Flushing Town Hall
- Location : Flushing, NY
- Community Served: Local Community
- Focus: Cultural arts
Organization background
Flushing Town Hall (FTH), founded in 1979,
is a multi-disciplinary arts presenter and arts-education provider based in Queens, NY.
Their mission is to present global arts that engage and educate the global communities of New York City
to foster mutual appreciation.
Flushing Town Hall is a member of NYC’s Cultural Institutions Group and is a Smithsonian Affiliate.
They partner with community organizations building collaborations that enhance their efforts.
Project background
FTH runs 2 programs:
- Presenting Program:
‘Global Arts for a Global Community’
which feature culturally specific
programs in music, dance, theater, puppetry, and visual arts, and
are meant to builds bridges among the culturally diverse
(Chinese, Korean, Native American, Latin American and South Asian)
local communities.
80% of audience members come from Queens.
Tickets to FTH‘s programs are offered at prices much lower than comparable institutions;
they also have a Free- for-Teens program, that provides free tickets to teens.
An example of this program is the Diwali Festival
that FTH has conducted since 2014.
This festival is a celebration of Indian Culture that preserves and shares
traditional art forms.
Components of the Diwali Festival include professional performances on stage,
and also workshops (dance, cooking, painting) that enable public participation.
In addition to shows for the general public, there are also sessions
dedicated to school children, that are integrated with
the public school curriculum, and count towards graduation requirements
for the children.
- Arts Education Programs: ‘Global Arts for Global Kids’ is a 10-week program that serves
around 50+ DOE schools in the Queens area.
Each week, beginning in September, FTH the program features a different teaching artist (TA)
who showcases a unique art form daily,
such as Columbian music or Indian dance.
Schools make programming requests and FTH tailors the program
accordingly, to support teachers and administrators
in meeting city, state, and federally mandated
standards in both arts and academic subjects.
This program serves many economically vulnerable
and special needs students.
They also partner with senior centers for weekday school
matinees.
In 2020, the Arts Education program went online in response to the ongoing global
pandemic.
The TA's will make 5-10 minute pre-recorded videos
that will be shown daily as part of the program.
In addition, all of thse TA's will have study aids that will be translated into 4 languages:
Mandarin/Cantonese, Korean, Spanish and Hindi, to address the needs of the local community.
GKF contributions to FTH:
- 2019: hosting the ‘Diwali Festival’ presenting program
- 2020: running the ‘Global Arts for Global Kids’ Arts Education Program
- 2021: hosting the ‘Diwali Festival’ program, and other cultural arts programs for children in public schools
- 2022-2024: hosting the ‘Diwali Festival’ ‘ Holi Festival’ programs, arts education in schools, and global mashups and jazz programs for the public