Two museums in the city’s most ethnically diverse borough are courting new customers this season with a classic concept: they’re puttin’ on a fair.
The Queens Museum of Art will throw its fifth annual multilingual Book Fair Expo this Sunday. One hundred authors of contemporary literature from all over the world–including Mariya Alayeva, Ted Han, and O Zhang–will give readings, lectures, and signings during the event.
A usual Sunday at the Queens Museum of Art attracts about 450 patrons. Last year, the Book Fair brought in an estimated 300 more guests. Gabriel Roldos, who helps run the museum’s public programs, said he hopes the fair will bring a set of intellectuals into the space who may not have been there before but might like the exhibits.
At the end of last month, another fair brought a massive amount of new blood to Queens. About 25,000 people came to The New York Hall of Science over the course of two days for the East Coast’s inaugural World Maker Faire—a festival for people who like to invent things like and robots who solve Rubik’s cubes.
Officials at the Hall of Science said normally, when 2,000 guests pass through the doors, it’s a good day. Admission to the Maker Faire, which mostly took place on the grounds outside the museum, included access to permanent exhibits, and they were packed the whole time.
Click below for a slide show of people who came to the New York Hall of Science for the Maker Faire, but stayed to enjoy the museum’s permanent exhibits.