Our Annual Marco Polo Dinner will honor two treasured Lower East Side museums: The Museum of the Chinese in America on Centre Street, and the Italian American Museum on Mulberry Street. Both will be represented by their respective Presidents: Nancy Yao and Joseph Scelsa. Purchase Your Ticket Today! The awards dinner will take place on the evening of Friday, October 14, 2022, at 6:00 PM.

Part of the Marco Polo event is meant to commemorate more than a century of coexistence of the two immigrant communities of Chinatown and Little Italy. It is, to be sure, a celebration of the rich literary, cultural, and artistic heritage of their respective Asian and Southern European origins. Marco Polo (1254-1324), the famed Venetian merchant-traveler to the court of Kublai Khan, is chosen as a symbol for this special occasion. 

The immigrant experiences of these two cherished communities were, of course, similar as they endured alienation, prejudice, language barriers and other bitter realities. But they triumphed. Who could better express their harsh and/or their success stories more than the two museums to which, through you, we should like to convey overdue well-earned acknowledgements. 

In recognition of their visionary work, Two Bridges Neighborhood Council received the NYS Historic Preservation Award for Outstanding National Register Nomination, Chinatown & Little Italy Historic District (2010); and the Historic Districts Council Grassroots Preservation Award (2010). 

In addition to this exciting work, Two Bridges Neighborhood Council is working closely with Mulberry Street merchants to establish a Business Improvement District, a BID. It is an effort to boost tourists and visitors to the historic area and a means to address the economies of Chinatown and Little Italy, both of which were truly devastated by the pandemic.

- Victor J. Papa, Co-Chair of the Marco Polo Festival Committee