NewMoonRising 

A Fundraiser for Fort Tilden!

Have you heard about Fort Tilden's Moon Stage? The Moon Stage is a unique structure of filigree iron work. The original filigree, welded in 1999, served as a set design during the Broadway play “Ring Round the Moon” at the Belasco Theatre Company in Manhattan. Rockaway Artist Alliance (RAA) Board Member and theater veteran Jan Nebozenko worked with former RAA President Geoff Rawling and Tim Bracci to install the structure in Fort Tilden. Today the Moon Stage transforms Fort Tilden's center for nature and contemporary art into the only New York-based 501c3 seated in a National Park. The stage graces NYC’s beach side recreation area in the Rockaway peninsula of Queens to include outdoor performance between the T6 and T7 galleries in the foreground of the sculpture park.

This summer, the Moon Stage and adjacent National Park building will undergo renovation with a starting budget of 25k. Devastation in Rockaway during Hurricane Sandy and the severe winter of 2015 left the Moon Stage vulnerable to weather damage and a liability to the property due to foot traffic erosion by visitors. The foyer and exhibition space, recording studio, wood shop, sculpture park, and meeting rooms sit adjacent to the Moon Stage. This art facility is maintained by dedicated volunteers while the outside space sits vacant. Renovation will make the stage available once again for summer festivals, poetry, music, dance, & sound art.

Thank You Fort Tilden for being the only public art space seated in a National Park and for recently receiving grant funding for a lavender bed planting by the Citizens Committee of NYC. 

Happy 20th year!