The End of the World and You

Ahoy, friends! Join our merry band of queers on board 's tall ship Wavertree for The End of the World and You: the definitive how-to guide for surviving... no, thriving in our new life at sea. In this hands-on, community-centered workshop designed for novice seafarers, we’ll use folk music led by Big Stubborn Boy & Alkemie, gay merriment, and more to build the skills we’ll need to escape our sinking city. Let’s (figuratively) set sail into 2086 with preparedness and pride!

Created by Lou Barker, Jack Beal, John Coons, Emma Hasselbach, and Brian Mummert

Presented as the closing night of ChamberQUEER’s 2026 Festival:

Hailed as “a utopian dream… [at] the cutting-edge of classical music” (The Nation), realizes queer liberation through collective music-making, lifting up LGBTQ+ artists and reimagining classical music events as radically inclusive gathering spaces. Our Pride festival, staged around New York City each June, has been commended by The New Yorker; listed by The New York Times as a “Best of Pride” event; and co-presented by organizations including Carnegie Hall Citywide, The Handel + Haydn Society, South Street Seaport Museum, The Green-Wood Cemetery, National Sawdust, Boulanger Initiative, and Five Boroughs Music Festival. Year-round community events, from sight-reading parties to composer-performer “speed dating,” nurture communities of solidarity in an industry steeped in competition. Our founders represent ChamberQUEER as educators and advocates across the country, including appearances on WQXR; presentations on equity and belonging at Chamber Music America and Early Music America’s national conferences; and educational initiatives with Oberlin College and Luna Composition Lab.

Big Stubborn Boy is a gender- and genre-noncomforming duo borne of a penchant for charting new territories, and an excess of willpower to see the zaniest ideas through to their conclusions. Big Stubborn Boy's collaborations have included commissioning knit textiles as three-dimensional score objects, presenting programs highlighting queer storytelling through music, and performing traditional folk music from around the world. The duo's eclectic and progressive repertoire is simultaneously for both the concert hall and the campfire, and is a vehicle for exploring community-building by making musical experimentation accessible to audiences of all kinds.

A restless collective of medieval experimentalists, the Brooklyn-based ensemble is unabashed about dismantling the barriers that have traditionally separated the past from our present experience. Comprised of singer-performers playing over two dozen instruments—including harps, recorders, douçaines & dulcians (early double reeds), Irish whistle, bagpipes, and percussion—they are known for their “characterful playing” (The New Yorker) and “fresh arrangements that incorporate touches of bluegrass and Celtic music” (The Whole Note). Alkemie recently gained recognition for their soundtrack for the Peabody award-winning and BAFTA-nominated video game Pentiment, which Gamereactor said “truly elevated the experience to a height normally reserved for angels and aircrafts."

Access Information

Immuno-inclusivity: ChamberQUEER provides masks and hand sanitizer at front of house. We strongly encourage the use of masks. If you are feeling sick, please stay home. If you require a mask-only area to attend an event, please email [email protected]

Sensory: We have earplugs at front of house. We encourage you to experience events on your own terms. Move around, stand up, close your eyes, clap, cheer, etc!

We strongly encourage you to refrain from wearing colognes and perfumes to help fragrance-sensitive community members.

South Street Seaport Museum is a campus Museum, occupying several landmarked buildings and historic ships. The Museum includes locations from Water Street to Pier 16 throughout the South Street Seaport Historic District. Traveling among Museum locations may require navigating cobblestone streets, sidewalks, a busy intersection, and a weathered wooden pier. Accessible bathrooms are located underneath the FDR near Pier 16. Access to Wavertree includes climbing up a few stairs, walking up an angled gangway, and then down a few stairs onto the deck. For more information related to your specific needs, please call (212) 748-8600 or email [email protected] with any questions or requests for accommodation.

By subway: Take the A, C, 2, 3, J, Z, 4, or 5 train to Fulton Street.

By bus: Take the M-15 SBS or M-15 to Fulton Street.

By water: The NYC Ferry, and New York Waterway provide service to Pier 11. The Staten Island Ferry provides services to Whitehall Terminal.

Parking: Parking lots can be found at Front and John Streets, as well as 294 Pearl Street.

If you have an access need that isn’t covered here, please email [email protected]

Photo Credit: South Street Seaport Museum

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