{"id":275372,"date":"2026-06-23T15:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/275372\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T15:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T15:54:15","slug":"noguchi-museum-in-lic-expands-language-inclusive-programs-with-mandarin-tour-qns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/275372\/","title":{"rendered":"Noguchi Museum in LIC expands language-inclusive programs with Mandarin tour \u2013 QNS"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summer, the Noguchi Museum<\/a> in Long Island City<\/a> is expanding its community offerings with Mandarin-language tours, including a guided tour scheduled on June 28.<\/p>\n

The monthly public tours are conducted and developed in collaboration with arts educator Jocelyn Yang. They are held on select Sundays at 3 p.m., with each tour lasting approximately one hour, as visitors explore the museum\u2019s collection and exhibitions of the Japanese American artist and landscape architect Isamu Noguchi.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Future Mandarin Chinese tours will be offered on:\n<\/p>\n

Sunday, June 28
\nSunday, July 19
\nSunday, August 9<\/p>\n

\"\"Arts educator Jocelyn Yang worked with the Noguchi Museum to lead the Mandarin-language tours.Photo courtesy of The Noguchi Museum<\/p>\n

For over a decade, the Noguchi Museum has commemorated the artist\u2019s work and legacy by offering language-inclusive tours, including in Spanish and Japanese.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cProgramming in multiple languages has always been a top priority for us, especially because we\u2019re located in Queens, which is a very diverse borough,\u201d said Queena Ko, the museum\u2019s education director. \u201cWe want to make the museum as welcoming and accessible to as many folks as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The increased accessibility enables the Noguchi Museum to create a more intimate experience, as visitors engage with the art in their native tongue.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cBy offering tours and someone\u2019s native language, they might feel more connected or more free to express their opinion in a group setting,\u201d Ko said. \u201c[It\u2019s] so wonderful that art can be about creating those personal connections, but also hearing someone else\u2019s opinion, which might be different from yours.\u201d<\/p>\n

Because many of Noguchi\u2019s artworks are abstract, the Mandarin Chinese tours move away from a more traditional, lecture-style delivery, favoring a more conversational approach. Yang would preface each piece by asking simple questions, attempting to \u201ctake down the barrier\u201d between the expert and the visitor.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Noguchi Museum does not feature many barriers between the art and the viewer to create a more personal response and experience.Photo courtesy of The Noguchi Museum<\/p>\n

The modest group sizes further encourage people to speak more freely about the art and its impact on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have somewhere between 15 and 20 people [in each general public tour],\u201d Yang said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s small enough where we can really have a conversation where everybody can share with you everything. It\u2019s been great when people actually open up, and you talk to strangers about their life experiences.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noguchi\u2019s exploration of identity is one such way his work resonates with visitors. Being of Japanese-American descent, Noguchi was no stranger to discrimination, having spent six months in the Colorado River Relocation Center concentration camp in Arizona. Those experiences were then channeled into his art.<\/p>\n

Ko, a second-generation Chinese American, has watched the tour cultivate intergenerational learning and understanding.\n<\/p>\n

Yang shared that sentiment, saying the tour allows for a dialogue that wouldn\u2019t arise elsewhere.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was kind of always searching for his identity, his sense of belonging. It\u2019s a thing that a lot of immigrants, first generation [or] second generation, might relate to,\u201d Yang said. \u201cSo, it\u2019s really wonderful to be able to provide this program and have the space for people to talk about this, that otherwise might not really happen in a lot of public spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Noguchi Museum offers a slate of renewed family-focused programs help visitors engage with Noguchi\u2019s work.Photo courtesy of The Noguchi Museum<\/p>\n

Yang\u2019s philosophy and promotion of collective learning also apply to family events, which the Noguchi Museum currently offers in English. Like the Mandarin Chinese tours, the family-focused programs help visitors navigate some of the visual abstractions found in the museum\u2019s collection and exhibitions.<\/p>\n

Some of the programming includes:\n<\/p>\n

Art for Families workshops (ages 5-11), pairing gallery conversations with activities like stop-motion animation and sculptural building
\nArt for Tots (ages 1-4), introducing the youngest visitors to Noguchi\u2019s work through sensory exploration
\nStroller Tours for new parents, blending guided looking with community-building moments
\nOpen Studio sessions offer drop-in art-making tied to works on view<\/p>\n

Mandarin-language public tours are free with museum admission; advanced admission is not required. General admission is $16, or visit for free on the first Friday of every month. General tours are available daily at 2:00 p.m.<\/p>\n

The museum hosts a variety of free programs, which can be explored on the museum\u2019s calendar on its website<\/a>. Those interested in discovering more about special events \u2014 along with tours conducted in Spanish or Japanese \u2014 can visit Noguchi.org<\/a> or email Education@Noguchi.org.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This summer, the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City is expanding its community offerings with Mandarin-language tours, including…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":275373,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[17264,4982,105936,12680,128,21665,73398,25186,105937,69597,9,24,53802,63,105938,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-275372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-art-museum","tag-arts","tag-asian","tag-asian-american","tag-bronx","tag-chinese","tag-inclusive-arts","tag-isamu-noguchi","tag-jocelyn-yang","tag-mandarin","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-noguchi-museum","tag-nyc","tag-queena-ko","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275372","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=275372"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/275372\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/275373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=275372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=275372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=275372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}