QUEENS ROYALTY

CELEBRATING THE PEOPLE AND CULTURE OF JAMAICA, QUEENS

CLIENT: JAMAICA CENTER BID

Campaigns: Destination Marketing, Economic Development, Youth Initiatives, Arts & Culture 

ABOUT

Queens Royalty was a destination-marketing initiative that countered negative storytelling about Jamaica, Queens by engaging local youth to create original media that depicted the place and its people as regal, timeless, and hip. The project included community focus groups; teen arts workshops; commissioned photography by noted photographers Barron Claiborne, Delphine Diallo, Russell Frederick, and Jamel Shabazz; nighttime projections of campaign images; an outdoor concert that honored Jamaica’s legacy as a world hub of jazz and hip hop; and a marketing message that embraced the community’s bold spirit, “Jamaica, Queens: Touch the Crown.”

 
 

Commissioned Photography: DELPHINE DIALLO

Commissioned Photography: RUSSELL FREDERICK

PROJECT STATEMENT

A recent New York Times article, "36 hours in Queens," describes retailers and restaurants that conjure the magic of old New York, “full of sights and sounds unlike anything you’ll find a short subway ride away” in Manhattan. Businesses across Queens are featured, but none in Jamaica. We plan to change that. 

Jamaica is both hip and historic, but its positive story is largely untold. We are engaging top artists and local youth to help us tell that story to the world. Jamaica is a home to innovators in Jazz and Hip-Hop, two hugely influential American art forms. It is a thriving transit hub and an internationally diverse marketplace. Its elders carry the mark of history and its youth beckon the future. There are challenges to be sure; but Jamaica is an American neighborhood, a New York City neighborhood, and it pulses with energy like nowhere else.  

We are breathing new life into that narrative through workshops led by two youth arts groups, Urban Word NYC and Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, that will empower teens to create their own positive tales of Jamaica. We are commissioning four noted photographers whose images will rightly depict local residents as Queens Royalty. We are holding a concert with gifted performers who will lift up Jamaica’s reputation as a renowned center of culture and music. Together we will help revitalize Jamaica’s self-pride and deliver a bold invitation to the world: Jamaica, Queens: Touch the Crown.  

 - Brian Tate, 2013

 

QUEENS ROYALTY CONCERT

MCs: Liza Jessie Peterson + kahlil almustafa
Vocals: Queen GodIs + Bobby Generic
Music: Graham Haynes + Deejay Reborn + Trevor Holder + Tom Zlabinger with the York College Creative Ensemble

Commissioned Photography: BARRON CLAIBORNE

 
 

TEEN ROYALTY VIDEOS
Produced in collaboration with REELWORKS TEEN FILMMAKING

 

My Jamaica Queen by Asia Matthews

Visionary From Jamaica by Nadia Jageashwar

Jamaica Is Me by Jaqucon Woolery

TEEN ROYALTY SPOKEN WORD WORKSHOPS
Developed in collaboration with URBAN WORD NYC

Commissioned Photography: JAMEL SHABAZZ

 

PROJECT PARTNERS

New York City Economic Development Corporation + New York City Department of Small Business Services  +165th St. Mall Improvement Association + Greater Jamaica Development Corporation + Office of Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall + Sutphin Boulevard BID 

CULTURAL PARTNERS

Urban Word NYC + ReelWorks Teen Filmmaking + Rooftop Films

PROJECT TEAM

Brian Tate, Executive Producer/Marketing Strategist/Curator
Graham Letorney, Website Development
Shah Wonders, Logos
Gina Zangla, Print and Web Graphics
Onome Ekeh, Website Management
Paula Henderson - Social Media
Samantha Inniss, Project Assistant
Mingo Tull, Concert Production 
Joshua Peters, Concert Video
Ed Marshall, Event Photography

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