Queens Creatives: A Crowdfunding Roundup

One of the best things about our neighborhood is the supportive community environment. People are proud to live here, and demonstrate that by frequenting our wide variety of fantastic small businesses, whether it’s a bookstore, brewery, or soap shop. When we see our neighbors succeeding, we all feel included!

Our arts scene is no different. Astoria and LIC are full of artists, musicians, writers, and filmmakers taking risks and creating new and exciting things everyday. To show our support, we wanted to highlight a few local crowdfunding campaigns that are worth checking out. If you like what you see, there’s plenty of ways to get involved, whether it’s donating, forwarding to a friend, or posting about them on social media. Let’s support each other, Astoria!

 

A Chorus Line at The Secret Theatre

The singular sensation of A Chorus Line will be presented at LIC’s The Secret Theatre in February, with the assistance of crowdfunding. The 1975 Tony Awards winner for Best Musical will never go out of style, even 40 years later. The music, choreography, and message about going after your dreams still holds the same poignancy and urgency it did when it debuted. And those costumes are still some of the flashiest to ever hit the stage!

To make this production possible, The Secret Theatre needs our help. Take a look at their Indiegogo page here!

 

Queens World Film Festival Young Filmmakers Program

The Queens World Film Festival is an annual March event that brings filmmakers from all around the globe to Queens. It’s an inspiring week of events that puts our borough on the international map as a hub for creativity and innovation. In addition to the yearly festival, the organizers also give back to the community with a young filmmakers program that pairs veterans in the industry with local 5th graders to teach them the ins and outs of moviemaking. You never know, one of our local kids could turn out to be the next Danny Boyle or Kathryn Bigelow!

This campaign only has a few days left, so don’t delay! Check out their Indiegogo page here.

 

McGurk’s Suicide Hall

Local singer-songwriter Jeneen Terrana, one of the performers from We Heart Astoria’s CMJ showcase at LIC Bar, has an exciting new project to share with us. As a long-tern resident of Astoria (12 years!) Jeneen co-wrote a musical about NYC in 1902 based on actual people and events. The theme of the new work demonstrates how New Yorkers still struggle with some of the same issues that were prevalent in the early 1900s. (It sounds like the rent always has been too damn high!)

For more information on this NYC-centric project, take a look at the Rockethub link here.

Whether it’s film, theatre, live music, or art, it’s certainly an exciting time for creatives in Queens. Let’s show them some support!