QUEENS ROYALTY

PROJECT STATEMENT

A recent New York Times article, "36 hours in Queens," describes retailers and restaurants that conjure the magic of old New York, “full of sights and sounds unlike anything you’ll find a short subway ride away” in Manhattan. Businesses across Queens are featured, but none in Jamaica. We plan to change that. 

Jamaica is both hip and historic, but its positive story is largely untold. We are engaging top artists and local youth to help us tell that story to the world. Jamaica is a home to innovators in Jazz and Hip-Hop, two hugely influential American art forms. It is a thriving transit hub and an internationally diverse marketplace. Its elders carry the mark of history and its youth beckon the future. There are challenges to be sure; but Jamaica is an American neighborhood, a New York City neighborhood, and it pulses with energy like nowhere else.  

We are breathing new life into that narrative through workshops led by two youth arts groups, Urban Word NYC and Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, that will empower teens to create their own positive tales of Jamaica. We are commissioning four noted photographers whose images will rightly depict local residents as Queens Royalty. We are holding a concert with gifted performers who will lift up Jamaica’s reputation as a renowned center of culture and music. Together we will help revitalize Jamaica’s self-pride and deliver a bold invitation to the world: Jamaica, Queens: Touch the Crown.  

 - Brian Tate, 2013

QUEENS ROYALTY CONCERT

MCs: Liza Jessie Peterson + kahlil almustafa
Vocals: Queen GodIs + Bobby Generic
Music: Graham Haynes + Deejay Reborn + Trevor Holder + Tom Zlabinger with the York College Creative Ensemble