Queens Pride Week Kicks Off With LGBTQ Voices on Saturday

The Sunday parade through Jackson Heights gets the lion’s share of the media attention, but Queens Pride Week kicks off with music, dance, and poetry in Diversity Plaza on Saturday at 5 pm.

Through an open call to artists organized by Flushing Town Hall, the program features a wide array of local talent, such as the SALGA Dance Team (above), an LGBTQ ensemble that celebrates South Asian artistic traditions.

Paolo Javier, who was the Queens Poet Laureate from 2010 to 2014, shares his verses, and Colombia-born composer and arranger Juan Valencia plays classical piano pieces from Latin America and the Caribbean.

Gabriella Callender — a singer, songwriter, poet, educator, and community organizer whose art, educational work and community activism is inspired by her experiences as an adoptee, lesbian, and female of color — is also on the bill.

Details: LGBTQ Voices, Diversity Plaza, 37th Road at 74th Street, Jackson Heights, June 6, 5 pm, free.

Photo by Steven Rosen Photography