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STATUE OF LIBERTY MUSEUM OPENING
CELEBRATION FEATURED
KEYNOTE ADDRESS FROM OPRAH WINFREY
AND LIVE PERFORMANCES BY GLORIA ESTEFAN AND TONY BENNETT
*****
SETH MEYERS HOSTED THE EVENT, THE 500+ GUESTS
INCLUDED
DIANE VON FURSTENBERG & BARRY DILLER, MICHAEL
BLOOMBERG, JEFF BEZOS, DAVID LETTERMAN, CHELSEA CLINTON &
MARC MAZVINSKY, JOHNNY GALECKI, STEPHEN BRIGANTI,
EDWIN SCHLOSSBERG & CAROLINE
KENNEDY, NICHOLAS GARRISON, AND DOUGLAS PHELPS
***
Opening Celebration presented by Liberty
Mutual Insurance
May 15, 2019 (New
York, NY) -- The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation,
Inc. tonight hosted the opening celebration for the Statue
of Liberty Museum on Liberty Island, where Oprah
Winfrey received the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island
Award and delivered the keynote address, and Gloria
Estefan and Tony Bennett performed
live. The museum, which celebrates the Statue of Liberty’s
history, influence, and legacy in the world, and gives
visitors an opportunity to get an up-close view of the
Statue’s original torch, opens to the public on the
afternoon of May 16, 2019, immediately following a
dedication ceremony.
Seth
Meyers served
as master of ceremonies for a crowd of more than 500
business, civic, cultural, and philanthropic leaders
including The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation
President and CEO Stephen Briganti, The
Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation campaign
chairperson Diane von Furstenberg & Barry Diller,
Michael Bloomberg, Jeff Bezos, David Letterman, Gayle King,
Andy Cohen, Chelsea Clinton & Marc Mazvinsky, Edwin
Schlossberg & Caroline Kennedy, Johnny Galecki, Nicky Hilton
Rothschild, David Copperfield, Julie Taymor, Ann & Andrew
Tisch, Huma Abedin, Marie Chantal, Bennett Miller, Fenton
Bailey, Randy Barbato, Dasha Zhukova, Derek Blasberg, Dustin
Yellin, Ricky Van Veen, Tina Brown, Wendi Murdoch, Chiara
Ferragamo, Nicholas Garrison, Douglas Phelps, Emily
Rafferty, and Fred
Dixon.
To coincide with
the opening of the Statue of Liberty Museum, the Foundation
presented the inaugural Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Award
to Oprah Winfrey. The award, forged from original materials
from both monuments, recognizes
Ms. Winfrey’s contributions to the American experience and
the global struggle for liberty and freedom.
“Tonight is a
momentous occasion that forever ensures that the history,
meaning, and significance of the Statue of Liberty will be
passed down for generations to come,” said Stephen Briganti,
President and CEO of The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island
Foundation. “The opening of this museum is the latest
milestone in the Statue’s history, and the Foundation is
thrilled to celebrate this moment with the people who
brought this dream to fruition.”
“It has been an
honor and a privilege to be involved in making the Statue of
Liberty Museum a reality,” said Diane von Furstenberg,
Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation board member and
Chairperson of the Statue of Liberty Museum Campaign. “I’ve
discovered that She truly has the power to make things
happen. She has a magic torch and it has been an exciting
journey to uncover Her history and share it with others.”
The opening
celebration of the new Statue of Liberty Museum was
presented by Liberty Mutual Insurance. To commemorate the
event, Liberty Mutual also commissioned a poem by United
States Poet Laureate Tracy K. Smith(2017-2019)
as a gift to The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation
and the museum. A video of Smith reading the poem, called
“Harbor,” was played for guests.
“Lady Liberty has been our company’s proud
symbol for nearly a century and represents our lasting
mission to help people embrace today and confidently pursue
tomorrow,” said Tim Sweeney, President,
Global Retail Markets at Liberty Mutual Insurance, and Board
member of The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island
Foundation. “It
was an honor to commission United States Poet Laureate Tracy
K. Smith to write a piece to commemorate the opening of the
Museum, and the resulting ‘Harbor’ embodies a sense of
communion and community across all forms of difference.”
The 26,000 square
foot museum features three gallery spaces, each one meant to
inspire visitors and educate them about the Statue of
Liberty in interactive and thought-provoking ways. The
experience culminates with an up-close view of Liberty’s
most iconic symbol, her original torch, held high for nearly
100 years. Rescued from the elements and replaced in 1986,
the torch is the most powerful artifact visitors encounter
as they reach the end of the museum experience. The
museum was conceived as a garden pavilion that would add to
the experience of all visitors to Liberty Island, regardless
of age or nationality. Merging landscape and building, the
new museum’s roof is planted with native meadow grasses and
offers visitors sweeping, panoramic views of Lady Liberty,
lower Manhattan, and all of New York Harbor. Access to the
museum is free with the purchase of a Statue Cruises ferry
ticket to Liberty and Ellis Islands.
For more
information about the Statue of Liberty Museum or visiting
Liberty Island go to statueoflibertymuseum.org and
follow the Foundation on social
media at Facebook.com/StatueEllisFdn,
Twitter @StatueEllisFdn,
and Instagram @StatueEllisFdn.
ABOUT THE
STATUE OF LIBERTY-ELLIS ISLAND FOUNDATION, INC.
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. is a
non-profit organization established in 1982 to raise funds
for and oversee the historic restoration and preservation of
the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. For more than 35
years the Foundation has collaborated with the U.S.
Department of the Interior/National Park Service in what has
become one of the most successful public-private partnership
in U.S. history, having raised hundreds of millions of
dollars. In addition to restoring the monuments, the
Foundation created museums on both islands, The American
Immigrant Wall of Honor®, the American Family Immigration
History Center® and The Peopling of America Center®, which
in 2015 transformed the museum on Ellis Island into the
Ellis Island National Museum of Immigration. The Foundation
oversaw the fundraising and construction of the new Statue
of Liberty Museum which opened in May 2019. The
organization’s endowment has funded over 200 projects that
support these national treasures. |