Q.E.D. creates a new home for the arts in Astoria

Kambri Crews prepares for her first week in business at the new Q.E.D. A Place to Show & Tell in Astoria.

Q.E.D., an acronym for the Latin phrase meaning, “quod erat demonstrandum,” is now the newest home for local arts in Queens.

By day, Q.E.D. – A Place to Show & Tell is home to programming for adults with arts and crafts, stand-up comedy, food tastings, poetry slams, game nights, storytelling, gardening lessons and just about anything else that fits inside their coffee-shop-size space at 27-16 23rd Avenue in Astoria.

By night, the venue is transformed into a performance space for comedians and poets.

For the last year or so, Q.E.D. founder Kambri Crews began contemplating what she would do when her book tour for, “Burn Down the Ground: A Memoir,” came to an end.

While she knew an educational performance space was the path she wanted to take, she didn’t want to leave her home of nine years in Astoria to make it happen.

“It came down to the fact that I don’t live in Brooklyn, and I have no connection there, and I can’t afford Manhattan,” Crews explained. “I didn’t think Queens could support it, but now I see and hear people talking outside the windows, and they’re like, ‘how cool,’ and ‘finally.’”

Once the café is up and running, something she estimates could be ready in a matter of weeks, Crews anticipates a flood of WiFi-seekers and a regular crowd of locals will find their way inside.

In the next couple of weeks, she expects to have a dividing curtain installed in the 1,200-square-foot space and create a distinct stage area.

“One of the downsides of a couple of venues that I’ve run is that the bar is in the performance space,” she explained. “So when one show ends, all the people that came to see the show get kicked out because there’s another show that’s about to start.”

Crews said they plan to use their large backyard space for composting and gardening classes once daytime seminars begin.

Other programs already scheduled for the remainder of the year include lessons in Twitter, calligraphy, scriptwriting, juggling and guitar.

She added that she also hopes to team up with some of the local businesses to add new classes to the list.

“I would love if Butcher Bar would come and teach a class about different cuts of meat, and bring in samples to show why a skirt steak is different from a tenderloin,” she suggested as a possibility.

For the full story on Q.E.D. check out the LIC/Astoria Journal.