For latest news visit qchron.com 24THthe ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF Q UEENS • 2021
QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, June 24, 2021 Page 22
C M CEL page 22 Y K BACK TO BUSINESS
Centers shared a pre-existing condition QPAC and APEC were doing major renovations when Covid hit by Mark Lord Chronicle Contributor
Over the past 15 months, countless businesses of every sort and variety struggled to remain afloat while dealing with the difficulties imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Some were ultimately forced into oblivion by obstacles they simply could not overcome. Imagine, then, what it would be like to have to deal not only with the virus but also with the prospect of being caught in the middle of a major renovation at the same time. Two of the borough’s prime destinations for families seeking respite from the daily grind, Queensborough Performing Arts Center and Alley Pond Environmental Center, found themselves in just such a situation. But thanks to the foresight and determination of their respective guiding lights, both QPAC and APEC made it through and are now looking forward to the future with renewed optimism. For QPAC, the journey through the dual challenges began in November 2018, when the theater complex, located on the campus of Queensborough Community College in Bayside, was completely shut down for reconstruction, according to Executive and Artistic Director Susan Agin. “We looked at it as a good opportunity to expand and for the community to enjoy the arts,” she said. “Other places would just shut down, but we got busy. We took our shows on the road. We put on our turbo jets to keep the music playing.” Performances that would have been offered at the theater were spread out to venues across the borough, from Jackson Heights and Astoria to St. Albans and Jamaica. According to Agin, it was estimated that construction would last until May 2020. “We knew it wasn’t going to be ready in the time originally expected,” she said. “We knew it
would take at least a few more months.” So, she said, “I started planning for the lack of accessibility years before” the project actually began. “I began to cultivate a culture of going to different places to experience QPAC on the road,” she said. “We try to bring communities together through live music.” When the pandemic broke, reno- able to reopen its doors in December, vations were already underway and Agin decided, for the time being, the ongoing until the authorities halted best way to resume live performances all construction sometime last spring, was by holding them outdoors. Thus was born QPAC’s Drive-In Agin said. All live performances had come to Summer Concert Series, which held a sold-out doo-wop concert at the Bay a halt on March 6, she said. By April, the theater reinvented Terrace Shopping Center on May 23. itself as an online attraction. “It took “It was so hopeful, it brought tears to me two weeks to convert my apart- our eyes,” Agin said. Coming up next, on June 27, will ment into a studio,” Agin said. “And it took me two weeks to learn to be The Sensational Soul Cruisers, which Agin describes as a high enertransmit virtually.” And she only got better at it as gy Motown/disco/R&B group. Attendees must arrive in automotime went on. “If you watch, you can see the progression from when we biles. They will be given a spot for started virtually until today — it’s their car, from which they may see and hear the convery sophisticatcert, and a second ed,” she said. spot, right next to But for Agin, e put on our it, for those who the virtual proprefer to set up a grams were not turbo jets to picnic-style viewenough. “I knew we weren’t reachkeep the music i ng opt ion . A number of restauing some of our playing.” rants in the shops e n io r s ,” w h o ping center are make up a large — Queensborough Performing participating in portion of the cenArts Center Executive and the event and will ter’s in-person Artistic Director Susan Agin deliver orders to audiences. “They the cars. needed u s t he It will be “a special, special time,” most.” So, she “started working with QPTV and I was able to upload our Agin promised. For further information and to programs so they’d air on TV.” With a tip of the hat to theatrical order tickets, go to visitqpac.org or artists, she said, “I strongly believe if call (718) 631-6311. One could say the saga for APEC you can’t count on the creatives, who can you count on? When the theater began about a year later, in December went dark, I had to figure out another 2019, when, according to Executive way to serve our mission. The same Director Irene Scheid, the center temporarily left behind its headquarters was true with the pandemic.” Estimating that the center will be in Douglaston and began operating
“W
One wall activity at the Alley Pond Environmental Center allows kids (of all ages!) to compare their arm spans to the wingspans of several large birds that live in New York. (No, your reach will not match that of a bald eagle.) The new PHOTO AND RENDERING COURTESY APEC center, right, in its old location, is expected to open about this time next year.
The first show in the Queensborough Performing Arts Center’s summer-long drive-in concert series drew crowds to the Bay Terrace Shopping Center May PHOTOS COURTESY DOMINICK TOTINO 23. The next will be June 27. out of a new home in Oakland Gardens as construction got underway. The locations are at opposite ends of the sprawling park. An opening day celebration at the new site was held in January 2020. Two months later, the doors had to be closed because of the outbreak. Along the way, construction had to be interrupted twice because of pandemic restrictions. Scheid indicated that the entire job was to have taken 18 months, providing new geothermal heating and cooling systems for the center as well as opportunities for expanded classes and events. Reopening was scheduled for “just about now,” Scheid said. Instead, it will likely happen around this time next year. Following the closure, the center “switched very quickly to virtual — Facebook — then we caught on to the Zoom train,” Scheid said. And so it went through this past September when the center reopened its doors for in-person visits on a limited basis. Since then, it has offered a combination of virtual and on-site events. Because of the circumstances, APEC was forced to let go of twothirds of its staff, cutting down from a total of 40 to the current 16, including eight full-timers, who remained employed throughout, and eight additional staff members who have since been brought back, Scheid said. The pandemic also took a financial toll. “We lost two galas,” Scheid said, referring to the center’s major fundraising events that take place each April, costing the organization an estimated $100,000. In their place, she plans to hold an outdoor folk music concert on Sept.
18 “to raise some of our much-needed funds.” With details forthcoming, the event will be open to the public. And school trips, which often brought 150 students to the center each day, had to be canceled. “We’re hopeful next school year we’ll be back on track again,” Scheid said. The virus has actually had some positive effects on the center, too. Whereas its visitors had previously been limited almost entirely to New Yorkers, its virtual programming has widened its reach, with followers from as far away as Michigan and Florida. And, when the new center opens, the electrical mechanics will be visible to visitors, becoming part of the center’s lessons on sustainability, Scheid said. Now located at 224-65 76 Ave. in Oakland Gardens, the center, a nonprofit environmental educational organization, is gearing up for a summer filled with attractions for both children and adults. Among those are both indoor and outdoor activities, including the ongoing Sunny Bunnies Program, part of APEC’s early childhood curriculum, aimed at nurturing a love of science and nature in 3- and 4-year-olds. Adult programs include Bite the Buzz, a multimedia presentation on how to develop mosquito-reduced home zones (July 8, 6:30 to 7:30 p.m., $5) and a guided walk under the full moon on July 23, from 8 to 9:15 p.m. ($10). The center is open from 9:30 a.m. to 4 on weekdays and at varying hours on weekends. For further information, visit alleypond.org or call Q (718) 229-4000.
