Citizen Arts International Festival Announces Suzik by FORCE

The Citizen Arts International Festival announces performances of Suzik by performing arts company FORCE on September 12, 2026, at Culture Lab LIC at 3PM, and on September 13, 2026, at the Bushwick Starr at 3:30PM. For more information and to reserve free tickets, please visit https://www.citizenartsinternational.org/suzik.

Suzik—the Korean word for verticality—is a Chinese pole performance that reimagines the vertical as a space of connection, trust, and collective movement. Three performers navigate the precarious heights of the pole, entering a world where balance depends on the presence, strength, and care of others.

Against the force of gravity, Suzik explores a different way of moving upward: not through individual ascent, but through shared momentum. The performers reach, support, and respond to one another, transforming moments of risk into acts of trust and possibility.

Suzik extends its exploration of connection beyond the pole itself, transforming each public setting into a place of encounter and shared experience. As the performers reshape the vertical structure of the pole into a site of relationship and reciprocity, the work invites audiences to imagine new ways of moving through the world together.

FORCE is a performing arts company that explores the symbiotic evolution of art and technology, using the body as a fundamental language of expression to connect people and the contemporary world. Through works that combine physical arts and modern technology, the company has developed a distinctive performance language reflecting contemporary emotions and social sensibilities. It actively engages in performance creation and touring, festival planning, professional training, and international exchange projects across Korea and abroad.

Director + Performer: Youngho Lee
Performer: Chanyang Kim
Performer: Sunhyuk Kim
Stage Manager: Minsang Cho
Producer: Hyunjin Yim
SUZIK is produced in partnership with Culture Lab LIC, The Bushwick Starr, and La MaMa ETC.

Citizen Arts International transforms New York City’s public spaces into vibrant stages for free international performance, participatory art, and cultural exchange. Bringing art into everyday life across the boroughs, the woman-led festival fosters joy, civic engagement, and social connection.

Responding to calls from civic leaders and urban policy advocates to expand equitable access to culture in public space, the festival centers a model of radical accessibility and global cultural exchange, bringing free, high-quality performing arts directly into neighborhood parks and community spaces.

In collaboration with community organizations citywide, the festival’s inventive placemaking transforms ordinary spaces into sites of joy, spectacle, dialogue, and shared civic experience. Programming spans new circus, dance, music, theatre, and participatory performance that invite audiences to engage not just as spectators, but as participants in a shared cultural landscape.

Rooted in local partnerships, Citizen Arts International collaborates with organizations including The Ukrainian Museum, Culture Lab LIC, The Bushwick Starr, La MaMa ETC, Citizen Arts and Education, New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, NYCEDC’s MADE Bush Terminal, Bronx Children’s Museum, Barnard Movement Lab, and more to connect performance with community conversation. Through hosted performances, workshops, and intergenerational learning opportunities, the festival creates intimate connections between audiences of all ages to engage with global artists and ideas in spaces that belong to them.

The festival is led by co-directors Meg Araneo, Natalie Rine, and Elena Siyanko. The multigenerational, women-led leadership champions collaboration, artistic vision, and public engagement as central to the citywide festival initiative. With decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, festival programming, international touring, and scholarly practice, they offer a civic-minded, community-focused, and globally informed approach to multidisciplinary performance in public spaces.

“Public culture is civic infrastructure,” said the Co-Directors in a joint statement. “Citizen Arts International is doubling down on radical accessibility — bringing global performance directly into neighborhoods, free of charge, and using public space to spark dialogue, imagination, and connection across difference.”

ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
Citizen Arts International transforms New York City’s public spaces into vibrant stages for free international performance, participatory art, and cultural exchange. Bringing art into everyday life across the boroughs, the festival fosters civic engagement and strengthens social connection.

The Citizen Arts International Festival is produced in partnership with Citizen Arts and Education and the Ukrainian Museum, in affiliation with Social Practice CUNY, with special thanks to the PhD Theatre + Performance Program at the CUNY Graduate Center. The festival is fiscally sponsored by the Graduate Center Foundation Inc.

www.citizenartsinternational.org
@citizenartsinternational

About Culture Lab LIC:
Culture Lab LIC unites people through arts, culture, and community, creating a vibrant hub that reflects the spirit and diversity of Queens. For over five years, it has grown into a multifaceted home for artists across disciplines, community members, and mission-driven nonprofits, offering space, resources, and a strong sense of belonging.

As a cornerstone of Long Island City—one of the U.S.‘s fastest-growing, most dynamic neighborhoods—Culture Lab LIC champions arts and culture amid rapid social change. Their diverse programs, including cultural festivals, art exhibitions, live music, dance, and theater, celebrate Queens’ rich cultural fabric. Located along the stunning waterfront near Manhattan, Long Island City boasts the largest concentration of art galleries in Queens, thriving as a cultural hotspot.
Renowned for dynamic, inclusive programming, Culture Lab LIC hosts live outdoor concerts featuring top musicians across jazz, classical, indie, and world music, fostering shared artistic experiences. Beyond music, they offer cutting-edge theater, thought-provoking visual arts, and engaging community events that inspire and connect neighborhoods.

Our annual residency program provides performing artists with free rehearsal and performance space to develop new work, showcased at the acclaimed New Works Festival. Artists retain full creative rights and ticket proceeds, directly benefiting from their efforts. Since its inception, the program has supported over 20 original works, enriching the community with groundbreaking performances.

Through these initiatives, Culture Lab LIC remains dedicated to celebrating Queens’ cultural richness and supporting the artists and communities that make it thrive.

About The Bushwick Starr:
The Bushwick Starr is an Obie Award winning not-for-profit theater that presents an annual season of new performance works. They are an organization defined by both artists and the community, and since 2007, they have grown into a thriving theatrical venue, a vital neighborhood arts center, and a destination for exciting and engaging performance. They provide a springboard for emerging professional artists to make career-defining leaps, and they are a sanctuary where established artists come to experiment and innovate. They are also a neighborhood playhouse, serving our Bushwick, Brooklyn community’s diverse artistic needs and impulses.