Corona International Family Day, Summer 2009 / Dia Internacional de la Familia de Corona, Verano 2009

Young performers at Corona Plaza

On Saturday, June 13, the Queens Museum of Art teamed up with the Corona Community Action Network (CAN) to host an International Family Day in Corona Plaza. Intermittent rain storms didn’t keep local residents and visitors from across the tri-state area from gathering in the Plaza to hear music, dance and applaud as adults and children representing various nationalities performed. The event featured more than 10 musical and dance groups from around the area, including the Juarez Show Mariachi, Blue Pipa Trio, and the Charlie Cajares Salsa Ensemble.  There were also several booths set up by various organizations that serve the local neighborhoods, each providing different ways of learning about important health and social service issues in the community.

Local, International Performances

The event provided a means for residents of different cultural backgrounds to come together and celebrate the diversity present in the neighborhood. Vicky, a resident of Corona for 10 years, had never heard of most of the groups that performed at the festival. “It’s kind of new,” she explained, “because I was like ‘Where did they come from?” As someone born in Haiti she stated, “It’s nice, what has happened today, making everybody, all of the nations interact… Just like I’m not Hispanic, and I’m enjoying it.”

Jorge, who performs in the Afro-Uruguayan group Manos del Candombe, agreed. “For me and my group, it’s something very useful because it’s not just one country or flag being represented, but rather one united community of Hispanics. And it’s great to be able to display our customs, our music, and all that is ours, from our homelands. It is really a brilliant idea, and it’s a real honor to be participating in something like this.”

Manos del Candombe performing through the crowds at Corona Plaza

While most spectators were from Corona and neighboring communities, some came from other areas to enjoy the festival.  One woman traveled from Long Island to see the Blue Pipa Trio, which plays a combination of Chinese folk, jazz and pop music. Noting the range of acts, she observed that the event was “very rich in different cultures, dancing —it’s more than what I expected… I definitely got to learn more about Hispanic music from this festival.” She also noticed the age diversity among the acts. “I was surprised about the performers’ ages. Someone can be really young, but they perform like dancing stars, and it’s very impressive.”

Exchanging Information

Alexandra, the museum's community organizer, at the QMA booth

International Family Day also acted as a means for groups to share information about important local issues. Onias Pacheco, representing the U.S. Census 2010, encouraged residents to participate in next year’s collection, and a Greenmarket booth advertised the arrival of the city’s latest farmer’s market here in the Plaza. At the QMA booth, we offered information about free programming at the museum, including photography courses. In keeping with the festival’s focus on healthy living, we distributed copies of A Taste of Corona, a heart-healthy cookbook with over 30 recipes collected from restaurants, elected officials, and community-based organizations in the Heart of Corona Initiative. This book showcases traditional foods from a variety of countries reflecting the diversity of cultures in the neighborhood, while at the same time updating the recipes to make them healthier.

A nurse gives free tests for high blood pressure and cholesterol level at the HealthFirst booth.

Rosa Marticorena, who worked at the HealthFirst booth, expressed how important this kind of event is in providing information about health. ‘It’s a great idea, especially for us Hispanic-Americans, because honestly many of us are not well-informed about health. We’ve been testing many people today, and have discovered that several of them have high blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and they didn’t know!” HealthFirst is a hospital-sponsored organization that aims to improve the health status of low-income individuals and families by increasing access to high-quality healthcare. “If you are healthy, you can work, stay active, and do achieve all of your goals in life,” continued Ms. Marticorena. “Because there are dreams, visions that people have upon arriving to this country, goals that they set for themselves. But without health, such success is not possible.”

Plaza Possibilities

Neighbors at the International Family Day also considered how Corona Plaza has changed in recent years, and what they hope for its future.  The Plaza, commonly recognized by locals for its proximity to the busy 103rd Street train station, is actually a parking lot used throughout most of the week as the unofficial garage of large mudanzas, or moving trucks. Enclosed on one side by Roosevelt Avenue and the elevated 7 train line, and National Street (one of Corona’s oldest) on the other, Corona Plaza is also recognized by many as the commercial center of the community. The businesses that surround the Plaza—small restaurants, barber shops, locally-based supermarkets, record stores, gift shops—are a reflection of most of Corona’s commercial environment.

Volunteer waters marigolds in the Plaza's garden

Recently, a small fenced garden located near the station entrance, once covered with bird droppings, has been adorned with flowers and frequently maintained. And a couple of months ago, a new shiny automatic public toilet—only the city’s second—was installed near the busy intersection of Roosevelt & National. Mr. Leonido Bravo, waiting on line to check his blood pressure and cholesterol level, reflected, “Yes, it’s changed, mostly over the last two years. It’s become more organized and cleaner.” Florencia, another local, agreed. “I think it has changed very much. There was more garbage, more drunkards all throughout. And now it appears cleaner to me. There is a stronger police presence too, and you can sense the difference.”

The upgrades slowly being made to the Plaza become more visible when public events shine a spotlight on the busy space, and may even help provide the local community with an alternative vision of how public spaces can function for them. “If it continues to be done,” claimed Florencia, “…we will be able to come and have some fun for a while. It’s free, and not too far!” This sentiment was echoed by others at the festival. Mr. Bravo expressed, “I think the Plaza will have a better future, better than a parking lot. It looks more elegant today.” Jorge, the Candombe player, felt that International Family Day was “Like a calling. As you saw, at the beginning there was nobody. And then little by little, people started to join I, and then they started to open their eyes and take in all of this.”

Crowd in Corona Plaza

And a representative from Corona CAN stated, “I just hope that Corona CAN and the [Queens] Museum can continue to do events like this, that show that they are concerned with issues in the community, and maybe it can grow into something where it’s more interactive, and more helpful to businesses, and potential entrepreneurs in the community.” As she continued, the last performers took the stage before a cheerful crowd that was unwavering even as heavy rain began to fall. “I think that this kind of event will bring more attention to [Corona Plaza], and will help show that there is organization around what the interests of the community are… that this Plaza does deserve an upgrade.”

Honing in on Corona, QMA hires a community organizer! / Afilando en Corona, QMA contrata a organizador comunitario!

Transitioning from Leadership Through the Arts to the “Heart of Corona” Initiative in 2007. / Transicionando de Liderazgo a Travéz del Arte a la Iniciativa del Corazón de Corona 2007 /

/ translate article/traducir articulo

By working with Leadership Through the Arts Program youth and their families for almost three years, QMA identified tension points in their communities as well as learned firsthand from organizers and philanthropists how people were practically addressing these problems. The tension points they identified included criminalization/demonization of youth due to lack of after school opportunities, lack of trust between old and new residents exacerbated by class differences and language access issues, as well exploitation of and discrimination against undocumented immigrants.

LTAP participants Yessica Abrajans and Dahana O'Louis at QMA table at Corona Street Festival

While there were many individual success stories in terms of youth development objectives and the museum’s ability to connect to families and neighborhoods, we realized it was difficult to really manifest community development goals with this youth program model. Since the program did not target youth from any one neighborhood, it was difficult to focus on local situations that could be tackled over the long-term – the geographic scope was too large to make a dent. The neighborhood of Corona itself had 90,000 residents, and youth from Jamaica had different issues in their neighborhoods than those in Corona.

We realized that we needed to re-strategize to maximize our impact, and hone in on Corona, a single neighborhood adjacent to the museum, and equally as important, hire a community organizer to develop solid partnerships that would move our action goals forward. While we decided to end our formal LTAP program, several alumni continued to work supporting public events activities both in the museum and in Corona, as well work on future projects with artists and CBO’s they were introduced to during the program. Furthermore, given that a major highway physically separated Corona and Flushing Meadows Park where the QMA was located, we felt it was really important for a dedicated staffperson to spend considerable amount of time “pounding the pavement” in Corona. In the November of 2006 we hired Naila Rosario to play this important role. Her familiarity with elected officials and community groups in the area, long history of immigrant rights advocacy, and ability to speak Spanish (70% of Corona residents speak Spanish as their primary language) were all key in deepening the level of communication and trust between community members and the museum.

Assemblyman Peralta meets with Corona residents during the 1st Corona Cleanup & Beautification Day in April 07

The transformation of our project was quite dramatic, helping us get on track with really listening to community voices and developing projects that connect to our core competencies as an institution yet still had clear development goals in mind. These included: improving cardiovascular health outcomes and healthcare access; cleaning up, beautifying, and programming its public spaces; marketing the businesses in the area, particularly the numerous ethnic eateries in the neighborhood, and generally bringing disparate segments of the community together to develop and achieve their goals. We put all these elements together under the rubric of the “Heart of Corona,” as it signifies the transformation of Corona Plaza from the simply a circulatory and commerical center into a site for neighborhood pride, cultural activity, and a space to access health and social services.