FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD

Reflecting LI's new diversity

BY PEGGY BROWN

Staff writer

It's not just "Matzo-pizza" anymore.

Once, not so long ago, Long Island could have been known by Massapequa's old nickname, which playfully touted its Jewish- Italian mix. It was a time when this suburban enclave looked less like the great city to our west and more like Middle America.

Not so much anymore. "The face of America is changing," says Maria Isabel Martinez, a native of Colombia who has lived here 20 years. "The only way to integrate communities is to learn from each other. We're only afraid of things that we don't know."

Students from Martinez's Westbury Language Center, a private school specializing in Spanish language and dance, will contribute to that learning Sunday when they join more than two dozen ethnic groups featured at the Long Island Children's Museum's Third Annual Friends Around the World Festival.

Besides the Westbury group, which will showcase 5- to 8-year- olds dancing flamenco - "when they get their dresses on, they're really breathtaking," Martinez says - the festival, to be held at Hofstra University's Physical Fitness Center in Hempstead, will spotlight an astounding range of local ethnic dance, food and culture.

Families can watch students from the Sree Bharata Kamalalaya dance school in Mastic perform a 3,000-year-old East Indian dance; roll dough for Guyanese roti, a bread that's a staple of that South American country's cuisine; learn African-American hair braiding; create Dominican-style kites - and much, much more.

And, of course, there's a serious purpose behind all this fun - to "allow families to cross the boundaries of their neighborhoods and appreciate the richness and diversity that surrounds us on Long Island," says Edith Gonzalez de Scollard, director of education for the Garden City children's museum.

The museum is also using the festival to attract people who aren't ordinarily museum-goers. And that's not easy, even though its attendance - 75 percent white, 10 percent Hispanic, 8 percent black and 6 percent Asian - already closely mirrors Long Island's current ethnic makeup.

"One of the things that we strongly believe is that every parent wants the best education possible for their children - and that crosses ethnic lines, and political lines and economic lines," Gonzalez de Scollard says, "regardless of whether you make a million dollars or $25,000 a year."

Although the interactive museum makes learning fun for children "from zero to 14," she says, many families wouldn't even think of going there. "I'm Puerto Rican," she says, "and in Puerto Rican culture, going to a museum is not a priority." The museum's challenge is to convince people that "going to a museum on a Sunday afternoon would be just as fun as a picnic."

One way, she says, is to hold events, like the festival, that show off what the museum does during the year. Other outreach attempts include a program called KICKstart, which brings in children from four minority communities - Hempstead, Roosevelt, Wyandanch and Central Islip.

The museum also offers Spanish-English film programs and is working on adding public transportation directions on its Web site and phone, since many minority families don't own cars.

And Gonzalez de Scollard says she's trying to identify those informal leaders in communities - people who might be called yentas in "Matzo-pizza" - who will help spread the word.