Culture Lab LIC, the arts space on 46th Avenue in Hunters Point, opens a month of new work on Thursday, November 5. Its third annual New Works Festival brings world premieres of a musical, a dance piece and a dance-theater fantasy, and the same night the gallery opens Off the Wall 2026, its yearly holiday exhibition and art sale with LIC Artists. Both are built around one idea: the money goes to the artists. Culture Lab takes no cut of festival ticket sales, and Off the Wall artists keep everything they sell.

Where the work comes from

Every piece in the festival was developed in Culture Lab's New Works Lab, a residency for emerging companies and independent creators. Residents get free rehearsal and performance space, technical support and mentorship, plus peer review sessions through the year, and the festival is where the year's work reaches an audience. The lab started in 2021. This year's residents are Lucier & Rose, Barkha Dance Company, Jiemin Yang and notAmuse Theater.

The premieres

Atalanta: The Long Shot, a queer musical by Lucier & Rose, opens the festival. Performances are Thursday, November 5 at 7:30 p.m.; Friday, November 6 at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, November 7 at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, November 8 at 5:30 p.m. Ticket tiers on the show's ticket page run from $0 to $45.

icchā, by Barkha Dance Company, is a dance work drawing on kathak and garba. It runs about an hour, on Friday, November 13 and Saturday, November 14 at 7 p.m. and Sunday, November 15 at 3 p.m. Ticket tiers run from $0 to $25.

Rabbit God: A Queer Chinese Fantasy, a dance-theater piece by Jiemin Yang, plays Thursday, November 19 through Saturday, November 21 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, November 22 at 3 p.m. Its ticket page carries an advisory for mature content. Tiers run from $0 to $75.

A fourth resident company, notAmuse Theater, presents The 8th from December 3 to 6 at 8 p.m., which closes out the season.

Off the Wall 2026

Off the Wall is an annual holiday show and sale presented by LIC Artists, the neighborhood's artist organization, with Culture Lab. Work in every medium hangs from November 5 through December 13. This year's show is curated by Norma Homberg of LIC Artists and Nancy Bruno of Brickhouse. The opening reception is Thursday, November 5, from 6 to 9 p.m., the same night Atalanta opens next door in the building's performance space.

For anyone shopping for gifts, the arrangement matters: artists keep 100 percent of their sales, so a purchase goes straight to a local painter, printmaker or sculptor.

Who pays for it

The New Works Lab is supported in part by the Queens Arts Fund, a program of the city's Department of Cultural Affairs administered with the New York Foundation for the Arts, and by the New York State Council on the Arts.

Getting there

Culture Lab LIC is at 5-25 46th Avenue in Long Island City; visitors enter through the parking lot. The 7 train stops at Vernon Boulevard-Jackson Avenue, a short walk away. The gallery is wheelchair accessible. Tickets for each premiere are sold through the links on Culture Lab's site, and the venue can be reached at (347) 848-0030.

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