Bus Links LIC Artists To Manhattan
By KAITLYN KILMETIS
Last week, the LIC Art Shuttle embarked on its maiden voyage, transporting tourists and Manhattanites from Grand Central Station across the Queensborough Bridge and into a strange new land known as Long Island City.The shuttle's organizer, Savona Bailey-McClain, has spent years birthing the ambitious project through the West Harlem Art Fund. She said her mission is to create a hop-on, hop-off, ecologically-friendly bus to expose tourists to relatively undiscovered territories in the New York City arts scene and connect artists from these areas.
The shuttle will run seasonally, covering three different boroughs. During the spring, from March to May, it will service Long Island City. In the summer, it will travel to DUMBO and Williamsburg and in the fall, it will make trips to West Harlem.
Originally, Bailey-McClain planned on offering a service to shuttle people to West Harlem, but eventually decided to expand the idea to offer a number of communities.
"These are communities that have a lot in common in addition to arts and culture," she said. "This is a way to spotlight all that similarity and to get people to go borough to borough, community to community."
Bailey-McClain said rather than just focusing on the galleries and exhibits, the tour encourages people to see how the art gets created, which often occurs in outer borough studios and facilities.
"That's where the artists really are doing art - in these studios and in their homes - and people are struggling because people don't even know they exist," she said.
Bailey-McClain also added that the shuttle’s stops may not always be top tourist destinations but that adds to the charm of the tour route.
"We think it's worth it because it's the best way to get people to see a side of New York that's very interesting and very diverse," she said. "It might be a little bit off the beaten path, but that's what makes it interesting."
She said that the shuttle endeavors to provide a "good flavor of retail, restaurants and arts" with stops at Long Island City galleries, studios, museums, restaurants and three LIC hotels.
A statement by the owners of Long Island City's Testaccio Ristorante said they are excited about initiatives like the new LIC Art Shuttle.
"They offer visibility to the rich and multifaceted activities LIC has to offer: a vibrant culinary scene, lively art community, luxury developments, all of which put LIC on the map as a travel destination," it read.
Kristy Schopper, executive director of The Space, a LIC art facility which is part of the tour route, praised the LIC Shuttle for providing tourists the chance to see the arts behind the scenes.
"It's a good way to see the real art," Schopper said. "A lot of the artwork we see displayed in Manhattan is actually being made in one of these boroughs and it's nice to offer up a way to come see where it comes from."
Schopper also added that the shuttle is a great way to connect artists from the three featured areas.
"I think the artists that have managed to weather this economic scene and stay in the area would love to meet the other artists who have managed to do that else where," she said. "It will further galvanize the arts as a whole, which at this point is pretty important."
"I certainly like the idea of knowing what is going on in Harlem and Brooklyn and right now there is some somewhat of a gap and this could potentially really help bridge that gap."
For the next three months, the LIC Shuttle will depart from Grand Central Station three or four times each Tuesday and Thursday. For more information about the shuttle, visit myharlem.org.
Reach Reporter Kaitlyn Kilmetis at kkilmetis@queenstribune.com, or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 128.