CAZENOVIA — Recently, Stone Quarry Hill Art Park (SQHAP) was one of 10 nonprofit organizations from Onondaga, Madison and Cayuga counties to receive a grant from the Women’s Fund of Central New York.
The grants, totaling over $48,000, will fund projects that support the advancement and full participation of women and girls.
SQHAP received $5,000 to support the development of visiting artist Dr. Juhanna Rogers’ “Queendom” (formerly referred to as “40 Acres”), an interactive outdoor performative experience that explores the dream and possibility of reparations.
“The Art Park is honored to receive funding from the Women’s Fund,” said SQHAP CEO Emily Zaengle. “The concept for the project is completely driven by Dr. Rogers. [She] is an incredible artist-scholar, and the grant from the Women’s Fund allows Stone Quarry Hill Art Park the opportunity to work with [her] and other women artists of color to share this transformative work with the public.”
Located at 3883 Stone Quarry Rd. in Cazenovia, SQHAP is an outdoor sculpture park established in 1991 by ceramicist, sculptor, author, and preservation activist Dorothy Riester (1916-2017) and her husband, Robert.
The Art Park was founded as a private, not-for-profit organization with the goal of providing artists working in large-scale sculpture with a place to display their work.
The organization continues Riester’s practice of inviting artists to her home through its visiting artist program, which offers stipends, on-site lodging, studio space, and other administrative services to artists interested in engaging with the landscape of Stone Quarry Hill.
Rogers, who is one of seven visiting artists currently working at SQHAP, is an author, playwright, director, and actress committed to social justice, education, and the arts.
Written and directed by Rogers, Queendom conceptualizes the promise of “40 acres and a mule.”
“Forty acres of land and a mule were to be bestowed upon enslaved peoples that were freed in America in the reparations package approved by President Lincoln’s administration,” Rogers explained. “It was a promise later retracted after Lincoln’s assassination.”
In Queendom, Rogers imagines a world in which enslaved people are granted resources and funds to help them establish lives in America, post slavery.
“In the fictional town of Queendom, located in the American South during reconstruction, women prepare for the Kuuba festival,” Rogers said. “On the eve of this annual festival, the women of Queendom discuss traditions of being Black in America, their dreams, and the traumas that still haunt them.”
SQHAP will hold interactive, performative readings of Queendom for the public on Sept. 11, 12, 18 and 19 at 4 p.m.
During each of the readings, the audience will have the opportunity to engage in a discussion with the characters and experience 40 acres demarcated on the Art Park’s landscape.
According to Rogers, the dialogue will center on ideals about freedom and the pursuit of dreams and possibilities by African American women of the period.
“The goal of Queendom is to generate dialogue around the ongoing struggles of African American peoples while materializing and making visible forty acres in the landscape,” the artist said.
Tickets for the behind-the-scenes experience are $40 a person; proceeds will support the further development of the project. To learn more about Rogers and purchase tickets, visit sqhap.org.
According to SQHAP, the Women’s Fund of CNY grant will cover the direct costs of the project, such as artistic fees, materials, tools and equipment, and allow for the involvement of women of color in the creation of Queendom.
“The Women’s Fund of Central New York is committed to dismantling the systems and policies that have prevented the advancement and full participation of all women and girls,” said Kate Michaels, the Women’s Fund of CNY Leadership Council chair. “The Queendom project at Stone Quarry Hill Art Park will allow Black women artists to contribute their voices and share their stories through art and theater. We funded this important project because we believe it lifts up women of color and provides a platform which will bring meaningful stories to our community.”
The following organizations also recently received Women’s Fund of CNY grants: Chadwick Residence, Clear Path for Veterans, David’s Refuge, Joseph’s House for Women, the Junior League of Syracuse, King Ferry Food Pantry, Oswego Health Foundation, Syracuse Academy of Science Elementary School, and Women on the Front Line.
An affiliate fund of the Central New York Community Foundation, the Women’s Fund of CNY is a volunteer-led fund that supports, empowers and recognizes the advancement and full participation of women and girls in Central New York through an endowment fund, grants and initiatives.
Since its inception in 1998, the Women’s Fund has awarded $450,000 in grants, and has grown its endowment to more than $1 million. For more information or to make a donation, visit womensfundofcny.org.
Learn more about the Central New York Community Foundation at cnycf.org.
