Open Letter on Cultural Institutions' Complicity with Luxury Developers in Astoria: Reject Innovation QNS!
July 2022
We, the undersigned, call on Museum of the Moving Image, Pioneer Works, and Kaufman Studios to renounce their affiliations with the “Innovation QNS” luxury development project.
We, the undersigned, stand with the grassroots organizers of Astoria and reject this predatory rezoning which only benefits the wealthy and harms residents, working artists, and small businesses. We call on local city council members Julie Won and Tiffany Cabán, as well as all progressive council members, to join the growing consensus and thoroughly reject this plan.
Innovation QNS is a $2 billion development project by Larry Silverstein, Kaufman Studios, and Bedrock Realty that would flood the area with mostly high-end luxury housing. Their proposal seeks to add more than a dozen new buildings with thousands of apartments– mostly studios and 1-bedrooms for more than $3,000 a month. The handful of “affordable” units included are still more costly than the average person can afford, yet the billionaires behind this project get a windfall of profit, because upzoning means they can build much higher on the same plot of land: they suddenly get thousands of paying tenants, rather than dozens. This proposal is completely unaffordable, and would drastically harm the surrounding community of Bangladeshi, Spanish-speaking, working class, and other residents who are at most risk for displacement. As we’ve seen in many other luxury upzonings, tenants and small businesses get priced out and displaced as rents rise: soaring land values lead to neighborhood-wide speculation. This plan has zero connection to the existing multi-faceted communities of Astoria, instead seeking to replace and rebuild the neighborhood in the sanitized image of midtown Manhattan.
Kaufman Studios speaks about creating a new ‘arts district’ in Astoria, but who would this arts district really benefit? Promises of temporarily cheap or free space for local artists and cultural organizations have been vague and non-committal. Meanwhile, as land values and rents rise, how many would actually be displaced? Innovation QNS is a real estate deal masquerading as a cultural benefit. As described in, Artwashing During a Pandemic: Should Artists Say No to Real Estate Crumbs?, “artwashing happens when real estate entities use cultural capital to rebrand their luxury developments.... For every artist who gets tossed a crumb, like a temporary studio or a chance to make art for the lobby of a new hotel in a manufacturing zone, there are dozens of other artists who lose their studios because the surrounding rents go up as a result of the luxury development that these ‘opportunities’ reside in. Artists’ economic desperation is used to displace their fellow artists.”
We are the artists, cultural workers, visitors, and neighbors who make institutions like Pioneer Works, Museum of the Moving Image, and Kaufman Studios what they are. Without our labor, creativity, and attention, they are nothing. This partnership aligns these cultural organizations with real estate interests, squarely against the economic, environmental and cultural needs of the people of Astoria and beyond.
Signed,
257 community members:
Aarati Akkapeddi
Alejandro Paczka, Workers Assembly Against Racism
Alessandra Ametrano
Alex Crowley, Librarian (QPL)
Alex R.
Alexis Medina
Alfredo Gomez, Student
Alicia Grullón, Artist
Almog Cohen-Kashi
Alyson Shotz, Artist
Amanda Bruton
Amanda Catale, Astoria resident
Amanda Yaggy
amy zeng
Ana Tuazon
Andreas Amble
Andreas Petrossiants, e-flux journal associate editor
Andrew Wallace
Angela N. Tiseo
Angelica Aranda
Anita Kwok
Ann McDermott, TakeBackNYC
Anna Harsanyi
Anti-Eviction Mapping Project, NYC Chapter
Antika Singh
Ariana Reines
Ariel Lembeck, Artist /Arts Worker
Arnette C. Scott
Asha MacKay, Woodside Community Fridge
ashley condina, artist
Ashlyn Behrndt
Azikiwe Mohammed
Beatrice Modisett, Artist in Queens
Beatriz Rodriguez, Queens artist, SaveNYC admin, Tarte de Art admin
Beau Bonnet, Artist
Becky Elmquist, Larrie
Ben Fishet
Benjamin Krusling, artist and writer
Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, michele campo, v.p.
Brad Isnard
Brian Burbige, Mr
Brian Kozlowski
Bridget Bartolini, artist
Cami dominguez, Artist + brooklyn eviction defense
Candice
Carli Salvati, Astoria resident
Carmen V Hulbert, Green Party
Carol Puttre-Czyz, Preservationist Bowery Alliance of Neighbors
Chloe Seibert, Artist
Chris LaCass , Save Our Storefronts
Christina Ko
Christopher Chilas, High School Teacher (Long Island City) and Resident (Astoria)
Christopher Pelham, Director, CRS (Center for Remembering & Sharing)
Cindy Hwang, Art Against Displacement
Clara Freeman, poet
Cody Herrmann
Colleen Asper
Connie Murray , Long Island City resident
Corinna Kirsch
Courtney Takats
Craig Jun Li, Artist
Cynthia Mulcahy, artist and independent curator
Dana Kopel
Daniel
Danielle Cyr
Danielle Johnson
Dannelly Rodriguez, Astoria Native/Lawyer
Danny Crump, Flux Factory
David Borgonjon
David Gassaway
Denise rickles
Derek Coleman
Diana Benavides
Doreen Mohammed, Queens Community Board 1 + Astoria Not for Sale
Doug B, Self
Ed Figueroa
Eileen Weitzman
Elizabeth Burans, Astoria Resident and Art Educator
Elizabeth Oh, NYC DSA
Elspeth Walker, artist + member, Anticapitalism for Artists
Elvia Wilk
Emily
Enid Braun
Eric Alexander
Erica Baum
Eryka Sajek
Esther Blount
F. Reese , Artist
Fannie Ip
Fatima Sanz
Floor Grootenhuis , Artist
Francisca Benitez, Art Against Displacement
Frank Vasquez
Gabrielle Giattino
Gee Wesley
gil lopez, Co-founder Smiling Hogshead Ranch
Gilda Pervin
Gina Gentile , Community member
Gleb Wilson
Hallie McNeill, artist & writer
Hannah Berson, arts administrator & Astoria resident
Hannah Black, Artist & writer
Harriet Hirshorn , Filmmaker
holden taylor, brooklyn eviction defense
Holly McGraw, Artist & Archivist
India Cochrane
Iris You, Student, Astoria resident
Isaac Hart
Isaac Kirk-Davidoff, NYC-DSA Housing Working Group
Isabel Reyna Torres
Jack Wooldridge, NYC-LSC Coordinator, DSA Queens Housing Working Group
Jackie Pereira
Jacqueline Huerta
Jake Davidson, former Museum of the Moving Image educator
Jamila Hammami
Jamilah Elder
Janette Lu
Janine Nichols
Jeff Kasper
jen chantrtanapichate
Jennifer Chan
Jennifer Unruh, Astoria resident, artist, writer, advocate
Jenny Dubnau, Artist Studio Affordability Project
Joelle HOVERSON
Joey Frank
John Bahia
Jolene Travis, PR at Pratt Institute
Joseph Hsu, Rice University Student, Working in NYC
Judith Haider, Community Member
Judson Jones
Jules Duze, artist/creator
Julia Kwon
Julia N Bryant
Juliana Cerqueira Leite
Julie Drexler Johnson
Justin Davis
Kang Kang
Karen Adelman, artist, LIC resident, former MoMI educator, CUNY Law student
Katherine
Katherine O'Sullivan, Actor, Inwood Preservation
Katie Cercone
Katie Korns, Astoria resident
Kelly Brosnan
Kelsey Brow, Executive Director, King Manor
Kennan M, NYC-DSA Racial Justice Working Group
Khunsa Amin
Kit mcdonough
Kristen Hackett , Justice For All Coalition, Save Section 9
Lawrence Mesich
Leila Louhaichy
Lena P Afridi
Lily Jue Sheng, film worker and artist/filmmaker
Linda Ganjian, Artist
Lindsey Pannor
Liz Magic Laser
Lucy Koteen, Ms
Malek
Manny Gomez
Marge Ohrow, Friend of Astorian Artists
Maria Fattore
María Roca, Friends of Sunset Park
Martin Bisi, Owner of BC Studio, music recording in Old American Can Factory. Director of Gowanus Artists In Alliance
martina salisbury
Mason Van Gieson
Matthew Mottel
Maxwell Paparella
Maya McClain
Meghan Keane, Artist, Director
Melisa Breiner-Sanders, Queens and Astoria resident
Melissa Orlando, Sunnysider, Co-founder Access Queens
Memo Salazar, co-chair, Western Queens CLT
Michael Foster
Michael Gusev
Michael Robinson Cohen, Citygroup
Michael Simon
Michael Welah, Artist
Michelle Rosen
Michelle Rosenberg, Art Against Displacement
Mildred Lee
Miles grant
Milton X. Trujillo, filmmaker, cultural worker, Centro Corona
Minh Nguyen
Mink Arbeiter
Misra walker, Artist and community organizer
N/A TK, Queens
Nadia Schwingle
Nancy Preston
Naomi Schiller
Nat Roe
Nazaret Cuadros
Nazish Azad , Artist
Nicolás Vargas, Brooklyn Eviction Defense
Nicole Reiner, Astoria resident & former QCA employee
Nikholis Planck, Artist and employed cultural worker
Nos Wesley
Olivia Crough
Pamela Herrera, Advocate
Paolina Gonzales
Paper Tiger TV Inc.
Patricia Dorfman, Executive Director, Sunnyside Artists, Inc.
Patricia S.
Patricia Silva, Queens-based artist
Patrick Mohundro
Pongsathorn Muangchan
Priscilla Stadler, artist
Rachael Su
Rachel Nass, Astoria Resident
Rachel Youens, Associate Adjunct Professor, LaGCC, CUNY
Rania Lee Khalil, artist
Raoul Anchondo, Astoria resident and art worker
Roque Rodriguez, Human Being
Rosa Betances
roslyn huebener
Ryan Douglass
Ryan Oskin, Art Against Displacement
Sabrina Bazile, Urban Planner
Sabrina Ramirez , Astoria Born, Raised, & Live Concerned Resident
Sallie Sanders, Independent Arts Manager, Board Member, Collector
Sam Lefebvre
Sam Sundius, Artist in Queens
Sandy Ismail
Sandy Reiburn
Sara Benjamin
Sara Zielinski
Sarah Castro
Sarah Lazur, Crown Heights Tenant Union
Scott Andrew Hutchins, Writer/Composer
Sean J Patrick Carney
Shania Naderipour
Shiva Addanki
Sierra Pettengill, Filmmaker
Sophia Stavrula Friedman-Pappas
Spencer Compton
Spenser Reilly
Stephanie Beck, Artist
Stephanie Jones
Stephanie Tsopanidis
Steven T. Licardi, LMSW, Licensed Social Worker, Spoken Word Poet, and Performance Activist
Stine An, Poet and Translator
Su Jung Chang
Suneil Sanzgiri, Artist & Filmmaker
Ted Freed, Inwood Legal Action
terra graziani, anti-eviction mapping project
The Illuminator Collective
Thomas Muccioli
Tiffany Wang, Arts worker
Todd Ayoung, Pratt Institute and Parsons, The New School
Toni Arenstein, Workers Assembly Against Racism
Tyler Winthrop
Vanessa Thill, Art Against Displacement
Veronica Lawlor, Artist and arts educator
Viveca Licata , Artist
Western Queens Community Land Trust
William Powhida, Artist
Workers Assembly Against Racism
Xaviera Simmons, Artist
Zazu Swistel, Architect and Artist