Lunar New Year Celebration

Celebrate Lunar New Year 2023 as the New York Chinese Cultural Center (NYCCC) returns to Queens Museum with its signature program. Celebrate 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. The Queens Museum’s education programs will offer an all-ages art-making workshop offered in English, Spanish and Mandarin.

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: Oriental Lantern-making Workshop with New New Yorkers and Family Programs: Take part in this multigenerational, all-ages workshop dedicated to creating oriental-style 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 an oriental 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: [email protected] and cc: [email protected] with the subject Lantern Workshop.