Cultural and Community Connections
Queensborough Community College continues to function as an important community resource by serving the educational, professional and cultural needs of the general community with its cultural programs: the Kupferberg Holocaust Center, QCC Art Gallery, and Queensborough Performing Arts Center (QPAC). The college also continues its cooperative role in the immigrant community with the Port-of-Entry program and Center for International Affairs, Immigration, and Study Abroad.
The Queensborough Performing Arts Center (QPAC)
Humanities Building Box Office
Library Building, 1st floor
718-631-6311
QPAC Website
Susan Agin, Executive and Artistic Director
The Queensborough Performing Arts Center (QPAC) is a creative catalyst for promoting the arts to students and residents of Queens and greater New York City. Through its rich menu of arts programming and educational services QPAC serves more than 100,000 people each year. Throughout its over 50-year history, it has successfully produced over 1400 performances in its intimate 875-seat theater. The cornerstone of the Performing Arts Center is the Professional Performing Arts Series, which was created to bring a higher level of accessible world-class entertainment to the community at large. There is tremendous variety in the Series’ cross sectional programming so that all the diverse populations of Queens and the College can be represented.
QPAC is strongly committed to expanding public access to the arts for everyone – working families, younger generations and seniors, but particularly for our students at Queensborough. The Performing Arts Center is a learning laboratory that provides many cultural and artistic opportunities to the College’s students. Faculty integrate the center and its resources in a number of creative ways, into the courses they teach, deepening and enriching student learning in the process. Students, who attend events at QPAC in conjunction with a class, do so for free!
QPAC is also used by the College for its nursing school graduations, citizenship ceremonies, new student orientations, honors convocations, theater productions, music concerts, talent shows and dance performances. In addition, local schools, non- profit organizations and other community groups depend upon the space for theatrical presentations, concerts, graduations, dance recitals, rehearsals, seminars, competitions, cultural performances, lectures and seminars. For more information and for a schedule of events contact the Box Office at 718-631-6311. Like us on Facebook (Queensborough Performing Arts Center-QPAC) or follow us on Twitter (@visitQPAC), and Instagram (@visitQPAC). Tickets for upcoming performances can be purchased on-line 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
QCC Art Gallery
Oakland Building
718-631-6620
QCC Art Gallery Website
Dr. Faustino Quintanilla, Executive Director and Curator
The QCC Art Gallery is a vital educational and cultural resource for the College, the Borough of Queens, and the surrounding communities. Located in the historic 1920s Oakland Building, formerly the Club House for the Oakland Country Club, the QCC Art Gallery reopened on October 24, 2004, following an extensive renovation project. The resulting state-of-the art facility maintains the original architectural elements of the building.
As a complement to the College Library, the Gallery has a research library, which serves as fertile ground for intellectual stimulation, while documenting the growth and development of the Permanent Collections. It contains a significant collection of African research material, exhibition catalogs, and an interactive library providing access to works of art and the voices of their creators, as well as relevant commentaries from critics and historians. The Art Gallery Library’s holdings are listed in the online catalog for all CUNY libraries and in WorldCat. Books do not circulate.
Reflecting the full range of ethnic diversity of both the College and community, the Gallery presents quality exhibits and publications of local, national, international, and historical interest, thus broadening the appreciation and understanding of art and artist-as-interpreter. Some of the more memorable exhibitions are: An American Odyssey: Debating Modernism 1945-1980 (2004); Andy Warhol: Graphic Works (2006); Picasso Printmaker: A Perpetual Metamorphosis (2008); Shangaa: Art of Tanzania (2013); Powerful Arts of Cameroon: The Amadou Njoya Collection (2014); and Rewoven: Innovative Fiber Art (2017).
Although most recognized for African Art, the QCC Art Gallery’s Permanent Collection encompasses a variety of traditional art including Pre-Columbian and East Asian ceramics. The Gallery also holds a vast collection of modern and contemporary works by accomplished artists such as John Coplans, Gustav Klimt, Sol Lewitt, Louise Nevelson, Kenzo Okada, Richard Pousette-Dart, and Man Ray.
The Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC)
Administration Building, Room 202
718-281-5770
KHC Website
Dr. Laura B. Cohen, Executive Director
Marisa Berman Hollywood, Associate Director
The Harriet and Kenneth Kupferberg Holocaust Center (KHC) uses the tragic lessons of the Holocaust and other mass atrocities to empower current generations to become agents of social change. Based in Queens, the most diverse county in the nation, the KHC educates students, faculty, and the local community about the ramifications of prejudice, racism, and stereotyping. The Center contextualizes the history of the Holocaust within the larger framework of how and why genocide happens, not merely as an extreme outcome but as part of a continuum that starts with every- day acts of bigotry and oppression.
Founded upon this philosophy of educational empowerment, the KHC is neither a museum nor a research facility; it is a learning laboratory where students, survivors, and community members connect through their hearts, minds, and actions. In its 9,000 square-foot building, the KHC serves approximately 20,000 visitors each year through annual programs, commemorative events, lectures, tours, and film screenings. The KHC is open to students and the general public. In addition, the KHC houses a gallery featuring original exhibitions and a permanent installation about the Holocaust which is open year round. The Center also hosts interactive presentations with first- and second- generation Holocaust survivors for Queensborough students and faculty across all academic departments and collaborates with: CUNY Explorers, CUNY College Now, the Center for International Affairs, Immigration & Study Abroad, and the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL).
Each semester, the KHC offers several internship and fellowship programs for Queensborough students. The ongoing Acts of Hate Fellowship grants students the opportunity to explore different Holocaust-specific themes that are connected to contemporary social justice issues. The Curatorial Fellowship, in partnership with the Art and Design Department’s Gallery and Museum Studies Program, provides fellows hands-on experience curating and installing an exhibition at the KHC. Project-based internships provide students the opportunity to work at a nonprofit committed to human rights while gaining first-hand knowledge about how the Center’s mission connects to its programming. Upon completion and successful presentation of their work at an undergraduate research event, students receive a stipend and a certificate. With support from a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) Challenge Grant since 2012, the KHC also hosts an annual faculty-curated colloquium about global human rights and mass atrocity issues for our students and the broader community.
CUNY Center for Higher Education
The CUNY Center for Higher Education is a collaborative project of Queensborough Community College, the CUNY School of Law and CUNY’s Office of Admissions Services, and is located at 39-07 Prince Street in Flushing, Queens.
A mainstay of the CUNY Center is the availability of English language instruction. The Port-of-Entry program offers an intensive 180-hour per semester program for international students and immigrants planning to move on to future academic or professional pursuits. The Queens Civics Collaboration of CUNY, funded by the State of New York, Department of Education, provides English language courses with an emphasis on the history, government and culture of the United States.
The Queensborough Community College division of Continuing Education and Workforce Development also offers a wide variety of day and evening classes for job preparation.
QCC Literacy Program
Kitty Bateman, Director
The QCC Literacy program offers free English language instruction to adult immigrants. Students register in person and attend at least six hours of instruction each week. Generally, a course runs for 150 instructional hours throughout the course of a year. Classes are organized by level: advanced beginners, intermediate-level students and advanced students. In addition to learning reading, writing, speaking and listening, students work in the department’s computer lab where they have access to word processing and the internet. All courses focus on a theme which is chosen by the students and their respective teachers. Classes also participate in trips to the library, museums and other venues of public interest. The program is funded by a grant from The City of New York and The New York State Department of Education. Classes are offered at the College and at the CUNY Center for Higher Education, 39-07 Prince St., Flushing. For more information visit the Literacy Program website.