Four Queens Artists Highlight Social Issues Of Today In Upcoming Original Work

Queens Council on the Arts (QCA) Artist Commissioning Program announces four new artist awardees: Kerri Edge, Yogi (Y?) Guyadin, Claire Marie Limand Guanglei Hui. The artists represent some of the most exciting work being conducted in Queens in all performing arts disciplines, including dance, theater and music. In its second year, the program awards each artist $10,000 towards the creation and production of an original project as well as a year-long commitment of advisory and support from the group of dedicated Art Producers.

Selected by two panels of art producers for their capacity to tell untold stories, the four winning projects tackle hot-button issues and comment on our everyday realities using new forms and platforms.

Artivist Kerri Edge's project "REFORM" uses tap dance as a vehicle to shed light on the racial disparities in the American criminal justice system encouraging others to advocate for legislation. Yogi (Y?) Guyadin, educator, artist and audio engineer/producer, will present an experimental theatre project, "Shooter,"which invites participants to confront the complex power dynamics between victim and perpetrator, role-playing as the "shooter" or the "shot" in an incident of gun violence. Interdisciplinary artist Claire Marie Lim's music project "Colors of Us" will feature new musical material created in collaboration with female-identifying youths of Asian descent residing or having roots in Queens. Dancer and choreographer Guanglei Hui's choreography "The Silent Voices"will use the metaphor of the silent scream to draw attention to the experience of new immigrants facing seemingly insurmountable barriers to entry into mainstream American life.

This year's Art Producers comprise a group of Jamaica and Flushing-affiliated arts enthusiasts and community members. For more about their backgrounds, please visit: https://www.queenscouncilarts.org/2018-art-producers

Throughout the year, the program will hold a series of events including artist talks and mini performances of works in progress, which are free and open to the public. The 2019 program will culminate in four world premieres of commissioned art works in late summer and fall.

About Artist Commissioning Program

Artist Commissioning Program provides local choreographers, playwrights and composers with funding towards the creation and production of original work. The focus of this new initiative, funded by the Scherman Foundation's Rosin Fund, is to produce new, significant works of art that diversity the American canon, as well as build a growing culture of arts support in Queens. For more information about the ACP, visit: www.queenscouncilarts.org/art-commissioning/

The ACP is made possible by generous support from the Scherman Foundation, the New York State Regional Economic Development Council and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.