Culture Lab LIC In the News
Colombian artist Jorge Posada is part of a collective art exhibition titled, Bodies In Motion.
October 7, 2024 by Carmen Valdivieso Hulbert, New York Hispano
The work of Colombian artist Jorge Posada is part of the appeal of a collective art exhibition entitled “Bodies In Motion,” which brings us a load of movement from various aspects of the human body, which was inaugurated on September 26 in a large space, already well known in the New York art scene, Culture Lab in Long Island City. The exhibition runs until November 3.
Culture Lab in Long Island City prepares for jam-packed weekend of cultural events...
Oct. 2, 2024 by Shane O’Brien, LIC Post
Culture Lab LIC is preparing for a bumper weekend of events, including the venue’s first-ever Halal Festival and the launch of a new horror-themed play.
Culture Lab, located at 5-25 46th Ave., will host its first annual NYC Halal Festival from 12 noon until 8 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 5, featuring 25 food vendors serving only Halal food.
The best Halloween theater in 2024
Sunday October 6 2024
Adam Feldman, Time Out USA
Time Out says: Riley Elton McCarthy's queer horror play, which had a buzzy trial run at the Tank last year, returns in a new production directed by Brandon Urrutia and featuring Kai Justice Rosales, Alvin Christmas and Danielle Breitstein. Rosales plays a road-tripping geologist whose pica gives him a bad habit of eating rocks, and Christmas is the crazy ex-boyfriend with a tendency toward arson. Address: Culture Lab LIC...
Halloween in New York: Things to Do in October
The New York Times, October 1, 2024
The Stage Is Set: A geologist named Roach is the leading character in Riley Elton McCarthy's new queer horror play "i'm going to eat you alive" at Culture Lab LIC in Queens (Oct. 3-27)...
(Registration Required)
Truth & Magic: An immersive concert experience looks to head to debut in Long Island City this December...
by No Proscenium, Sep 26, 2024
NYC’s “finest funky disco kids” the Gentleman Brawlers are spinning up a 90-minute interactive concert experience dubbed Truth & Magic, which is slated to debut at Culture Lab LIC this December...
Culture Lab LIC to host penultimate dog adoption event of 2024 on Sep. 1...
Aug 21, 2024 By Shane O’Brien, LIC Post
Culture Lab LIC is set to host its penultimate dog adoption event of the 2024 season at the beginning of September, connecting local pet adoption services with potential new owners.
A massive free Korean culture festival is happening in NYC next week...
by Ian Kumamoto, Time Out
August 30, 2024
Despite the fact that more and more parties in New York play K-pop music and there’s an entire street in midtown where you'll find some of the best Korean restaurants in the East Coast, there has yet to be a festival dedicated to celebrating the culture of that country as a whole...
That’s about to change with Korea Fest. Set to debut on Sunday, September 8, from 2pm until 9pm at Culture Lab in Long Island City, Queens...
Take matters into your own hands at ‘Third Law’
by Kristen Guglielmo, May 16, 2024
“In the beginning, the Creator made heaven and the Creator made earth.” Those are the opening lines of “Third Law,” a production by creative group What Will the Neighbors Say? at Culture Lab LIC.
Devised and directed by Coral Cohen, the production is described as an interactive theatrical game, working to maximize audience agency and bring viewers into the heart of art-making by using technology.
When I spoke with Cohen and two of the cast members and the team behind What Will the Neighbors Say?, Sam Hood Adrain and James Clements, they noted that the production is unique, dynamic and never the same twice...
On Porous Artistic Designations:
In Conversation with Tess Howsam, Culture Lab LIC’s Artistic Director
Aug 07, 2024 by Eve Bromberg. Photo by Lindsey Augusta Mercer.
One of the miraculous things about New York City is how much goes on without your ever knowing about it. Every day a piece of art is made, a performance is rehearsed and mounted, or a writer sits to start what could be their magnum opus. That feeling– of joyous frenzy– that creation is both possible and essential, is what I felt while speaking with Tess Howsam, the Aristic Director of Culture Lab LIC since 2022.
Culture Lab, a multi-disciplinary arts organization in the heart of Queen’s Long Island City, is challenging the forces that make viewing and producing art prohibitive in New York City. Housed in a building gifted by the former plastics manufacturing company Plaxall, the organization mounts fine and performing arts shows, a series of community outreach programs, free outdoor concerts, and artist residency programs while touting affordable or free admission to their events...
Vintage circus-themed party coming to Culture Lab in LIC for non-profit’s annual gala
Aug 23, 2024 By Shane O’Brien
A three-ring circus is coming to Culture Lab LIC next month as part of the art gallery’s annual gala fundraiser.
“The Grand Carnaval,” which is scheduled to take place between 7 and 10 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 12, will bring a night of 1930s circus flair to Culture Lab, located at 5-25 46th Ave.
The event will feature live music, DJ performances, and a number of circus acts, including fire dancers and Fall Fest aerialists. A number of emerging artists with residencies at Culture Lab in 2024 will also hold performance art exhibitions during the event.
Every weekend, LIC is the place to be musically
by Peter C. Mastrosimone, editor-in-chief, Queens Chronicle
Music lovers can keep the spirit of summer going deep into the fall at Culture Lab LIC, where bands perform steps from the East River every weekend through October.
The range of genres is as wide as the views from Anable Basin, next to which the free shows are held at the corner of 46th Avenue and Fifth Street.
This is where the cool kids go...
Roger Clark of Spectrum/NY1 News
Visits Culture Lab LIC
Roger Clark chats with Edjo Wheeler, Culture Lab LIC's executive director, and spends some time with Habbina Habbina bandmembers as they rehearse for their free weekend concert appearance.
Published July 26, 2024
"On the latest Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper, we were joined by artistic director Tess Howsam and Founding Executive Director Edjo Wheeler. They sat down to introduce us to an amazing arts venue they run in Long Island City, Queens called Culture Lab LIC. This was such a fantastic conversation learning all about the multiple art forms this venue hosts, their upcoming season, as well as the amazing other community events and programs they support. You really won’t want to miss out on this talk or any of the happenings at Culture Lab LIC. So tune in and turn up for this incredible art space!"
Women’s History Month
Women who weld: ‘I grew up around a lot of metal’
March 7, 2024
Magee Hickey of PIX11 News visits Culture Lab LIC for the opening of our Behind the Mask exhibition.
Legendary NY reporter Magee Hickey visits Culture Lab LIC to report on the opening of Behind the Mask for PIX11 News.
An exhibit of women’s works, forged in history
by Stephanie G. Meditz, March 21, 2024
Everyone knows Rosie the Riveter, a cultural symbol of women’s strength, but Culture Lab LIC is celebrating Women’s History Month with an exhibition invoking her lesser known yet equally empowering cousin, Wendy the Welder.
On view until April 28, “Behind the Mask: The Work of Women Welders” spotlights female artists whose practice incorporates the stereotypically masculine mediums of metal welding, forging and hammering.
You voted and we won!
We are proud to announce that we have been awarded the following titles:
• Best Place for Live Music
• Best Local Organization
• Best Performing Arts Venue
• Best Stand-up Comedy Venue
We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to everyone who voted for us and to Boast NYC. We are committed to being a space where the community can enjoy arts and culture in all its forms.
Culture Lab LIC on Spectrum News NY1 with Roger Clark
Tess Howsam Awarded Lucille Lortel Grant
Congratulations to our own Tess Howsam who is the 2023 recipient of the Lucille Lortel Grant from the League of Professional Theatre Women.
Culture Lab LIC's Tess Howsam and Edjo Wheeler interviewed on Japanese Podcast, NY Future Lab:
Read more & listen to podcast:
Exhibition highlighting women’s civil rights movement in Iran to take place at Culture Lab LIC... Read More on LIC Post
We are thrilled to announce that Culture Lab LIC is a BOAST: Best of Astoria & LIC 2022 Winner!
Thanks to our community, we were rated top in the DO & SEE section under Best Activity, Best Place for Live Music, Best Performing Arts Venue, and Best Stand-Up Comedy Venue.
Thanks, Boast!
Read More:
Kulture Fest 2022
Rubber Culture
Photographer Steven Speliotis created this video record of the Kulture Fest event in August of 2022 at Culture Lab LIC.
Orestes González
New Yorker of the Week
Congratulations to Orestes González, Culture Lab's Director of Photographic Programming, for being named NY1's New Yorker of the Week.
Read More & Watch Video:
Culture Lab LIC to launch fall season with Oct. 27 gala
by Sofia Larez, October 7, 2022
Culture Lab LIC to Kick Off Spring Series Saturday, Features Concerts and Exhibits
by Christian Murray, April 1, 2022
New art sculpture coming to Long Island City waterfront
by Julia Moro, March 23, 2022
LIC is a Galaxy
This unique and evolving installation on view this spring celebrates the idea that Long Island City is a galaxy, both diverse and unified. Whether you live and work in LIC, or are just visiting our galaxy, we encourage you to bundle up and travel to all twenty “planets” placed in tree pits throughout the district.
Twenty fiberglass spheres were manufactured by LIC-based fabricator, Sculpture House NYC. Five Queens-based artists were selected through an open call from Culture Lab LIC and commissioned to design and paint four planets each, with twenty total spheres representing our galaxy.
The spheres are grouped by artist at the following locations:
Kerri Boccard: Queens Plaza North between 27th and 28th St in front of the JetBlue building
Bonnie Astor: Jackson Avenue and 44th Drive in front of the Altice Building (former Citi Building)
Kaiser Kamal: Jackson Avenue and 23rd Street near the Court Square Subway Station entrance
Karen Fitzgerald: West side of Vernon Blvd and 46th Avenue, across the street from the LIC Bar
Elinore Schnurr: South side of 44th Drive between 11th and Vernon right near Brickhouse Ceramics
This project was made possible by the generous support of the Long Island Board of REALTORS®. LIC is a Galaxy represents a partnership with Eventscape, a custom Architectural Fabrication firm in LIC, and Culture Lab LIC, an arts non-profit run out of Plaxall Gallery. Our LIC public realm arts projects are also made possible through the support of Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer.
"Long Island City Partnership’s new public art installation shines light on creative community..."
So happy to provide space to our community for the Holi Festival of Colors!
Bye-bye winter, and hello spring!
Here's to divine love & the triumph of good over evil!
Edjo Wheeler and Asa Peller, working hard to get our parking lot ready for live music & events on May 1st!
See you soon, everyone!
Video by Annalisa Iadicicco
"Several fearless New York area artists — their collective creative juices flowing — have elevated art to another dimension and pushed their limits of creativity far beyond what some would describe as conventional comfort zones...."
"These highly imaginative makers have been busy conjuring up eye-catching installations that experiment with light as a material and medium.
So, if you’re feeling on edge, take a breather and experience their wondrous, mood-boosting works, on view now at The Plaxall Gallery in Long Island City..."
LIC: Community Through Crisis
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted communities all over the world and has significantly changed the way businesses operate. This unprecedented situation called on local, city, state, and federal agencies to provide guidance and support as businesses adapt to new restrictions.
In recent years, Long Island City has become a highly attractive live-work-recreate talent hub with a broad range of industries. Now, this community of innovative leaders must navigate through uncharted waters to find relief during a public health crisis, and to build towards a better future.
This year’s Summit will explore the lasting effects of COVID-19 and how key groups such as small businesses, healthcare, civic/non-profit, arts and education, manufacturers, workforce, real estate, and government agencies worked independently, as well as collaboratively, to recover during a crisis.
Watch the Virtual Summit below. Edjo Wheeler, CultureLab LIC's Executive Director appears at 1:20:14
Art Spiel: "Edge of Light at Plaxall..."
"Each of these installations stands on its own and demands a unique consideration from the viewer..."
"Artists working in light are at a special advantage: they can synthesize the historically mature language of the visual arts using fresh mediums that are intrinsically able to express the most present time. It is innate for artists to try to find the edges of these mediums and to distort and skew our expectations of what they can accomplish, which makes for a deeply experiential exhibition."
ANNOUNCING CULTURE LAB SESSIONS
Queens Daily Eagle: "Musical Parking Lot Provides Welcome Respite..."
"The city lights pierced the clouds in Long Island City, creating an almost otherworldly atmosphere as audience members settled into their seats on a Friday in late October... They gathered around a stage fashioned from a rusty pickup truck in a parking lot, waiting for one of Culture Lab LIC’s final concerts of the season to begin..."
"It's magic,” said Cultural Lab LIC Executive Director Edjo Wheeler, 49. His non-profit organization runs the programming at the Plaxall Gallery in Long Island City.
“People keep saying how we saved their lives, how we saved the summer, how nothing like this really exists anywhere else...”
WQXR Editorial: "Returning to Live: It’s About the Experience..."
" I didn’t really realize why I prefer live shows until I sat in the Culture Lab LIC parking lot at Plaxall and listened to the 18-piece Terraza Big Band ...
The sweet, rich blend of brass and saxophones playing tight harmonies enveloped me in a glorious sonic hug, and as I reveled in the warmth (in spite of it being a chilly, early October evening) and looked around, I could tell that pretty much everyone else was also enjoying that feeling. The musicians, too, were obviously happy to be sharing their music with us — and that pleasure was infectious (in a non-COVID-ey way). It hit me: I absolutely adore music and theater and art of all kinds, but what really moves me is being there, with other people, experiencing it together.."
NY Times: "Why New York Comedy Has Gone Underground..."
Our Executive Director Edjo Wheeler interviewed by the NY Times on the new NY underground comedy scene. Culture Lab LIC being the first venue in NY and across the country to host live comedy again (June 7), with Michael Che and Rebecca Trent...
"By late summer however, just as outdoor comedy in New York was starting to see some success, the parking lot shows, in addition to other official outdoor comedy events where alcohol was served, shut down...
The New York State Liquor Authority had strengthened its announcement that the only kind of live entertainment permitted where food and drinks were served — even from food trucks — would be music. “Exotic dancing, comedy shows, karaoke,” were still prohibited, according to a statement. Restaurants could host live music, but not live comedy."
BARONESS AT CULTURE LAB LIC - SEPT 10, 2020
"Baroness, in a first time ever performance, will play Gold & Grey, the band’s widely-praised 2019 album, in its entirety on Sept. 10 at 8 pm Eastern as a livestream from Long Island City’s Culture Lab LIC at The Plaxall Gallery..."
"For the very first time, Baroness will play their 2019 album Gold & Grey in its entirety, and you can watch via livestream..."
"Baroness have announced a full performance of their 2019 album Gold & Grey for an upcoming livestream event...from Culture Lab LIC at The Plaxall Gallery..."
Food Relief Efforts Continue at Culture Lab LIC /The Plaxall Gallery
As you can see in the video below, our food relief efforts are continuing at Culture Lab LIC, through The Connected Chef! Hundreds of families in need are being fed weekly.
Learn more about this amazing organization here.
In partnership with The Fresh Air Fund, Culture Lab LIC recently received 10,000 donated books to be delivered to 11 sites around the City!
The Fresh Air Fund, an independent, not-for-profit organization that has provided free summer experiences to more than 1.8 million New York City children from low-income communities since 1877. This summer, despite the challenges presented by COVID-19, The Fund has continued to provide safe, fun, engaging and enriching experiences for New York City youth to keep the magic of summer alive through virtual and outdoor programs. Fresh Air children also participate in year-round leadership and educational programs. For more information, visit www.FreshAir.org.
Queens Chronicle: "Culture Lab LIC launches at the Plaxall Gallery..."
"The arrival of Culture Lab LIC will allow the Plaxall Gallery to expand its arts and community services, freeing its partner organization, LIC Artists, Inc. to focus on its artist membership services..."
"'For the past three and a half years, this team of dedicated artists have built this arts center from the ground up, thanks in major part to the generosity of Plaxall,” said Edjo Wheeler, Executive Director of Culture Lab LIC. “This space has become home to some of LIC’s most exciting cultural ideas and activities...'"
LIC Post: "New Non-Profit Takes Over Programming at Plaxall Gallery..."
"The Plaxall Gallery has announced that a new non-profit organization has taken over programming at its Long Island City location..."
"Culture Lab LIC will provide artists with the opportunity to perform theater, music and showcase their art at the venue... The new organization will operate the gallery’s converted warehouse facility at 5-25 46th Ave. to ensure artists have a space to produce their work, according to a statement."
Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Claire Holmes | 845.282.0774 | holmes@risaheller.com
CULTURE LAB LIC LAUNCHES AT THE PLAXALL GALLERY TO CONTINUE AND EXPAND WORK OF LIC ARTISTS INC IN WATERFRONT CULTURAL AND COMMUNITY SPACE
Arts facility gets creative to serve community during COVID-19
LONG ISLAND CITY, NY— Today the Plaxall Gallery announced the launch of Culture Lab LIC, a new nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the development of art, theater, music and community services in Western Queens. Donated by Plaxall Inc., the 12,000-square-foot converted waterfront warehouse located on the Anable Basin in Long Island City is home to three art galleries, a 90-seat theatre, and an outdoor event space. Over the years, the Plaxall Gallery has become an important institution for the surrounding artistic community.
The arrival of Culture Lab LIC (Culture Lab) will allow the Plaxall Gallery to expand its arts and community services, freeing its partner organization, LIC Artists, Inc. to focus on its artist membership services.
Edjo Wheeler, who co-founded the Plaxall Gallery, will continue as Executive Director of Culture Lab, and Tana Sirois will serve as Performing Arts Director. The current gallery director, Norma Homberg, will continue to work with LIC Artists as their Exhibition Coordinator.
“For the past three and a half years, this team of dedicated artists have built this arts center from the ground up, thanks in major part to the generosity of Plaxall,” said Edjo Wheeler, Executive Director of Culture Lab LIC. “This space has become home to some of LIC’s most exciting cultural ideas and activities.”
“We’re committed to providing free and affordable space for artists to develop and produce their work at The Plaxall Gallery,” said Tana Sirois, Performing Arts Director of Culture Lab LIC. “The impact that COVID-19 has had on the artistic community of NYC is devastating. Culture Lab will be here to support artists through the long, challenging recovery, and we will continue to make art happen in LIC.”
During the COVID-19 crisis, Culture Lab has pivoted to function as a donation drop-off and food distribution center, becoming a key link in the chain connecting food sources to hungry people in Queens. The initiative, taken on with other local nonprofits, including LIC Relief, Brighter Bites, The Connected Chef, City Harvest, and Queens Together, has already delivered needed food to thousands of food insecure families.
The space is also used by a range of community groups free of charge, including Hunters Point Park Conservancy, Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement, Girl Scouts, Alcoholics Anonymous, Habitat for Humanity and local public schools, among many others. Culture Lab LIC aims to expand these partnerships and welcome in more of the local community.
“No one is looking forward more to the day we re-open to the public, and life returns to a new normal,” says Matt Quigley, Managing Director at Plaxall, Inc. “In the meantime, we are all happy that we’ve been able to serve the community in this new way, and are grateful for the lessons we are learning in how we can be the best possible neighbors.”
Special thanks to the following organizations and
individuals for their continuing support:
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