Event - Lunar New Year Celebration

Lunar New Year Celebration

01.29.23, 1:00 pm – 4:00 pm

Two children in bright Lion Dance costume pose in front of the Unisphere in wintery Flushing Meadows Corona Park during a Lunar New Year Celebration.

Please join us to celebrate Lunar New Year 2023 as the New York Chinese Cultural Center (NYCCC) returns to Queens Museum with its signature program. Together we will be celebrating the year of the rabbit with folk dances, Lion Dance, Kung fu demonstrations, and traditional arts and crafts. The event will showcase a 45-minute performance program featuring professional artists and students of NYCCC’s School of the Arts, as well as a hands-on Chinese calligraphy and ink brush painting workshop for kids and adults. Queens Museum’s education programs will offer all-ages art-making workshops on rabbit paper bag puppet making in English and Spanish, and a lantern making workshop in English, Spanish and Mandarin.

 

Please note: Masks are not required but are strongly encouraged.

 

1-1:45pm: Performance Program by New York Chinese Cultural Center

Featuring a Chinese Kung fu demonstration, dances from China’s diverse regions and ethnic groups, signature performances including run-ins with a mischievous lion, newly composed songs played by traditional Chinese instruments, widely-known new years songs, and lively renditions of our award-winning red ribbon dance performed by artists and students from NYCCC.

 

2-3pm: Chinese Calligraphy and Ink Brush Painting Workshop by New York Chinese Cultural Center

Using a calligraphy pen, the teaching artist from the NYCCC will show and explain the relationship between ancient Chinese pictographs and their modern-day ideographs. Participants will be guided through to write simple characters in celebration of the Lunar New Year. Guests will be able to take home their simple calligraphy writings made in the workshop.

 

2-4pm: Rabbit Paper Bag Puppet Making with Family Programs

Join us as we welcome the Year of the Rabbit this Lunar New Year. Families are invited to get creative with color, design and decoration with the creation of your very own rabbit paper bag puppet! No advance registration is required and families can arrive and depart anytime between 2-4pm. Children must be accompanied during art-making by families or caregivers.

 

2-4pm: Lantern Making Workshop with New New Yorkers

Join us in this multigenerational, all-ages workshop dedicated to creating lanterns made from Chinese lucky envelopes. It is a Chinese tradition to offer lucky envelopes as a symbol of receiving luck and prosperity in the New Year. In this workshop we will create a lantern as a gesture for all participants and the Queens Museum to welcome the year of the Rabbit. The workshop will be held in English, Chinese, and Spanish. RSVP is recommended, but not required to participate in this workshop; to RSVP please email: ggaaraycochea@queensmuseum.org with the subject Lantern Workshop.

 

Please note all workshops are first-come, first-served and participation is not guaranteed.

Event Partner

New York Chinese Cultural Center (NYCCC) is a cultural and educational institution dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of Chinese arts in local and global communities. For over four decades, NYCCC has offered professional quality classes, workshops, and performances in Chinese traditional dance, visual arts and culture through our School of the Arts, Arts-In-Education program, and public and private engagements. NYCCC has performed in 26 states and our programs reach over 100,000 people every year. Dance China New York, our resident professional dance company, performs works that span across all categories of Chinese dance including folk, classical, and modern dance to preserve the Chinese cultural heritage while staying relevant today. NYCCC has been featured on nationally televised programs such as the National Geographic Today, the 73rd Annual Academy Awards and the PBS special the Chinese Americans. Our students and teachers have been invited to audition for America’s Got Talent. Our former students currently perform in Cirque Du Soleil’s and on TV shows like ABC’s Quantico.