Join us at VITALS, an outdoor health and wellness festival highlighting non-profit organizations and entrepreneurs advancing health equity amongst communities of color. Also featuring musicians from The Dream Unfinished, an Activist Orchestra, in outdoor performances of works by diverse artists and composers. Free admission.

When: Saturday, August 19, 2022 between 11 AM to 3 PM

Where: in front of the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning

JCAL's Queens International Children's Festival has returned with free entertainment and activities for the entire family to enjoy. The two-day fun-filled family event brings high-quality arts performances and craft activities to inspire young people and families to enjoy the arts. On the second day of the festival at 12:30 PM, The Dream Unfinished presents an ensemble of student violinists and violists performing a diverse program of music by Ghanaian, Nigerian, Filipino, and Hungarian composers, finishing with arrangements of classic tunes by Stevie Wonder.

Join us in Queens for NYC’s first-ever citywide participatory budgeting process! Queens residents of all ages can attend this in-person, borough-wide ideation session with local music and food. TDU musicians will perform works by Hailstork and Montgomery.

Featured Musicians
Jordan Lee, violin
Sarah Overton, cello

Celebrate National Voter Registration Day with us in Union Square on Tuesday, September 20th! We’ll be performing at the NYC CEC’s Voter Registration Party at 12:30 PM.

Featured Musicians
Cassandra Douglas, soprano
Kyle Walker, piano

Join us at VITALS, an outdoor health and wellness festival highlighting non-profit organizations and entrepreneurs advancing health equity amongst communities of color. Also featuring musicians from The Dream Unfinished, an Activist Orchestra, in outdoor performances of works by diverse artists and composers. Free admission.

When: Saturday, August 20, 2022 between 12 PM to 5 PM

Where: in front of the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning

Featured Organizations
Commonpoint Queens - Opportunity Youth
GetCoveredNYC
INCLUDEnyc
Sinergia
Make the Road New York
Public Health Solutions
Queens Community House
South Asian Council for Social Services (SACSS)

Featured Musicians
Evan Francis, flute/saxophone
Emily Kalish, violin
Jordan Lee, violin
Christine Wu, viola
Sarah Overton, cello

This project is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant program, a program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature and administered by Flushing Town Hall. It is also supported by the Queens Council of the Arts, New Music USA, and New York Community Trust, and produced in partnership with the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.

RSVP HERE

Join us in a live community reading of Frederick Douglass's famous speech, which unpacks the paradox of patriotism against the backdrop of inequity. Featuring musical improvisation by violinist Josh Henderson, and music from Dorothy Rudd Moore's opera based on the life of the famous abolitionist performed by artists from The Dream Unfinished. Music by Margaret Bonds and Harry T. Burleigh will also be performed. Saturday, July 9th, 2022 at 3:00 PM.

Featured Musicians
Katherine Dennis, violin
Josh Henderson, violin
Markel Reed, baritone
Kyle Walker, piano

RSVP HERE

JCAL's Queens International Children's Festival has returned with free entertainment and activities for the entire family to enjoy. The two-day fun-filled family event brings high-quality arts performances and craft activities to inspire young people and families to enjoy the arts. On its opening day at 2:00 PM, musicians from The Dream Unfinished and their students will celebrate composers of color and perform an immersive and civically inspired collaboration with composer Nathan Felix.

Register here

Join the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Immigrant Defense Project and The Dream Unfinished on Thursday, May 5, 2022 at 5 pm ET for an evening of music, film, and discussion centering resistance to the U.S. immigration regime. This special event marks the beginning of our Freedom Flicks Spring/Summer 2022 film series!

Building on a new report “Cruel by Design: Voices of Resistance from Immigration Detention,” the evening will feature two powerful, award-winning short films: Ale Libre and THE FACILITY.

• Ale Libre follows a criminalized community organizer, Alejandra Pablos, while she prepares for her deportation case.

• THE FACILITY is a harrowing account of the experiences of immigrants struggling for freedom and justice from within ICE detention during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Our evening will begin with a musical performance themed around immigration and borderlands, composed by Nathan Felix and performed by artists of The Dream Unfinished. Following the screenings, the filmmakers and protagonists will join a discussion with staff from the Center for Constitutional Rights and the Immigrant Defense Project.

Panelists:
Alejandra Pablos, Community Organizer, Ale Libre
Maya Cueva, Director, Ale Libre
Andrea Manrique, THE FACILITY
Seth Freed Wessler, Director, THE FACILITY

Musicians:
Nathan Felix Opera Collective featuring...
Celeste Morales, soprano
Madison Marie McIntosh, mezzo-soprano
Joseph Sacchi, tenor
Gabriel Spector, baritone
Vlad Hontila, violin
Nathan Felix, composer/lyricist
The Dream Unfinished Orchestra featuring...
Kyle Walker, piano and A/V recording engineer
Dara Hankins, cello

The evening will be emceed by Jane Shim of the Immigrant Defense Project, and the panel will be moderated by Samah Sisay of the Center for Constitutional Rights

Register now to join us for what is sure to be a dynamic evening.
*ASL translation, and both English and Spanish transcription will be provided for this event.

Get inspired to turn out for tomorrow's general election! Tune into dramatic readings of speeches by historical figures curated with musical selections, and a live voting rights Q&A.

Texts and music by:
Zitkala-Sa | Connor Chee
Tye Leung Schulze | Chen Yi
Frederick Douglass | Harry Burleigh

Performed by:
Katherine Dennis, Violin
Daniel Colalillo, Piano
Anya Regaignon, Harp
Aury Krebs, Actor

Featuring special guest Brenda Saldivar, Youth Representative for DemocracyNYC

Watch The Vocal Vote on Youtube!

Today, September 29th at 3:00 PM ET, The Dream Unfinished will perform in "Your Flatbush. Your Voice. Your Vote." a free community event celebrating National Voter Registration Day and NYC's vibrant Caribbean community.

The event will also include Little Caribbean-based food vendors Nio’s Roti and Creme & Cocoa Creamery and a pop up photo station managed by Project Luz. We hope to see you there!

On Sunday, 9/19, TDU musicians Jasmine Wilson (voice) and Joey Chang (piano) will be performing at a free concert in Travers Park (Jackson Heights) from 3:30-4:45 PM! We are thrilled to be collaborating with Homecoming New York, Open Space Music, Music for Food Network, and supporting Community CSOC for a wonderful day of food and music.

Join us at VITALS, a free outdoor health and wellness festival highlighting organizations and entrepreneurs advancing health equity amongst communities of color. Featuring musicians from The Dream Unfinished and the Harlem Chamber Players.

When: August 21st, between 11 AM to 5 PM

Where: The front lawn of Jamaica Performing Arts Center.

Participating Organizations: Sinergia, MinKwon Center for Community Action, Queens Community House, South Asian Council for Social Services, includeNYC, Make The Road New York, GetCoveredNYC, and Bangladeshi American Community Development and Youth Services

Featured Musicians: Eric Davis (horn), Erika Dohi (piano), Kyle Walker (piano), and Jasmine Wilson (soprano)

Register for this FREE event

This event is made possible (in part) by the Queens Council on the Arts with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. This project is also made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Queens Council on the Arts. It is produced in partnership with Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning.

Watch the show on YouTube Live here!

Co-hosts Sarah Overton and Damian Norfleet debut a 3 part mini-series called "Health & Wealth," a space to discuss the Social Determinants of Health. We're starting with what we're calling the "Community Puzzle," addressing redlining and generational wealth, in juxtaposition with Valerie Coleman's "Bronzeville."

Watch the show on YouTube here!

Today, our co-hosts Sarah Overton & Damian Norfleet continue our "Call & Response" episode format and will discuss Au-Tin Yung, Alex's composition “Self-Talk” in conjunction with news highlighted in the New York Times about protests in Hong Kong earlier this year. Join us on YouTube Live at our regular time of 5:30 PM EDT for our tenth episode.

Watch on YouTube live here!

Join Sarah Overton (TDU, Production Manager) and Damian Norfleet for a YouTube livestream at 5:30 PM EDT. This Wednesday, April 21, 2021, they’ll be discussing music therapy and other self-preservation resources in conjunction with Courtney Bryan’s Sanctum and Coleridge Taylor-Perkinson's Lamentations - "Black Folk Song Suite" for Solo Cello.

Tune in to the livestream here!

TDU Production Manager, Sarah Overton, is joined by her new co-host and frequent TDU collaborator, Damian Norfleet, for our 8th episode of our weekly live YouTube show! This week, the episode will be in 2 segments: #OntheRecord and #YetUnheard. In our "On the Record" segment, we'll be discussing the history of the saxophone, its association with black music. During our "Yet Unheard" segment, we'll be diving into Roberto Sierra's Concerto for Saxophone and Orchestra.

Watch the episode live here at 5:30 PM EDT on April 14, 2021!

On April 7, 2021, at 5:30 pm EDT, we go live for our 7th episode of our live YouTube series to discuss Puerto Rican Statehood, how we can be #InstrumentsForChange for those in the Puerto Rican community, and Angélica Negrón's "Marajeda" in our #YetUnheard segment.

Watch the episode live here

Tomorrow, March 31st at 5:30 PM EDT, Sarah Overton and Jasmine Wilson will host the 6th episode of our live YouTube series, "The Consistency Change." They'll be talking about how we can be #InstrumentsforChange for the Asian American community, examples of Black x Asian solidarity, and Jon Jang's "Pledge of Black Asian Allegiance."

Watch the livestream here

In our fifth episode, join us for a discussion on how Native Americans have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, Deb Haaland’s landmark appointment as Secretary of the Interior, and Juantio Becenti’s “A Forest At Dawn.”

On Wednesday, March 14th at 5:30 PM ET, we will be discussing current veterans' issues, organizations that support veterans, and how this ties in with Harriet Tubman. We'll also be featuring "I am Moses the Liberator" from Nkeiru Okoye’s Opera during this week’s segment of “Yet Unheard.”

Image credit for thumbnail: VCU Capital News Service https://www.flickr.com/photos/vcucns/26523675156/in/album-72157667267784051/

Watch on YouTube Live here

The Dream Unfinished's live YouTube show continues on Wednesday, March 10th at 5:30 PM ET with our third episode, "Hiding in Plain Sight: Plainchant for America." In this episode, TDU’s Executive Director, Eun Lee, and Production Manager, Sarah Overton, will be revisiting the origins of our organization and what inspired us to name ourselves "The Dream Unfinished" juxtaposed with a look into William Grant Still's "Plainchant for America."

Watch on YouTube Live here on Wednesday, March 10th at 5:30 PM ET.

Join us tomorrow, March 6th at 7:00 PM ET on YouTube Live as TDU’s Sarah Overton and Eun Lee discuss black infant and maternal mortality rates through the lens of Florence Price, eminent composer, pianist, and educator. Learn about Price’s life experience and how we can be helpful in the medical community at this pivotal moment in our global history.

Watch on YouTube Live here!

Join TDU’s Sarah Overton and Eun Lee with guest Melanie Zeck (Library of Congress), on Tuesday, February 23rd at 4:30 PM ET as they discuss two important figures in Black musicology: Dr. David Baker, renowned jazz musician, composer, and educator; and Dr. Dominique Rene De Lerma, oboist and musicologist who specialized in Black music history. Delve into the ways both men's lives were changed by Dr. King's assassination and the legacies they left behind to the field of Black classical music.

Watch on Youtube Live!

A city-wide, synchronous live and virtual concert which empowers New Yorkers to get out the vote in their communities. Featuring music from the 1963 March on Washington, and non-partisan information around civic engagement in the upcoming November election. Music On The March will take place simultaneously in venues across all five boroughs of New York City culminating in a synchronous city-wide performance of “We Shall Overcome” for musicians and audience, arranged by Jannina Norpoth. Confirmed partners include DemocracyNYC, ChaShaMa, Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden, Wave Hill, Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning and the Brooklyn Public Library. 

Individuals who wish to attend in person should note that seating will be extremely limited and will follow all current New York State public health and safety protocols as related to coronavirus. The event will also be broadcast live over social media platforms. Free admission unless otherwise noted.

Music On The March is the finale of The Red White and Blues: a series of virtual performances and videos which informs New Yorkers of their pathways to voting with ongoing precautions related to the coronavirus, and highlights voting disparities and disenfranchisement for communities of color.

View the concert program

Watch the recording of the Staten Island performance

Support has been provided by New Music USA’s Project Grants Program 2020. This project is made possible with funds from the Decentralization Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Queens Council on the Arts. Additional support provided by FotografiskaNYC.

Presenting Counterpoint, a series of moderated conversations between an artist and an activist sharing their personal outlooks and expertise on the voting rights of disenfranchised communities. These live conversations provide audiences with a deeper look into the impact of coronavirus and civic engagement in already-marginalized communities. Each event concludes with a brief musical performance by the guest artist.

Our first event in the Counterpoint series is centered around voting conversations for the community in Queens featuring artist and conductor Tito Muñoz and Sandra Choi from the Minkwon Center.

We will be streaming the event on Facebook Live. Make sure to tune in October 5th at 5:00 PM EDT!

RSVP HERE

Learn more about our guests:

Tito Muñoz
http://titomunoz.com/

Minkwon Center:
http://minkwon.org/