INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS ART FESTIVAL
The Tank
312 West Thirty-Sixth St. between Eighth & Ninth Aves.
December 9-15, $25
humanrightsartmovement.org
thetanknyc.org
On December 10, 1948, the United Nations released the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which announces, “Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world . . . The General Assembly proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction.” The theme of Human Rights Day 2024 is “Our Rights, Our Future, Right Now.”
In 2017, in celebration of the UDHR, playwright, author, and visual artist Tom Block started the International Human Rights Art Festival; the inaugural event was scheduled to be held at St. Mary’s Church but was censored by Archbishop Cardinal Timothy Dolan and had to quickly search for a new venue. “I feel fortunate in that I am not beholden to a spiritual structure that tells me who is worthy of a voice and protection and who is not. We believe that all people share this right,” Block said at the time. “We will not pick and choose among our acts or our issues, allowing some while rejecting others.”
That statement of purpose has remained a driving force as the festival has expanded over the years, having presented more than two thousand artists from more than one hundred countries. The sixth annual iteration takes place December 9-15 at the Tank with twelve thematic programs exploring climate change, LGBTQIA+ rights, immigration, and other basic human rights through dance, music, and theater, consisting of sixty new shows from nearly two dozen countries; all tickets are $25. Below is the full schedule.
Monday, December 9
Ten Minute Play Festival: Kelly Burr’s Passed Tents, Abhisek Bhattacharya’s Catastrophe, Robert Galinsky’s Requiem for the Wretched, Monte D. Monteleagre’s You Can Untie Them the Guards Can’t Stop You, Zareh Artinian Jr.’s Today’s América, Equity Library Theater of New York’s Across the Lake, and Rhys Collins’s Angelic Virtues, 7:00
Tuesday, December 10
Pride Residency and Performance by WADE Dance: Gesture Theater’s WAITING / POINTING, John Trunfio’s Pools, Donald Lee’s Fragility Cycle, and Noel Olson’s Do You Still Believe?, 7:00
Wednesday, December 11
Celebration of Immigration: excerpts from Natie’s “HOME”: Oceans — Ter La, Taiwo Aloba’s A Very Nigerian Dream, Kenneth Keng’s Through, Al Evangelista’s echoes, and Between Us Theatre Co’s Access Denied, 7:00
Wednesday, December 11
Celebration of LGBTQIA+: Jill Ohayon & Ryan O’Dea’s Turbulence, Maddie Moayedi’s Infractions, Farm Arts Collective’s Lucy Joseph, and Justin Anthony Long’s BIG ASS SECRET, 8:30
Thursday, December 12
Celebration of Women: Zizi Majid and Logan Reed’s Will, Groove with Me’s Her, Catherine Cabeen’s . . . yet again, Addison Vaughn’s Non-Advice to a Boat, and Miranda Stück’s I AM, 7:00
Thursday, December 12
Climate Change Action: Sarah Congress & Emma Denson’s Melting, Madeleine Yu-Phelps’s Ǝverything Okay, JCWK Dance Lab’s Eroded, and Lee Harrison Daniel’s sylvia, beginning to end and onward, 8:30
Friday, December 13
Human beings are members of a whole: Melis Yesiller’s Ünzile, Cecilia Whalen’s Two solos and a duet, Tina Bararian’s Built on Kindness, and Valentina Bache’s “It boils the water within,” dance event curated by Tina Bararian, 7:00
Friday, December 13
IHRAF TRANSforms — Celebration of Trans Artists: Ryan Hung and Charlie Meyers’s Now Boarding, Boundless Theatre Company’s Translucent, and Rush Johnston/Kaleid Dance Collective’s Until It Gets Dark, 8:30
Saturday, December 14
Celebration of Human Rights I: Rachael Sage’s Under My Canopy, Alex Manaa & Vaheed Talebian’s Another Cousin’s Wedding, the Invitation Arts Collective’s MOTHER EARTH, LET ME BLOOM, WaveLab’s Wave: A Hydrofeminist Performance, Joshua Piper’s Pas de Deux, and Inara Arts’s We Rise, 3:00
Celebration of Human Rights II: Carolyn Dorfman Dance’s CRIES OF THE CHILDREN, Steph Prizhitomsky’s Divine Hotline, BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance’s p u r p l e f l a m e, Steve Kronovet’s Waterslides in the Middle East, and Lindsey Wilson’s The Blackbird Trilogy, 7:00
Sunday, December 15
What to do? An evening of dance curated by Charly Santagado, featuring Lucienne Parker’s The Wetting of 12pm, Nathan Forster & Michelle Lukac’s Maybe We’re Trash, Lavy and Christian Warner’s pussys beat, I say to you, Amen O Lord, and excerpts from IMGE Dance’s (heart)beat, 3:00
Ten Minute Performance Festival: Pritha Mukherji’s Musings of an International Student, Tova Hopemark’s Heirloom, Little Shadow Productions’s You Have Arrived, Saidharshana Dhantu’s Behind Closed Doors, Jaymie Bellous’s Moonlight Becomes You, and sarAika movement collective’s Skin Deep, 7:00
[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]