Queens’ arts community adjusts to new normal during pandemic
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Flushing Town Hall Executive Director Ellen Kodadek (left) with late former Borough President Claire Shulman. Photo courtesy of Flushing Town Hall
By Ellen Kodadek
Flushing Town Hall closed its facilities six months ago when New York placed all non-essential businesses “on pause” in order to curtail the spread of coronavirus.
To date, our venue remains closed. New York’s phased reopening has not yet reached our sector.
On the other hand, we never truly closed at all. Like so many other cultural institutions impacted by the pandemic, we moved online, where we have continued to present global arts programming for a global community.
That “global community” used to refer to audiences in the larger New York City metro and tri-state area, within walking, driving, or train distance to our home in Queens – the most diverse county in the nation, where more languages are spoken in one place than anywhere else on the planet.
But now, thanks to the wonders of the internet, our virtual programming allows artists and audience members to engage from all around the world and in real time. Since moving online, our monthly Louis Armstrong Legacy Jazz Jam, for example, has included participants in Germany, Italy, and Australia. That would have been impossible before. In this way, the pandemic has opened new opportunities.
Early in the shutdown, we began streaming content online that had been previously performed live at our venue and recorded, and that programming continues today.
As our staff adapted to virtual programming, we also began to experiment with a handful of new, live events. These have included Crazy Talented Asians & Friends, an evening of live comedy and animated shorts, our Latin American Rhythms Nights, and monthly jazz jams. We also began hosting weekly Zoom calls to facilitate conversation among artists in Queens.
Our talented team of Teaching Artists also began to generate original content during the pandemic in the form of short, educational videos, filming themselves in their own homes, which we then made available online with accompanying lesson plans and activities. In this way our Education department was able to support classroom teachers newly in need of content for remote instruction and children and families who suddenly found themselves homebound.
Recognizing the power of the arts to connect, heal, and uplift communities, we were determined to provide programming throughout this period of extraordinary hardship—and to make our content accessible by offering most of it free of charge.
In June, as the weather warmed and New York’s case rate dropped, we saw life begin to resume in outdoor settings. As we were still not able to open indoors, Flushing Town Hall launched our first, physical art exhibition since the pandemic closed our facility. We extended an open invitation for New Yorkers to contribute artworks for display on our outdoor fence along Northern Blvd. We called the exhibition Call and Response: Grief, Resiliency, and Hope.
As we move into fall, we are presenting more live offerings online as our artists and educators generate new works, including programs in both English and Mandarin. We also continue to replay recordings of old favorites from our venue stage, like our Global Mashups concert series, as part of an online collaboration with 19 other venues across the US and Canada for Global Music Month —and much more.
This six-month milestone arrives for me with mixed emotions.
I feel proud when I reflect on Flushing Town Hall’s resilience and the caliber of content and programming that our staff, artists, and educators have generated.
I feel grateful for the loyalty and generosity of our staff, audiences, and funders and excited by the new following the internet made possible for us as a global arts presenter.
I mourn for those whose lives have been lost and for the grief of their loved ones.
I am also saddened by our continued inability to gather as a community in person — to hold hands on the dance floor, to embrace backstage, to sing and cheer loudly in the theatre and gallery. The love and connection you experience at a live show or art opening is life affirming, and its absence has left a profound void.
Above all, I worry for the long-term financial viability of Flushing Town Hall, and for that of the other small, presenting venues that are so vital to our city’s cultural and economic wellbeing. The longer we remain physically closed, the greater our need for financial rescue will become.
Because we still have costs we must meet — even while our facilities are closed - the financial impact has been severe due to the loss of ticket and rental income.
Flushing Town Hall’s beautiful, historic building must be maintained and safeguarded, artists and staff who generate virtual content must be paid, and an eventual re-opening will be expensive.
Of course, the health and safety of our audience, staff, crew, and performers are primary above all else. A reopening cannot be rushed.
More than ever, we are counting on individual donors, foundation grants, and government aid.
I trust that donors with capacity will step up, and that our elected representatives will rally to save the arts and nonprofit sectors.
We will need support to recover, and in turn, we will be part of the city’s recovery. As a major economic driver, the arts provide a livelihood for thousands of artists, stagehands, freelancers, mangers, and agents — and also, essential medicine for the soul. There is strength and healing in coming together.
Until then, check out our online program series, FTH at Home, on our website: www.flushingtownhall.org
Ellen Kodadek is executive and artistic director of Flushing Town Hall.
