Celebrating New York's immigrant heritage

Photo credit: Urbanite

LibertyandManhattanSkyline1,” by artist Katherine Dolgy Ludwig, was chosen by the Bloomberg administration to represent Immigration Week 2008.

Immigration Week 2008, New York City’s fifth annual celebration of the melting pot, begins Monday and runs through next Sunday. The celebration honors past and present immigrant groups with free or low cost events across the five boroughs.

The week is scheduled around April 17, the date in 1907 when 11,747 immigrants entered Ellis Island, the most ever on a single day.

A kick-off ceremony was held on Friday at Gracie Mansion, formally the mayor’s residence, though Mayor Michael Bloomberg only uses it for visitors and meetings.

Organized by the Office of Immigration Affairs, this year’s week has over 50 events honoring the immigrant journey and contributions to New York City along with celebrating the native cultures of immigrants. Chinese, Cuban, Jewish, Greek, Caribbean, Irish, Russian, and Armenian cultures, just to name a few, are represented.The events include:

* General immigration awareness workshops like Thursday’s “New American Assistance and Information Forum” target today’s 2.9 million foreign-born residents.

* The second annual Conference on Promoting Financial Justice for Immigrant New Yorkers is set for Monday.

* NYCBusiness Solutions/Workshop Career Center in Jamaica, Queens, sponsored by Upwardly Global, goffers a seminar Wednesday on using a foreign degree in the United States

A panel at Hunter College School of Social Work discusses health issues on Thursday, while “The Vote, It’s Our Right” on Sunday addresses the important issue of civic participation with the nearing 2008 presidential election.

Other events include:

Art: A Canadian immigrant and artist, Katherine Dolgy Ludwig, examines immigration in “Sacred Spaces: Faith painting in Brooklyn” and “Art of Welcome: EveryOneWhoHelpedMeGetMy01Visa.”

One of Dolgy Ludwig’s paintings, “LibertyandManhattanSkyline1” was also chosen by the Bloomberg administration to represent Immigration Week 2008.

Music: Bengali and El Mariachi Real De Mexico, in Staten Island, Caribbean Guitars in the Bronx and Armenian music in Queens are among 23 musical events.

“Monkey Steals the Heavenly Peaches,” sponsored by the New York Public Library, is a “Peking opera” for children. Showing Monday, Tuesday and Thursday through Saturday at the Bronx Library Center in Kingsbridge, it is one of the family-friendly theater programs.

Film: Movies including the ninth annual Havana Film Festival, a celebration of Latin American cinema, run all week.

Education: Learning opportunities including the Chinese Ribbon Dance workshop on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday at 4pm at several Manhattan libraries and Young Playwrights Inc’s workshop, “Write a Play.”

For more, click here.

-- Kathleen Bulson

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