Ballet Hispánico and New York Parks honor Pride
Dancers From the Iconic Latinx Dance Organization Ballet Hispánico Celebrate Pride in Style at FDR Four Freedoms State Park.
Four Freedoms Park Conservancy (FFPC) in partnership with New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation is reprising its 2019 installation of the Pride Flag at the FDR Four Freedoms State Park throughout the month of June.
The 2022 Progress Pride Flag places greater emphasis on inclusion and progression with added colors representing marginalized LGBTQIA+ communities of color and transgender communities. The installation is the largest Pride Flag in New York State, measuring more than 100 feet long by 30 feet wide and is a reminder of the importance of the Four Freedoms as articulated in Franklin Roosevelt’s January 1941 State of the Union speech.
This year, FFPC invited Ballet Hispánico, the country’s leading Latinx dance company to launch this year’s Progress Pride Flag installation. Dance is a cherished form of expression that aligns with the Conservancy’s mission.
“Four Freedoms Park Conservancy’s mission is singular and simple: we create public programs, commission public art and produce installations to ignite conservations about basic human rights. President Franklin Roosevelt in 1941, articulated these, in what now seems stunningly prescient: Freedom of Speech and Expression, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want and Freedom from Fear. This is what The Progress Pride Flag stands for – inclusion means inclusion in all the freedoms from economic security to freedom from fear and of course freedom of expression,” said Howard Axel, CEO Four Freedoms Park Conservancy. “Could there be an organization more suited to express the Freedoms than Ballet Hispánico – one of the nation’s great cultural treasures that combines artistic excellence with advocacy? I hope this flag inspires New Yorkers to get outside with Pride!”
“Ballet Hispánico is thrilled to have been selected to help launch the 2022 Progress Pride Flag, an installation which aligns with our mission of representation, inclusion, and accessibility through culture and dance,” said Ballet Hispánico Artistic Director and CEO Eduardo Vilaro. “As an organization that is deeply involved in community engagement and education, and grounded in our rich history in New York City, it is as honor to be able to participate in something meant to be enjoyed by all.”
“We are proud to send this bold message of inclusion and acceptance at FDR Four Freedoms State Park,” said New York State Parks Commissioner Erik Kulleseid. “Thanks to the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy for helping to make the park welcoming and open to all – and highlighting again what it means to be free.”
Visitors are encouraged to post their photos on social media using #4Freedomspark #NYStateParks
Entrance to the Park is free to the public and it is open Wednesdays through Mondays from 9:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. and is closed on Tuesdays. The Park is accessible via the Tramway at East 60th St. and Second Avenue, F train to Roosevelt Island stop, NYC Ferry (Astoria Route), Q102 bus from Queens and by car (no on-site parking available). Click here for detailed directions.
About the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park is located on Roosevelt Island in New York City. The park, designed by architect Louis I. Kahn, is free to the public. Its name derives from a January 6, 1941 speech delivered by President Roosevelt, in which he described his vision for a world founded on four essential human freedoms: freedom of speech and expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear.
About Four Freedoms Park Conservancy
The Conservancy in a non-profit volunteer Friends Group that works with NYS Park to create public programming that advances President Franklin Roosevelt’s legacy and inspires New Yorkers to engage in the ideals of the Four Freedoms.
About Ballet Hispànico
For fifty years Ballet Hispánico has been the leading voice intersecting artistic excellence and advocacy and is now the largest Latinx cultural organization in the United States and one of America’s Cultural Treasures. Ballet Hispánico brings communities together to celebrate and explore Latino cultures through innovative dance productions, transformative dance training, and enduring community engagement experiences. National Medal of Arts recipient Tina Ramirez founded Ballet Hispánico in 1970, at the height of the post-war civil rights movements. From its inception Ballet Hispánico focused on providing a haven for Black and Brown Latinx youth and families seeking artistic place and cultural sanctuary. By providing the space for Latinx dance and dancers to flourish, Ballet Hispánico uplifted marginalized emerging and working artists, which combined with the training, authenticity of voice, and power of representation, fueled the organization’s roots and trajectory. In 2009, Ballet Hispánico welcomed Eduardo Vilaro as its Artistic Director, ushering in a new era by inserting fresh energy to the company’s founding values and leading Ballet Hispánico into an artistically vibrant future. Today, Ballet Hispánico’s New York City headquarters house a School of Dance and state-of-the-art dance studios for its programs and the arts community. From its grassroots origins as a dance school and community-based performing arts troupe, for fifty years Ballet Hispánico has stood as a catalyst for social change. Ballet Hispánico provides the physical home and cultural heart for Latinx dance in the United States. Ballet Hispánico has developed a robust public presence across its three main programs: its Company, School of Dance, and Community Arts Partnerships. Through its exemplary artistry, distinguished training program, and deep-rooted community engagement efforts Ballet Hispánico champions and amplifies underrepresented voices in the field. For fifty years Ballet Hispánico has provided a place of honor for the omitted, overlooked, and oppressed. As it looks to the next fifty years and beyond, Ballet Hispánico seeks to empower, and give agency to, the Latinx experience and those individuals within it. For more information, visit www.ballethispanico.org. Follow Ballet Hispánico on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
