Latest news with #MuseumoftheCityofNewYork
Yahoo
30-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Queens mom beaten brutally beaten on Randalls Island improving but still critical: family
The Queens single mother of two prosecutors say was brutally beaten on Randalls Island by an ex-con out on parole is improving but remains unconscious and in critical condition, her family said Friday. 'She's a little bit better,' 44-year-old victim Diana Agudelo's daughter Stephanie Rodas said. ''The doctor just told me to take it day by day. They don't really tell me anything long term.' Doctors have begun weaning Agudelo off medications meant to reduce the swelling in her brain to see if it will go down on its own, Rodas said. 'She had a drain on her head that would drain out the excess blood that would come out. They took out one of the drains,' Rodas added. Agudelo was biking home from her job as a janitor at an East Harlem museum on May 16, taking her usual short cut through Randalls Island to get to her Astoria apartment, when 30-year-old parolee and registered sex offender Miguel Jiraud viciously attacked her, repeatedly beating her in the head before taking off with her e-bike, according to prosecutors. The victim lay unconscious in a grassy area near the 103rd St. footbridge for nearly six hours until Jiraud, posing as a good Samaritan called police at about 5:15 a.m. the next morning, alerting them he discovered the wounded woman, prosecutors said. Rodas, and her 22-year-old brother have been at their mother's bedside at Elmhurst Hospital ever since, holding on to hope that she will improve. Last week doctors told the family that Agudelo had a '99% chance mortality rate with her injuries.' Even if all goes well, doctors said she will lose all or most of her ability to move the right side of her body and will be blind in the top of her right eye. She will also have memory issues, the extent of which is not clear. Rodas said Friday that her mother is beginning to look more like herself again. Initially, Agudelo was 'so swollen' that Rodas could hardly recognize her. 'She's looking better. Her [external] swelling has been going down,' Rodas said. 'It feels good to see. It's mostly external. Internal [swelling] we don't really know.' Agudelo's co-workers at the Museum of the City of New York have created a GoFundMe that has quickly raised more than $75,000 for her continued medical care. When asked Friday what she'd tell New Yorkers, Rodas said, 'Just to continue thinking of my mom and to thank them for all the prayers that they have sent my mother's way.'
New York Post
24-05-2025
- New York Post
Con who left beaten mom on NYC shoreline caught on video after the attack with wet clothes, boots: Prosecutors
The convicted rapist accused of beating a woman nearly to death near the Randall's Island shoreline was allegedly caught on camera with wet jeans and boots after the attack, prosecutors said. Miguel Jiraud, who is being held without bail in the brutal May 16 attack on Diana Agudelo, was caught on surveillance video apparently throwing the victim's e-bike into the Harlem River at 11:36 p.m. the day of the attack — roughly six minutes after she left her job at the Museum of the City of New York, according to a criminal complaint. Jiraud, 30, allegedly ambushed and savagely beat Agudelo, 44, as she rode the e-bike down an isolated path near East 125th Street on Randall's Island, leaving her clinging to life, sources and prosecutors said. Advertisement Fifteen minutes after he appeared to throw the bike into the water, Girard was seen on other footage approaching the HELP USA Keener homeless shelter at 64 Sunken Garden Loop from the direction of the shoreline where the e-bike was thrown, according to the complaint. 'I then observed the defendant enter the shelter,' an NYPD officer wrote in the complaint. 'I observed that the defendant was wearing a light colored/beige sweater with the word 'ESSENTIALS' printed on the front, light colored jeans that appeared to be wet on the buttocks, and work/Timberland boots that appeared wet.' 5 The victim was riding her bike on Randall's Island when she was allegedly attacked by a violent sex offender who had previously served 12 years for rape. Sinan – Advertisement Jiraud's GPS ankle monitor, which was a condition of his parole after serving 12 years in prison for rape, shows he made a beeline on the e-bike – up to 16 mph – to the shoreline. The bike was later recovered by SCUBA divers in the water. The 44-year-old victim was found between the rocks on the shoreline just north of the bridge early the next morning. Jiraud's GPS also puts him in the area where the victim was found, according to a criminal complaint. 5 Victim Diana Agudelo, of Astoria, with daughter, Stephanie, was allegedly attacked by a violent sex offender on May 16 as she was biking home from work. famly handout Advertisement 5 Attack victim Diana Agudelo, 44, was biking home from her job at the City Museum of New York in Manhattan. famly handout Agudelo was taken to Elmhurst Hospital and remains hospitalized with 'multiple brain bleeds, multiple skull fractures, a brain shift, abrasions and cuts on her back, and a penetrating wound to her left temple,' authorities said in the criminal complaint. She may not regain consciousness, authorities said. Her heartbroken daughter, Stephanie Rodas, said Friday she needed two surgeries, including one in which doctors removed part of her brain aht had been detached. Advertisement 5 Jiraud was led from the 25 Precinct station house to a car by detectives who took him to criminal court. Matthew McDermott 5 Jiraud, who is listed in the Sex Offender Registry, was captured on surveillance video entering a homeless shelter near the crime scene wearing wet pants and boots. New York Division of Criminal Justice Services 'They were almost about to do another surgery on her, a third, but it would have been deadly at this point,' the heartbroken 21-year-old said, adding that the doctors were putting her mom on medication to stop her brain activity. Jiraud, who called 911 himself to report the attack, was sent to Rikers Island without bail on an attempted murder charge Friday night. The violent sex offender, previously went to prison for 12 years for raping a woman in the Bronx in 2011. He was sprung on parole last year.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
New York City Rallies Behind Iconic Museum of the City of New York for First Annual Gotham Dreams Gala
Gala to Honor Candace Bushnell, Carmelo Anthony, and John McEnroe to Celebrate the Unifying Impact of Sports, Media, and Entertainment on New York City NEW YORK, May 15, 2025--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) is pleased to announce its first annual Gotham Dreams gala, taking place on Wednesday, June 11, 2025, at Cipriani 42nd Street. This year's celebration will spotlight the unifying impact of sports, media, and entertainment in shaping the identity of the greatest city in the world. The Museum will honor Candace Bushnell, bestselling author, producer, and creator of Sex and the City, for her profound influence on New York City's cultural landscape; Carmelo Anthony, the Brooklyn-born, 10-time NBA All-Star, Naismith Hall of Fame Class of 2025 inductee, entrepreneur, and philanthropist whose impact extends far beyond the basketball court; and John McEnroe, Hall of Fame tennis legend, New York Times #1 Best Seller, and philanthropist celebrated for his passion and excellence, both on and off the court. "We are proud to celebrate the vibrant role that sports, media, and entertainment play in bringing New Yorkers together," said Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, the Ronay Menschel Director and President of the Museum of the City of New York. "New York is the perfect backdrop to honor Candace Bushnell, Carmelo Anthony, and John McEnroe—each of whom has helped define the city's spirit through creativity, talent, and passion." "We're thrilled to unite passionate New Yorkers who believe in celebrating our city's rich past while boldly shaping its future," said Matt Brown, Board Chair of the Museum of the City of New York. "Together, we're not just preserving history—we're making it." The gala will convene a powerful coalition of corporate sponsors across New York's business and cultural communities including Apollo Global Management, Ares Management, Atlantic Investment Management, Avenue Capital Group, Bank of America, Blue Owl Capital, Brightstar Capital Partners, CAIS, Calamos Investments, Carlyle, Citco group of companies (Citco), Consello, Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Ernst & Young, Fortress Investment Group, Franklin Templeton Investments, FT Partners, GEM, GoldenTree Asset Management, Golub Capital, Grafine Partners, Hamilton Lane, Kinderhook Industries, Monroe Capital, MontaRosa, Morgan Stanley Global Sports & Entertainment, Newmark, Oak Hill Advisors, Partners Group, Prosek Partners, RBC, Silvercrest Asset Management, Sound Point Capital, Stone Point Capital, TPG Inc., Vista Equity Partners, and William Morris Endeavor. "I've always believed New York City is where dreams are born—and where they come true," said Candace Bushnell. "It's a pleasure to be recognized by the Museum of the City of New York, a place that tells the stories of this remarkable city with brilliance and heart." "New York is home – it's where I've poured my blood, sweat, and tears," said Carmelo Anthony. "The community here has always been my driving force and being recognized by the Museum of the City of New York, in the very place that shaped me, inspired me, and continues to support me, is a true honor." "To be honored by the Museum of the City of New York—a place that celebrates my home city and what I believe to be the greatest city in the world, is very exciting to me," said John McEnroe. The Gotham Dreams Co-Chairs include Christy and Ed Burns, Chris Brown, Marisa and Matt Brown, Cynthia and Bernard Curry III, Patricia and Alexander Farman-Farmaian, Ayla and Antonio Farnos, Meredith and Brian Feurtado, Elizabeth and Robert Jeffe, Cindy and Stephen Ketchum, Tracey and Kenneth Pontarelli, Ronay and Richard Menschel, Toby Milstein Schulman and Judah Schulman, Margaret Sung and Michael Schmidtberger, and Heather and Bill Vrattos. Proceeds from Gotham Dreams will support the Museum's public programs and educational initiatives that serve tens of thousands of New York City students and families each year, as well as its groundbreaking exhibition program—exemplified by critically acclaimed shows like Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection, Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor, You Are Here: An Immersive Film Exhibition, and New York at Its Core. For more information, please visit About the Museum of the City of New York The Museum of the City of New York celebrates and interprets the city's history, art, popular culture, and civic life, highlighting New York's influence worldwide. Founded in 1923 as a private, nonprofit corporation, the Museum serves 200,000 visitors from around the world through exhibitions, school and public programs, publications, and collections. View source version on Contacts Chris Gormancgorman@ 917.492.3482
Business Wire
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Business Wire
New York City Rallies Behind Iconic Museum of the City of New York for First Annual Gotham Dreams Gala
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Museum of the City of New York (MCNY) is pleased to announce its first annual Gotham Dreams gala, taking place on , at Cipriani 42 nd Street. This year's celebration will spotlight the unifying impact of sports, media, and entertainment in shaping the identity of the greatest city in the world. The Museum will honor Candace Bushnell, bestselling author, producer, and creator of Sex and the City, for her profound influence on New York City's cultural landscape; Carmelo Anthony, the Brooklyn-born, 10-time NBA All-Star, Naismith Hall of Fame Class of 2025 inductee, entrepreneur, and philanthropist whose impact extends far beyond the basketball court; and John McEnroe, Hall of Fame tennis legend, New York Times #1 Best Seller, and philanthropist celebrated for his passion and excellence, both on and off the court. 'We are proud to celebrate the vibrant role that sports, media, and entertainment play in bringing New Yorkers together,' said Stephanie Hill Wilchfort, the Ronay Menschel Director and President of the Museum of the City of New York. 'New York is the perfect backdrop to honor Candace Bushnell, Carmelo Anthony, and John McEnroe—each of whom has helped define the city's spirit through creativity, talent, and passion.' 'We're thrilled to unite passionate New Yorkers who believe in celebrating our city's rich past while boldly shaping its future," said Matt Brown, Board Chair of the Museum of the City of New York. "Together, we're not just preserving history—we're making it." The gala will convene a powerful coalition of corporate sponsors across New York's business and cultural communities including Apollo Global Management, Ares Management, Atlantic Investment Management, Avenue Capital Group, Bank of America, Blue Owl Capital, Brightstar Capital Partners, CAIS, Calamos Investments, Carlyle, Citco group of companies (Citco), Consello, Davidson Kempner Capital Management, Ernst & Young, Fortress Investment Group, Franklin Templeton Investments, FT Partners, GEM, GoldenTree Asset Management, Golub Capital, Grafine Partners, Hamilton Lane, Kinderhook Industries, Monroe Capital, MontaRosa, Morgan Stanley Global Sports & Entertainment, Newmark, Oak Hill Advisors, Partners Group, Prosek Partners, RBC, Silvercrest Asset Management, Sound Point Capital, Stone Point Capital, TPG Inc., Vista Equity Partners, and William Morris Endeavor. 'I've always believed New York City is where dreams are born—and where they come true,' said Candace Bushnell. 'It's a pleasure to be recognized by the Museum of the City of New York, a place that tells the stories of this remarkable city with brilliance and heart.' 'New York is home – it's where I've poured my blood, sweat, and tears,' said Carmelo Anthony. 'The community here has always been my driving force and being recognized by the Museum of the City of New York, in the very place that shaped me, inspired me, and continues to support me, is a true honor.' 'To be honored by the Museum of the City of New York—a place that celebrates my home city and what I believe to be the greatest city in the world, is very exciting to me,' said John McEnroe. The Gotham Dreams Co-Chairs include Christy and Ed Burns, Chris Brown, Marisa and Matt Brown, Cynthia and Bernard Curry III, Patricia and Alexander Farman-Farmaian, Ayla and Antonio Farnos, Meredith and Brian Feurtado, Elizabeth and Robert Jeffe, Cindy and Stephen Ketchum, Tracey and Kenneth Pontarelli, Ronay and Richard Menschel, Toby Milstein Schulman and Judah Schulman, Margaret Sung and Michael Schmidtberger, and Heather and Bill Vrattos. Proceeds from Gotham Dreams will support the Museum's public programs and educational initiatives that serve tens of thousands of New York City students and families each year, as well as its groundbreaking exhibition program—exemplified by critically acclaimed shows like Above Ground: Art from the Martin Wong Graffiti Collection, Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor, You Are Here: An Immersive Film Exhibition, and New York at Its Core. For more information, please visit The Museum of the City of New York celebrates and interprets the city's history, art, popular culture, and civic life, highlighting New York's influence worldwide. Founded in 1923 as a private, nonprofit corporation, the Museum serves 200,000 visitors from around the world through exhibitions, school and public programs, publications, and collections.
New York Times
28-04-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
New York City's Creative Churn: The View From the Dance Floor
Ever wanted to do the Lindy Hop as it was swung at the Savoy Ballroom in the 1930s? To rock your hips through the mambo like dancers at the Palladium Ballroom in the '50s? To pose as if in a vogue battle of the '80s? All in a museum? Now's your chance. Need a lesson? The Museum of the City of New York has you covered there, too. In 'Urban Stomp: Dreams & Defiance on the Dance Floor,' you can choose a record and put it on a turntable. So far, so ordinary. But wait. Here, spinning the record doesn't just cue music. People — in video form — appear all around you, dancing and inviting you to join them. The exhibition, which guides visitors through some 200 years of social dance in New York City, includes all the artifacts, photographs, wall text and video footage that you might expect in a museum show. But scattered throughout are also video monitors featuring friendly experts who teach the basics of various dance styles. The video-interactive dance floor comes at the end of the show, and the idea is that by the time you arrive there, you know a little something. This unusual approach derives from the show's subject. On the surface, 'Urban Stomp' is about New York City as an incubator — 'for either the creation of new dances or borrowing dances from other places and creating something new,' said Sarah Henry, the museum's chief curator. But at a deeper level, it's about what Henry called 'the constant churn and creativity of New York.' 'The remixing, mashing up, a conversation of mutual influence that goes back to the 19th century, the promise of the city — all that is embodied on the dance floor,' Henry said. The first tutorial video introduces early 20th-century ballroom dances popularized by Vernon and Irene Castle, white influencers of their day who borrowed from Black dances and collaborated with the Black ragtime musician James Reese Europe. A nearby vitrine has a few of the Castles' instruction manuals and a lock of Irene's hair, cut when she made the bob fashionable. You can look at those relics and then learn how to dance the fox trot and the Castle Walk. Participation is built into the exhibition because the museum is trying to be more experiential, but also because the subject is dance. 'One of the things we're trying to solve,' Henry said, 'is how to do justice to dancing in an exhibition. It doesn't stay still. You can't just put it in a box.' The goal, she added, is a kind of 'alchemy between the inert stuff that is quite eloquent': an invitation to the 1860 Prince of Wales ball; a collage of fliers and tickets for salsa clubs; 'and things that have three dimensions and bring the body into space' — the trumpets of Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis, Celia Cruz's platform heels, Big Daddy Kane's flashy track suit. 'That's the closest we can get to bringing those people here, and combined with historical footage and the instructional videos, you get the best chance of it coming to life.' And if the dancing comes to life, so do the exhibition's themes. As the scholar Derek L. Washington, the show's other curator, put it, 'The dance floor is a space where people are forming and reforming ideas about identity, race and gender. It's about migration, immigration, a form of storytelling for people who might have been marginalized.' In a sense, 'Urban Stomp' is an expansion of 'Rhythm & Power: Salsa in New York,' which Washington curated at the museum in 2017. That show focused on the mixture of Afro-Caribbean and European music and dance that was clumped under the umbrella term salsa in the 1960s. It looked at the influx of Puerto Rican immigrants in the 1950s and at salsa's predecessor in the Afro-Cuban mambo craze of that time. (The show was bilingual, as is 'Urban Stomp.') After the salsa show, Washington turned to a community-based project called 'Urban Stomp: From Swing to Mambo,' which extended the story back to swing jazz and swing dances, like the Charleston and the Lindy Hop, largely developed by Black residents of Harlem in the 1920s and '30s. The 'Urban Stomp' exhibition, stretching back into the 19th century and forward into the present, makes more connections, including the bachata and merengue of the Dominicans whose numbers surged in the 1980s and are now the city's largest immigrant group. A section near the end clusters vogue, hip-hop and the hustle: three genres that originated around the same time (the 1960s to the '80s) in some of the same neighborhoods (Harlem and the Bronx) 'Vogue and hip-hop and the hustle are in conversation with earlier balls,' Washington said. 'Finding and creating spaces to dance, different ways of being inclusive or exclusive, different costumes and regalia.' Giving a tour of the exhibition, Washington pointed out a dress worn at Studio 54 in the 1970s and how it resembled a tango dress in another gallery, worn by Irene Castle some 60 years before. 'The changing same,' he said. Similarly, a visitor following the tutorials might notice a step learned in the swing section recurring under a different name in the hip-hop part. Washington stressed how carefully the show attends to many kinds of diversity. Gender, race and ethnicity, of course. But there's also diversity of age, borough and body type. The tutorials, as brief and basic as they are, also reveal diversity within each dance form: the many varieties of salsa or vogue and the distinctions among them (Salsa On2, Vogue Femme) or the hip-hop party dances of several generations (the Cabbage Patch, the Sturdy). Most important, Washington said, was the input of leaders from each dance community. The lessons in vogue are taught by LeFierce LaBeija of the Royal House of LaBeija. Founded by Crystal LaBeija in 1972, this Royal House was the first of the ballroom houses — homes and chosen families for queer people of color. 'We are so proud to have 10 months to display who we are and what we are about,' said Jeffrey Bryant, the global overall overseer of the Royal House of LaBeija. Being in the museum, he added, 'is a radical statement to say, 'We are here and we are getting our just due.'' 'A lot of our culture is now in pop society,' he said. 'We don't mind you guys admiring it, but we would like you to know that there is a valid history. We want to take advantage of the platform to give people a little more education.' As an example, Bryant offered the swanning drops to the floor called dips: 'I would like it to be stated that Kiddie Liddah LaBeija' — Bryant's house name — 'said that it is not called the Death Drop and it is definitely not called a Shablam. It is called a dip.' Karel Flores, one of the show's salsa instructors, said that Afro-Latin dances like salsa 'are often not even part of the conversation,' when dance history is presented. 'This is a real step forward, for us to be given the place that we deserve.' Although the exhibition can't be exhaustive, it squeezes in many more dances in a final section called 'Traditions Remixed.' Gathered here are newer city combinations: the Columbia cumbia that branched off into a New York style, the Punjabi bhangra that mixed in hip-hop, Chinatown block parties. A sign from the Urban Contradance scene reads: 'Anyone Can Ask Anyone to Dance.' 'What connects from the beginning of the show to the end,' Henry said, 'is that there's no fixed thing that is dance in New York. There never was and there never will be.' But what draws the most attention in the final room is the dance floor, inviting with its music and moving bodies, virtual or living. 'People love the dance floor,' Washington said. 'And people mingling with other people in other dance communities is the whole idea.' During the opening reception, he said, a multiethnic group of visitors danced the dabke, a form shared by several Middle Eastern peoples. 'They recorded it and sent it all over, as if to say, 'This is how the world could be if we were just able to dance with each other for a moment.' Connected events encourage even more sharing and mixing. On April 12, there was a salsa party with live music. A vogue ball will be held on May 16, with additional events and classes in the works. And, until 'Urban Stomp' closes in February, there is that dance floor. Henry was standing next to it recently when a visitor who didn't know she worked at the museum approached her. 'You can get out there,' the visitor told her. 'Everybody can dance.'
