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NEWS
Amalia Cosmetatou, 
Executive Director of the Onassis Foundation USA
This year's four-day Onassis Festival Antigone Now attracted large audiences and managed to communicate the essence of ancient tragedy in a modern context. How would you evaluate its impact in New York's cultural scene?

As with the inaugural 2015 festival Narcissus Now, we take the classical tradition as a point of departure and bring the conversation to the present. The second annual Onassis Festival NY, Antigone Now, explored contemporary interpretations of the ancient story of Antigone through different art forms—visual and performing arts, performance works, humanities, family activities, and digital media. 
 

We aim to promote a deeper understanding of the ways in which ancient Greek culture has shaped and enriched our modern value systems. With innovative programming and newly commissioned works that bring together Greek and American artists and thought leaders, we wish to engage very diverse audiences of all ages. 

The editor of Hyperallergic, Seth Rodney, commented on the opening night performance: “It was a wise decision to ask Carrie Mae Weems to carry forward the conversations precipitated by Antigone at this festival that declares its investment in promoting Hellenic culture. And it seems that indeed one way for that culture to have purchase in contemporary issues is to join hands with current makers who engage these ancient dramas at the level of metaphor. That is how Antigone continues to speak to us. In that quest for survival is where we find common cause.”

Our audience surveys show that we are reaching new people excited to engage with our contemporary programming. Seven out of ten festival visitors were new to the Onassis Cultural Center New York since its reopening in 2015. The data also demonstrated that visitors were younger by 15 years compared to attendees at the Narcissus Now festival. 

The exhibition Gods and Mortals about the ancient city of Dion in Macedonia inaugurated your renovated cultural space at the Olympic Tower. What should we expect for 2017?

We are very proud of Gods and Mortals at Olympus: Ancient Dion, City of Zeus, an exhibition curated by Professor Dimitris Pandermalis, President of the Acropolis Museum and Director of Excavations at Dion, which brought to life the mythical Mount Olympus in the heart of Manhattan. Holland Cotter, senior art critic at the New York Times, called the exhibition “magical.” 
 

Our next exhibition, opening on March 9th and on view until June 24, 2017, A World of Emotions: Ancient Greece 700 BC – 200 AD, will bring to life the emotions of the people of ancient Greece, prompting questions about how we express, control, manipulate, or simulate feelings in our own society. It consists of 130 masterpieces from leading museums including the Acropolis Museum, the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, the Louvre, the British Museum, the Vatican Museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and many others. The exhibition is curated by Angelos Chaniotis, Professor of Ancient History and Classics, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton; Nikolaos Kaltsas, Director Emeritus, National Archaeological Museum, Athens; and Ioannis Mylonopoulos, Associate Professor of Ancient Greek Art and Archaeology, Columbia University. 

The exhibition will be accompanied by a multi-disciplinary catalogue and a schedule of gallery talks, school visits, and public programs, including our peripatetic conversation series, Let’s Walk, where archaeology meets philosophy. Family Sundays at Onassis will be held on a monthly basis during the exhibition with engaging interactive tours and fun activities for children. We will also explore the themes of the exhibition through the off-site programs in partnership with BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) and LIVE from the NYPL (New York Public Library). And there’s much more. Please stay tuned for more programs and events surrounding the exhibition.

There is also a special online initiative recently launched, #iSTANDfor, which aims to broaden the Onassis Foundation USA’s digital reach globally. Is this the way to motivate younger audiences and get them attracted to cultural and social issues?

The iSTANDfor campaign was born from the story of Antigone, a teenager who stood up for what she believed was morally right. We created this online platform to inspire and engage young people to stand up for what they believe in and be catalysts for change. It is yet another way of celebrating the work of the modern-day Antigones and exploring the many ways in which an individual can take a stand to affect positive change in the world, by promoting open dialogue and unity, values that are at the core of our mission.
 

The iSTANDfor campaign is active and we encourage your readers to participate by posting what they stand for on their social media accounts (Instagram, Twitter, Facebook) using the hashtag #iSTANDfor. All posts are featured on the campaign website www.istandfor.net

How do you envision the Onassis Foundation USA’s role in promoting the values and spirit of Hellenism in America?  

With a renewed emphasis on the present, and through our cultural and academic programs, we explore Greek culture from antiquity to today. Led by President Anthony Papadimitriou, our Foundation creates an open forum for original and creative thought about our classical heritage and its relevance today and highlights the importance of the humanities in today’s world. We promote Greek scholarship and innovation, and showcase the work of Greek artists on an international stage. We also place increasing emphasis in family programs so as to inspire the philhellenes of tomorrow. 
 

For the sake of your readers, it’s important to add that all our programs are free and open to the public, and are accessible online at onassisusa.org

Amalia Cosmetatou is the Executive Director of the Onassis Foundation USA. She is also serving as its Cultural Director, a position she has held since the organization’s inception in 2000. She has been responsible for over 15 major art exhibitions and publications, over 100 cultural events, and many new cultural and educational initiatives. Amalia has established partnerships with major American and Greek cultural institutions and brings a new vision to the Foundation and its Onassis Cultural Center New York focused on the contemporary relevance of Hellenic culture and its contribution to the humanities, arts and sciences. Previously, she worked at Christies and the National Gallery in Athens, and was an art consultant for private banks and art galleries in Greece.
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