ABOUT THE BLACK IRIS PROJECT
a premier ballet collaborative that champions new Black-centric works and arts education
Founded in 2016 by choreographer Jeremy McQueen, The Black Iris Project is a ballet collaborative and education vehicle which creates new, relevant classical and contemporary ballet works that celebrate diversity and Black history. Based in New York City, the project hosts a team of predominantly artists of color delivering cross-discipline and wholly original works. Championing individuality, the collaborative harnesses the Black community's inherent creative spirit to encourage and inspire youth of color to pursue art, movement and music as an expressive outlet and a means for collective healing. Since its inception, The BIP has been awarded generous support from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Ford Foundation, New Music USA, BET, Shea Moisture, CUNY Dance Initiative, and has been featured in the New York Times, Elle Magazine, Village Voice, Out Magazine, amongst other publications. Recently, the film adaptation of The BIP’s 2018 ballet A Mother’s Rite received a 2020 Emmy® Award nomination from The New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, and Pointe Magazine recognized our Houston, TX debut (Summer 2019) as one of the Standout Performances of 2019: Audience Favorites!
The Black Iris Project held its debut season on July 27 & 28, 2016 at New York Live Arts in New York City. Three original ballet works rooted in Black history were featured, highlighting a cast of predominantly Black dancers from world-class ballet companies. Most recently, The BIP was personally invited by American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer, Misty Copeland to perform MADIBA, a new ballet tracing the journey of Nelson Mandela, at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the Ballet Across America festival.
To date, BIP has brought together over a dozen artistic collaborators and 70 performers to create 9 original works for over 20 performances around the country.
Click here to view the Black Iris Project's 2016 debut season program.
VISION
By harnessing the Black community's inherent creative spirit, The Black Iris Project will encourage and inspire youth of color to pursue art, movement and music as an expressive outlet and means for collective healing, as well as educating audiences about how Black history relates to the modern
Black journey.
MISSION
The Black Iris Project's mission is threefold: create original ballets and arts education curriculums that directly address and celebrate diversity; provide a performance platform for Black artists to collaborate and share their personal stories with their respective communities; and provide ballet training to the Black community as a means of developing structure, focus and discipline through teamwork.