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Queens Council on the Arts (QCA) Artist Commissioning Program has announced four new artist awardees: Kerri Edge, Yogi (Y?) Guadin, Claire Marie Lim and 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 artists $10,000 each 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 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?) Guadin, 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.
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.
