![\"Council](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-11-14-at-18.08.44-1.jpeg\")
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Council Member Sandra Ung, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and AAFE leadership at an event announcing $1.3 million in funding for the organization. Photo by Shane O\u2019Brien.<\/p>\n
\t\t Search our comprehensive guide to things to do in Queens<\/a> for more local events \u2014 or submit your own<\/a>!<\/p>\n Council Member Sandra Ung and Council Speaker Adrienne Adams joined Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE)<\/a> leadership in Flushing<\/a> on Nov. 14 to announce $1.3 million in Council funding for the organization\u2019s new cultural center for art exhibitions, community events and youth engagement.<\/p>\n AAFE\u2019s Union Street Cultural Hub will transform existing office space at 35-34 Union St. into a permanent home for the Asian American Arts Centre\u2019s collection of art from the Asian American community across the United States.<\/p>\n The space will also host exhibitions, educational programming and community events designed to celebrate Asian American culture and strengthen community ties.\n<\/p>\n The new hub is part of AAFE\u2019s mission to empower Asian American and immigrant communities by providing access to arts and community events in Flushing.\n<\/p>\n The new space will host Asian American artwork curated by Bob Lee, executive director of the Asian American Arts Centre. AAFE will also partner with local organizations and youth groups to platform local artwork at the new space.<\/p>\n Thomas Yu, executive director of AAFE, said the new space will be unique in the sense that it will platform Asian American art, stating that most museums and cultural spaces in the city tend to focus on art originating from Asia.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at our mainstream institutions, their Asian art is really about Asia. We\u2019re talking about American history here,\u201d Yu said. \u201cIt (the collection) is like a web of all American stories and how they interweave together.\u201d<\/p>\n The new cultural hub will also provide opportunities for young people to engage with the arts and learn more about the diverse heritage that shapes their community, Ung\u2019s office said. AAFE will work with local organizations and institutions including Flushing High School, Veritas Academy and Queens High School for Language Studies to provide those opportunities.<\/p>\n It is also partnering with the nonprofit Think!Chinatown to create a vision for the cultural hub and help steward its archive.\n<\/p>\n Ung said the space would bring \u201cincredible art programming\u201d to what is currently an office space, stating that the new hub will provide community members with access to invaluable opportunities.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will be a vital center that will serve as a hub for art community events designed to celebrate the Asian American culture and strengthening community ties,\u201d Ung said.\n<\/p>\n Adams, meanwhile, said the new hub will serve as a dedicated space for Asian artists and scholars and spoke of the importance of providing access to art and culture spaces throughout the city.\n<\/p>\n \u201cI know that artistic and creative expressions are not just confined to the walls of a museum or theaters on Broadway,\u201d Adams said. \u201cThe arts thrive in every single neighborhood, within our classrooms and in our youth centers and community institutions.<\/p>\n \u201cArts and culture are essential to who we are and why we\u2019re here. It\u2019s our obligation to nurture the brilliance of our people and give them spaces to shine.\u201d AAFE has secured $1.8 million in funding for the new space, with New York State and the Mellon Foundation providing some of the remaining $500,000.<\/p>\n The funding will support building-wide renovations and improvements, including exterior waterproofing, replacement of water-damaged floors and walls, climate control upgrades to safely store artwork and plumbing and electrical work.<\/p>\n Yu said construction work is set to begin in January and said the organization is currently reviewing several architect proposals. He anticipates that the project will take \u201croughly a year\u201d to complete.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the organization will work to secure funding to help fund programming at the space once construction has been completed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Council Member Sandra Ung, Council Speaker Adrienne Adams and AAFE leadership at an event announcing $1.3 million in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42222,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[24262,446,648,9,24,63,122,124,123,17694,24263],"class_list":{"0":"post-42221","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-aafe","9":"tag-adrienne-adams","10":"tag-flushing","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-nyc","14":"tag-queens","15":"tag-queens-headlines","16":"tag-queens-news","17":"tag-sandra-ung","18":"tag-thomas-yu"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42221","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=42221"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42221\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42221"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42221"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42221"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n![\"Adams](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/WhatsApp-Image-2025-11-14-at-18.08.48.jpeg\")
Adams speaks on Nov. 14. Photo by Shane O\u2019Brien.\n<\/p>\n