Defending the Honor of American Popular Culture

Greetings from Coney Island!

For Coney Island USA, 2019 was a year to overcome challenges, and celebrate our success. We began the year facing the overwhelming task of replacing the ceiling in our Freak Bar and Gift Shop - and completed those repairs in time for Opening Day. We partied with sharks and sea-creatures in the NY Aquarium at our annual Spring Gala, and cheered Coney Island royalty Nora and Arlo Guthrie as they led the Mermaid Parade. Puppets, bellydancers, and Schlitzie the Pinhead entertained us, and our all-star cast of sideshow performers were seen at the Metropolitan Opera, on PBS, and at Ripley's in Times Square. The Coney Island Museum made major exhibition upgrades, and oversaw the important restoration of a vintage Tornado roller coaster car. Our annual Fall Gala, Creeptacular, closed out the season in a delightfully dark fashion.

If you came to an event or a show, watched the Mermaid Parade from the Judges' Stand, visited the Coney Island Museum, or became a member of Coney Island USA, I want to express my heart-felt gratitude. Your generous support sustains our operations and funds the performance-arts programming that you've come to love.

Looking ahead to 2020, I'm hopeful that Coney Island USA can continue to expand its mission to defend the honor of American popular culture with exciting new productions (including a rock opera that features a flying jukebox), exceptional performers, and updated exhibits in the Coney Island Museum. Your tax-deductible donation today will help ensure that we can move forward into the future, even as we cherish Coney Island's iconic past.

Best Wishes for A Healthy and Prosperous New Year, and I hope to see you soon in Coney Island!

Dick Zigun
Founder and Artistic Director

Give here: https://coneyisland.networkforgood.com/projects/47670-donation

Hey friends!

We know you're still recovering from the Thanksgiving feast, and since today is

#GivingTuesday, we’d like to offer you some food-for thought:

• For almost 40 years, Coney Island USA has stood with local community groups and activists to save many of the historic landmarks and iconic businesses that make the amusement district so unique.
   
• The Coney Island Museum is the only accredited institution in the world dedicated to preserving and interpreting the history of the People’s Playground, regularly welcoming students from NYC public schools, special-needs groups, and community organizations servicing the needs of low-income children.

• Coney Island USA spearheaded the rebirth of the modern burlesque movement, and offers a safe and nurturing venue for performers across all genders to develop and experiment with individual creative expression.

• As home to the last permanent circus sideshow, our Sideshows by the Seashore Theater provides a stage for artists performing traditional acts based not on their physical attributes, but rather, their own inimitable skills.

• Signature programs such as the Coney Island Film Festival, Funhouse Philosophers, and Music of the Curiosities give filmmakers, writers, artists, and musicians the opportunity to share works that exhibit Coney Island’s independent spirit, imaginative concepts, and irreverent humor.

• One of the largest in NYC, our annual Mermaid Parade brings thousands of spectators and participants together in a celebration of individuality, creativity, and inclusiveness, fostering a sense of community and infusing local businesses with much-needed resources.

We’re a LOT of fun to party with.

This small corner of Brooklyn is unlike any other in the world. So many of the programs that we sponsor rely on the generosity of folks like you. On #GivingTuesday, please consider making a gift or becoming a member of Coney Island USA, and show your support for what E.E. Cummings called the extraordinary aristocracy of freakdom here in the People’s Playground.

(Did we mention that we’re a LOT of fun to party with?)

See you soon in Coney Island!

The Folks At Coney Island USA

Give here: https://coneyisland.networkforgood.com/projects/47670-donation

Become A Member: https://www.coneyisland.com/become-member

NEW! Gift Memberships: https://www.coneyisland.com/gift-membership-2020

Visit Our Online Gift Shop: https://coney-island-usa.myshopify.com