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Our Stories, Our Songs, is an intergenerational storytelling experience with Queens Center for Gay Seniors (QCFGS) members and youth ages 12-21 from GenerationQ.


In workshops with Queens Center for Gay Seniors members and Generation Q, a drop-in center for LGBTQIA+ youth, we explored our stories, LGBTQIA+ activism in Queens, and created protest songs. The workshops culminated in a work-in-progress discussion on the making and meaning of Pride and a community sing at the World's Borough Bookshop. At Queens Pride in Jackson Heights, we shared songs along the parade route. We plan to continue the collaboration, building out the song cycle and further building our relationships.



2026 Public Events:


Making & Meaning of Pride + Community Sing at World's Borough Bookshop
34-06 73rd St, Jackson Heights, NY 11372
Saturday, June 6th, 6:00 PM

Can we hold space across generations to have our multiple conflicting stories and relationships to Pride? Queens Pride, like many mainstream Pride events across the U.S., platforms the police, uplifts corporations, and chooses silence in the face of genocide. Let's talk across generation gaps about our relationships with the second oldest and second largest pride parade in NYC. Discussion and singing will be held with youth from GenerationQ in Forest Hills and members of the Queens Center for Gay Seniors in Jackson Heights. All are welcome.





Queens Pride Parade with Queens Center for Gay Seniors + Generation Q
Sunday, June 7th, 12:00pm

Creative Team:

  • Co-Directors/Facilitators: Meranda Flachs-Surmanek and Ania Upstill

  • Creative Partners:
    Patrick Lin at the Queens Center for Gay Seniors
    Bo-Andrea Bogats, Felicity Flores, Riley, and Ligaiya Romero at Generation Q Youth Center

  • Musician/Composer: Will Shishmanian

  • Musican Arrangement: Sean Ivy




Our Stories, Our Songs is part of the series Our Stories Are Alive, growing since 2025. This project was made possible in part with public funds from the Queens Arts Fund in 2025 and 2026, a re-grant program supported by NYC Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by New York Foundation for the Arts.