On Friday, June 11, 2021, at 11A.M., join the Queens Public Library’s President and CEO Dennis M. Walcott, and VP Records Co-founder Patricia ‘Miss Pat’ Chin for a zoom conversation on life, community, arts, and culture.
Celebrating accomplishments through the library’s history and looking at the present day to envision the future, the library’s 125th anniversary celebration highlights the library’s historical successes and shines a spotlight on community stories and local treasures.
In lieu of Black Music Month and Caribbean Heritage Month in June, the library honors Miss Pat Chin’s achievement in the global reggae music industry. As a Chinese-Jamaican and Indian woman in a male dominated industry, Patricia ‘Miss Pat’ Chin is the dynamic force behind VP Records. Her newly released memoir, “Miss Pat, My Reggae Music Journey” documents six decades of reggae music history, from the rise of Randy’s Record Mart in 1958 in Kingston Jamaica, to the development of the world’s largest reggae and Caribbean music independent distributor, VP Records.
A person of unmatched energy and enthusiasm, at age 84, she launched the Vincent and Patricia Family Foundation to provide dedicated resources for her passion in providing under-privileged children with access to music education and supporting the next generation of musicians in the music business.
The Vincent and Patricia Family Foundation is also building a dedicated Arts Center right next to the VP Retails Store on Jamaica Avenue. It will serve as a home for future Reggae Music and as an Art Center to promote Caribbean culture and reggae music.
This conversation between Dennis Walcott and Miss Pat Chin will take place at the newly renovated gallery space for the future Art Center. Audience members will have a chance to participate in a virtual walk through of the current exhibit, Sound System. The exhibition will include paintings from noted reggae selector Robert “Jah Wise” Campbell, whose interpretations of Jamaican music culture and day to day life have been a part of his identity since he made a cameo appearance in the 1978 cult classic film “Rockers”, painting a “Lion of Judah” on the main character’s motorcycle. The exhibit will also include digital graphic designer Costantinos Pissourios’ series on the history of the Jamaican Soundsystem.
Audience can join the conversation through the library’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/QPLNYC and the Vincent and Patricia Foundation’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/VandPFoundation and VP Records’ YouTube channel:
https://youtu.be/VLRSBQ2xRpg