Gibney x Ladies of Hip-Hop Partnership
Gibney and Ladies of Hip-Hop are excited to announce a three-year partnership to continue to bring women in Hip-Hop center stage.
This partnership will build upon the eighteen years that Ladies of Hip-Hop has celebrated and documented the experiences and talent of women in street and club dance. Together, Gibney and Ladies of Hip-Hop will produce the 2022 Ladies of Hip-Hop festival, July 13-17 at Gibney and Chelsea Factory. Gibney has committed to supporting this one-week festival of workshops, classes, panels, and shows, for the next three years. Additionally, Gibney and Ladies of Hip-Hop will work together in the coming years to present Ladies of Hip-Hop’s annual festival panel, workshops, and showcase, creating engagement between our communities, and ensuring that LOHH artists have access to space and resources.
Hip-Hop is one of the most influential cultural art forms in the world, but conversations continue to leave out voices most proximate to Hip Hop’s real-time evolution. This is an important partnership that acknowledges the necessity of Black women-led leadership in Hip-Hop, along with other street and club dance forms. These dance forms have been historically excluded from high-profile and well-funded venues and continue to fight for acknowledgment across all spaces they occupy.
“Michele Byrd-McPhee and Ladies of Hip-Hop have been working to create an intergenerational, lasting community in New York City for nearly 20 years. Their work is deeply rooted in the history of Hip-Hop and multi-generational community building. We are honored to support this work, learn from it, and share it with our community, and we are grateful to Michele for her trust, openness, and integrity as we embark upon this partnership.” – Alexandra Wells, Gibney Senior Director of Education & Gilbert T Small II, Gibney Company Director and Curatorial Consultant for Gibney’s Education Department
We are thrilled to share this partnership for the benefit of our collective communities. Stay tuned for upcoming events, along with the 2022 Ladies of Hip-Hop festival July 13-17.
ABOUT LADIES OF HIP-HOP
Ladies of Hip-Hop is a Black women-led non-profit dedicated to the empowerment of women and preservation of street and club dance forms. What started as local workshops in Philadelphia has transformed into a week-long festival gathering the global community to support and celebrate women in New York City. Ladies of Hip-Hop also hosts LDC, its own dance collective creating works that demonstrate the power of street and club dance styles. Over the last 18 years, Ladies of Hip-Hop has pioneered a movement of women leaders, ensuring the voice and experience of women in Hip-Hop are remembered.
ABOUT GIBNEY
Gibney’s Education Department, led by Senior Director of Education, Alexandra Wells, serves the current and holistic needs of adult dance artists, with consideration for the multiplicity of career expressions and entry points.
Through the cultivation of an inclusive and positive space, our offerings make space for exploration, risk-taking, personal and artistic growth, connection, and fun. It is our priority to listen to and support our community and to empower the future leaders of the field.
Gibney is a dance company, a performing arts hub, and a social action incubator located in New York City. Our artistically acclaimed and socially active Company of Artistic Associates performs works by renowned and rising contemporary choreographers. Gibney’s Community initiatives use art to prevent and move beyond violence 365 days a year. We are the steward of two beautiful locations comprising a vibrant performing art Center. Through expansive programming, we push boundaries, address pressing issues, lift voices, and mobilize the power of movement to transform lives and, in turn, change the world.
Photo by Loreto “Still1” Jamlig