Lunar New Year and Asian Arts Celebration

Description

February 11, 2017 from 3:00 – 7:00 PM

A Chinese Lunar New Year/Asian Arts Celebration, the first of its kind in Southampton will take place from 3-7pm at the Levitas Center for the Arts on Pond Lane and feature a family friendly mix of open workshops for children, live stage performances by Asian instrumentalists, singers and dancers and a “Taste of Asia” buffet reception.

“We at the SCC are delighted to be hosting this Lunar New Year celebration as part of our cultural outreach,” says Kirsten Lonnie, Executive Director of Southampton Cultural Center. The celebration is the brainchild of Suiv Lee, EdD, Columbia Teachers College, an adjunct professor of Mathematics at Adelphi University who is also a commercial real estate specialist with Douglas Elliman in Southampton. Dr. Lee chaired the first Multinational Cultural Festival of NY three years ago for the Asian-American Cultural Circle of Unity (AACCU), a nonprofit organization founded to promote cultural awareness and appreciation of the different ethnic groups in the Long Island area. She enlisted the help of Karen Bomzer, AACCU co-founder and communication director who also works as a copywriter and publicist; Rich Kruse (the event emcee), a luxury, social media & business community specialist at Douglas Elliman; Luana McGunnigle, a former Jericho School District history teacher and Site & Architectural Review Board member; and Kirsten Lonnie, who is in charge of programming and development for the Cultural Center. All were delighted to volunteer their services to bring this event to the East End.

The program will open with the Lion Dance performed by Long Island’s popular Ryu Shu Taiko. Ever the crowd pleaser, it’s an exciting traditional Chinese dance performed on special occasions for good luck, as it is believed that the lion is an auspicious animal. Performed in a lion costume, accompanied by the music of beating drums, clashing cymbals, and resounding gongs, the lion dance imitates a lion’s movements or demonstrates martial arts agility, depending on the style.

Children’s Workshops will follow from 3-5pm taught by popular local visual artists such as Hiroko Uraga-Senese, who specializes in the traditional Japanese arts. The workshops include face painting, henna painting, calligraphy and brush painting. All workshops are free and open to everyone.

The stage performance, the highlight of the afternoon is from 5-6pm in the auditorium. It will showcase accomplished artists who have performed in prestigious venues throughout the metro NY area and beyond. Their countries of origin include China, India, Japan and Okinawa. The celebration will end with “A Taste of Asia” food reception where guests will sample delicious, authentic cuisine.

Admission to the stage performance is $20 for adults and $10 for students under 21.The food reception is complimentary. Tickets can be purchased online at  or by sending a check to Southampton Cultural Center, PO Box 5008, Southampton, NY 11968.

 

 

Organizers

Event categories: Dance, Family, Festivals/Fairs, Music, and Workshops/Classes.Event tags: Celebration, Community, Dance, Ethnic, Family/Kids, Festival, Holiday, Music, Suffolk, and Workshop.