Astoria Artists are Awesome

We’re working on the name...

Last Sunday I went to an artist meeting in Astoria. I was invited by Esther Palmer. She is the Artistic Director of Seen Performance. Esther has a great love of Astoria and this is where she wants to perform and create her art.

But let’s back up a day...

I was at the post office with Kevin and our son Edison. There was a couple behind us and they were there for the same reason we were. We were all turning in our fringe applications. Kevin noticed on one of the packages was labeled with it’s category ‘clown/masque’. Well there they were, and there we were. I wanted to wish them luck but somehow the New Yorker in me kept my eyes on my own paper and we went our separate ways that morning.

Anyway, I went to the AAaA meeting. This month’s location was at Waltz, Astoria. Wouldn’t you know it, the guy that was standing behind me the day before at the post office was there. His name is Jarred. He did actually send in a clown piece and a children’s piece. Within a minute of talking I find out he’s a puppeteer too. It was like Karma was giving me a second chance. We exchanged information and I do hope that we can collaborate on a project.

After Jarred and I networked, most of the conversation involved on how to find free space. I asked what’s the point of business giving up space out of their own generosity if you don’t have an audience. So it was agreed that this is a challenge... perhaps a festival or happening would be helpful. A way to show the area of Astoria that there are artists out here just bursting to be heard. This will not only invigorate businesses, it will help draw up an audience we can pool from for future performances.

We also discussed that Astoria Artists are Awesome needs another name. Is it the word awesome? Yeah, a little. We couldn’t decide really what to change it to. It was suggested by Jarred that Astoria Artists Society might be good because then it includes enthusiasts too.

I’m not sure if AAaA knows what kind of group they want to be, either a service group or a support group. Since it seems to be a gathering of all artists that a support group would be the right way to go. People are working on their projects but they want or need other people and here’s this group that encourages each other and points people in the right direction as needed. I think that’s what I got out of the meeting; I mean how random is it that I meet a puppeteer that I should have said ‘hi’ to the day before! That’s what I’m looking for. I hope this group the best and I hope it figures out what it wants to be. I look forward to the next meeting.