The Queens Museum’s Open A.I.R. Artist Services Program invites you to join curator and choreographer  Rashida Bumbray for a meal and informal discussion at Jackson Diner.

Location: Jackson Diner Jackson Heights 37-47 74th Street, Flushing, NY 11372. Near the Roosevelt Av – Jackson Heights Station.

We believe that informal no-agenda meetings can be incredibly fruitful and generative for artists. Come ask questions, discuss your work, and share a delicious meal with curator and choreographer Rashida Bumbray and 9 other artists.

How does it work?

Answer Rashida Bumbray’s question: What aspects of your practice are strategically invisible, underground or make use of subterfuge?

By following this link: https://queensmuseum.wufoo.com/forms/z1miokdn14g0644/

Please limit your answer to one line!

Submit your answer by September 10th.

10 artists will be chosen based on their answers.

The event is free, appetizers are on us, but you will have to pay for your own drinks and entrees!

About Rashida Bumbray

Rashida Bumbray is a curator and choreographer living and working in New York. This Fall, she will begin a new post as the Senior Program Manager at Open Society Foundations for the Arts Exchange, an experimental campaign to mainstream arts for social justice within the foundations globally. This past year she served as Director of Artistic Affairs at Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington D.C. From 2012-2014, Bumbray was guest curator at Creative Time for the public art exhibition Funk, God, Jazz and Medicine: Black Radical Brooklyn (2014). From 2006 to 2011, Bumbray served as Associate Curator at The Kitchen, where she organized several critically acclaimed projects and commissions, including solo exhibitions by Leslie Hewitt, Simone Leigh, Adam Pendleton, and Mai Thu Perret as well as performances by Derrick Adams, Sanford Biggers, Kalup Linzy, and Mendi & Keith Obadike among others. Bumbray began her career as Curatorial Assistant at The Studio Museum in Harlem, where she co-founded the ongoing lobby sound installation StudioSound and Hoofers’ House, a monthly jam session for tap dancers — now called Shim Sham. At the Studio Museum she coordinated major exhibitions, including Energy Experimentation: African-American Artists 1964–1980, with Kellie Jones. Bumbray has published texts on various topics pertaining to contemporary art, Africana studies and comparative literature.

Bumbray earned her BA in African American Studies and Theater & Dance from Oberlin College and her MA in Africana Studies from New York University with a focus on Contemporary Art and Performance Studies. A critically acclaimed choreographer, her work has been presented by SummerStage, Harlem Stage, Caribbean Cultural Center, Project Row Houses, Weeksville Heritage Center & at the Whitney Museum of American Art. She was nominated for the prestigious Bessie Award (NY Dance & Performance Awards) for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer in 2014.

About the Open A.I.R. Artist Services Program

Open A.I.R. draws on the Queens Museum’s resources, staff expertise, and networks to provide workshops and lectures that help artists grow their practice, advance their career, and develop sustainable lives as artists. Given the Museum’s commitment to socially-engaged art that crosses sectors, as well as attention to its role in neighboring communities, Open A.I.R. works to expand the notion of who is an artist and, moreover, utilizes a holistic view of how to support their potential to thrive and contribute to the cultural landscape of Queens and New York City more broadly. Tailored to artists in the outer boroughs, Open A.I.R. prioritizes the needs of artists of color, queer artists, and immigrant artists, facilitating conversations where art meets activism, and organizing experiences that bring together artists and non-artists.

Open A.I.R. is made possible by a generous grant from The Scherman Foundation’s Katharine S. and Axel G. Rosin Fund. Additional support provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs and New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Questions? Email sespinoza@QueensMuseum.org