing of the man and his career, as well as his roots within the community, his hometown of Astoria. They seemed to fit a pattern and with a few hours of sorting I had an interview that he never did, but his words revealed so much of a very humble, yet extraordinary artist who always valued his deep roots in the commu­nity.”

—Bob Singleton

The Art Heart: Storytelling and Portrait Trading workshop was co-led by our own Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons and upcoming “Left My Heart” storyteller Zach Rothman-Hicks of Gabbing with Gays, an ongoing archive of Emotional Intimacy in the LGBTQIA+ community.

First, participants took turns reading the interview aloud and reflected on Tony Bennett’s life, art, and philosophies while listening to his music. Here are some highlights:

It was amazing how humble he seemed even when achieving so much. I live by the philosophy to always keep learning, so his thoughts on getting better/longevity are refreshing to hear. The note about the bartender in Arkansas (about “I Left My Heart in San Francisco”) is so cute – I wonder if he did end up buying the first record!

Despite seeing all of the horrors of WWII, he didn’t have bitterness or regret but walked forward.

Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga were like two unlikely food flavors that somehow fit together.

Quintessentially old school, at the same time, he embraces what’s going on in the present.

I was surprised that “I Left My Heart in San Francisco” was originally the B-side of the record, but after hearing “Once Upon a Time,” I understand. That it is also a fabulous song. 

He made music for everyone, not just the young. I want adult music!

Is life a gift when life aligns with your gift?

Where are the negative feelings? Are they transformed into art?

Anywhere Tony Bennett performs (regardless of the size of the venue), he is 100% there. 

You need to take care of yourself and your health to be an artist. If we are dead, we can’t do anything.

Look at nature. It’s always going to change.

Next, we brainstormed personal stories inspired by the reflection and an “I Left My Heart in…” fill-in-the-blanks freewriting activity. Then, we paired people up, and they interviewed each other to learn more about the personal story they chose to share with their partner.

Finally, the story partners traced each other’s faces on transparency paper and incorporated what they heard in their stories to create a composite portrait of their partner.  The results were fantastic and will be on display at the show!

Happy 12-Year Anniversary

We are excited and grateful to celebrate 12 years of switched-up storytelling. Click here to read how it all began on May 8, 2012, in the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology foreword and take a look at NYTI “Over the Years” highlights below.

CELEBRATE with us this Saturday, May 11, at ART HEART: STORYTELLING AND PORTRAIT TRADING pay-what-you-wish community event at Sunnyside Arts from 2 to 4.

Meet and share stories with the No, YOU Tell It! “Left My Heart” storytellers. Then GRAB YOUR TICKETS HERE for our June team-up show with the Greater Astoria Historical Society at Grove 34 in Astoria.

Keep it going! Click here to donate in support of a new decade of No, YOU Tell It!

Next Show! NYTI “Left My Heart”

Jun 05 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grab your ticket for our next show! Four curated storytellers will trade tales inspired by the music and history of Astoria native Tony Bennett from the Greater Astoria Historical Society archives. Plus, story trivia for fun literary prizes.

Want to meet the storytellers and share your story before the show? Join us on May 11 for ART HEART: STORYTELING AND PORTRAIT TRADING at Sunnyside Arts. All are welcome at this pay-what-you-wish community event. Register here.

Storytellers:

Carl Banks

January Yoon Cho

Catherine Kapphahn

Zach Rothman-Hicks

 

NYTI Creative Team:

KJ Fitzsimmons

Pichchenda Bao

Erika Iverson

Tim Lindner

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The Greater Astoria Historical Society is the place to learn and celebrate Long Island City and its neighborhoods. Learn more at astorialic.org.

This project is supported by funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, Statewide Community Regrants Program (formerly the Decentralization program) with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by Flushing Town Hall.

Event Information

Jun 05 2024 @ 7:00PM

Grove 34 (31-83 34th St, Astoria)

Art Heart: Storytelling and Portrait Trading

Join us for Art Heart: Storytelling and Portrait Trading on Saturday, May 11th (2-4 pm) at Sunnyside Arts. Register here.

Participants will engage with the music and history of Astoria native Tony Bennett from the archives of the Greater Astoria Historical Society to inspire and trade personal stories with a partner.

Then, the story partners will trace each other’s faces on transparency paper and incorporate what they heard in their stories to create a composite portrait of their partner.

All are welcome to this pay-what-you-wish Queens community building event and kick-off for our June No, YOU Tell It! “Left My Heart” show. Questions? Contact noyoutellit@gmail.com.

Workshop Facilitators

Kelly Jean Fitzsimmons is a writer, educator, and storyteller. Her recent work has appeared in HiLoBrow, Marie Claire, Hippocampus Magazine, and numerous anthologies. She designs and teaches college essay writing workshops through The Center for Fiction, House of SpeakEasy’s SpeakTogether program, and at high schools nationwide. She is the producer of No, YOU Tell It!, a nonfiction series that brings storytellers together to trade tales, speak each other’s words, and empower voices on the page and stage. Kelly Jean is also the editor of the No, YOU Tell It! Ten-Year Anthology, available from Palm Circle Press. Follow @noyoutellit for more.

Zach Rothman-Hicks is an educator and multimedia conceptual artist who creates interactive performances and projects intended to spark reflection, dialogue, and action. He has been a New York City Public School teacher since September 2009 and an Adjunct Lecturer at Hunter College since 2012 and Queens College since 2022. In April 2020, while a student in the PIMA MFA Program at Brooklyn College, he initiated Gabbing with Gays, a project that explored Emotional Intimacy in the LGBTQIA+ community. This project inspired future interactive art pieces, which were presented at the Staten Island Museum, Snug Harbor Cultural Center, the Newhouse Center, Alice Austen House, Easton Mountain, Queens Public Library, Hunters Point Park Conservancy, Chashama, Culture Lab, and the 14th Street Y.

André Knights is a Health and Wellness Instructor and certified LMT. He has worked with at-risk youth in an alternative school setting in the New York City Department of Education for more than 20 years. Prior to this, he worked in the Adult Literacy Program at the Brooklyn Public Library. He and Zach have collaborated on numerous social practice art projects since 2021.

 

Queens Community Events and New Show

Save the dates for these upcoming Queens community events open to all and our NEW SHOW at Grove 34!

Register here for the Queens & Me: Personal Writing Workshop at The Astoria Bookshop. Writers of all levels welcome!

Follow us on FB and Insta for more details on our Art Heart event and upcoming “Left My Heart” show.

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