{"id":206868,"date":"2026-04-23T02:58:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:58:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/206868\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T02:58:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T02:58:29","slug":"cultural-diversity-queens-gazette","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/206868\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Cultural Diversity\u2019 – Queens Gazette"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\"Photo:<\/a><\/p>\n

(L. to r.): Jeff Rosenstock, Assistant Vice President of External and Governmental Relations of Queens College; Lorraine Chambers-Lewis, President of LIJ\/Forest Hills- Northwell Health; Michelle Stoddart, Senior Vice President of Community Development at Resorts World NYC; Queens Borough Pres\u00adident Donovan Richards Jr.; Paula Kirby, Managing Director of Plaxall Inc.; Nedelka Sotelo, Project Manager of Queens Rising. Photo: Dominick Totino<\/p>\n

Queens Rising, the borough-wide multidisciplinary arts celebration, officially kicked off its fifth annual month-long festival with an energizing launch event at the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.<\/p>\n

The launch event united performers, curators, arts leaders, and community advocates in a collective celebration of Queens\u2019 creative ecosystem.<\/p>\n

Queens Rising, the borough-wide multidisci\u00adplinary arts celebration, officially kicked off its fifth annual month-long festival with an energizing launch event at the Queens Museum in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. The event set the tone for the June-long celebration of Queens\u2019 rich cultural and creative diversity, with remarks from cultural leaders and a special preview of the exciting pro\u00adgrams to come.<\/p>\n

The launch event united performers, curators, arts leaders, and community advocates in a collec\u00adtive celebration of Queens\u2019 creative ecosystem. Shanice Figeroux, a Queens-based visual artist, muralist and longtime supporter of Queens Rising, was on stage, live painting, and said, \u201cThere are so many opportunities in the building to collaborate with other creatives, organizations, and art pro\u00adgramming and as an individual artist, this was so needed because I was looking for a home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFive years [later], we are gathered here to\u00adgether as a community of artists, arts organizations, and artist supporters to celebrate and illuminate the vibrant cultural landscape of our favorite borough, Queens, and to share today what Queens Rising will present this June across the borough,\u201d said Jeff Rosenstock, Assistant Vice President for External and Governmental Relations at Queens College.<\/p>\n

Queens Rising acts as a catalyst for collabora\u00adtion, connecting artists, venues, and businesses to maximize opportunities for arts and culture to flourish in Queens. Through these connections, pathways for creativity and innovation thrive. At Queens Rising, the belief in the transformative power of art and culture to inspire, connect, and up\u00adlift communities is steadfast. \u201cQueens Rising cele\u00adbrates not just diversity and what we see as demo\u00adgraphics, but diversity in the arts\u2013painters, sculptors, dancers, photographers, filmmakers, writers, poets, and more from all over the world. And their masterpieces all look and sound different, but their value to our arts, and culture seen here in Queens, is the same. And these are the people who keep the cultures of the world borough alive through art\u2026who uplift us every year through this particular initiative, Queens Rising\u2026190 countries, [and over] 360 languages of dialects are spoken in Queens County, and while Washington, DC, con\u00adtinues to build walls, we will continue to always build bridges in Queens County,\u201d said Queens Bor\u00adough President Donovan Richards Jr.\u201d<\/p>\n

District 21 Council Member Shanel Thomas-Henry, along with the inaugural lead sponsor of Queens Rising, Lorraine Chambers-Lewis, Presi\u00addent of LIJ\/Forest Hills-Northwell Health, also came to show their support.<\/p>\n

Events will be in collaboration with \u201cCulture Pass, and four libraries every Thursday night in June, [including] the best foodie community event\u2013 the Queen\u2019s Night Market on Saturday, June 6th\u2013 along with a Juneteenth event at Queens Theater, a kickoff event at Resorts World, and a Pride cele\u00adbration at Culture Lab,\u201d said Jeff Rosenstock.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe world is here, so the world would be watching us. They told me to be a good neighbor to everyone around me. How can you do that with\u00adout loving the arts? How can you do that without loving the culture of where you are? So, Queens Rising definitely embodies all of that. And so when we were asked to support and to be a part of it, there was no way we could do anything else than put our full weight behind this effort and we will continue to support Queens Rising in 2027,\u201d said Michelle Stoddart, Senior Vice President of Community De\u00advelopment at Resorts World NYC.<\/p>\n

The final speaker of the morning was An\u00adgelique York representing Queens World Film Fes\u00adtival, she said, \u201cDo you remember me? You met me last year. I was standing, right over there, trying to be invisible. The monitor had a compilation of five young film students, but this year\u2019s compila\u00adtion is made up entirely of my work. Just one year later, I am now working on my thesis\u2026the ecosys\u00adtem you\u2019re creating and sustaining here in Queens, make it possible for young people like me to stand here in front of you, and say, my name is Angelique York, and I am a filmmaker.\u201d<\/p>\n

Support for Queens Rising is provided by lead sponsor, Resorts World New York City. Additional support is provided by LIJ\/Forest Hills-Northwell Health, the Howard Gilman Foundation, and the Kupferberg Center for the Arts at Queens College.<\/p>\n

For more information on Queens Rising and a full schedule of events, please visit https:\/\/queensrising.nyc\/<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(L. to r.): Jeff Rosenstock, Assistant Vice President of External and Governmental Relations of Queens College; Lorraine Chambers-Lewis,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":206869,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-206868","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206868","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=206868"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/206868\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/206869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=206868"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=206868"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=206868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}