Queen Sofia Spanish Institute
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| Founded | June 9th, 1954 |
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| Type | Cultural institution |
| Location |
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| Product | Spanish cultural and language education |
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Key people
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Inmaculada de Habsburgo (President and CEO) Oscar de la Renta (Chairman) |
| Website | www.spanishinstitute.org |
The Queen Sofía Spanish Institute is an organization in New York City founded to promote the Spanish language and the culture of Spain. It is located on 684 Park Avenue in the former Oliver D. Filley House.
The Spanish Institute was founded in 1954. As the center for American-Spanish affairs, the institute organizes lectures, symposia and meetings to discuss economic, political and social issues. Language courses as well as exhibitions and cultural events related to Spain and Latin America are also offered. The institute was named in honor of Queen Sofía of Spain.
The president is Inmaculada de Habsburgo, younger daughter of Archduke Karl Pius of Austria.
The Spanish Institute Class Program has offered Spanish as a foreign language at all learning levels since 1968. Group classes are strictly limited to 12 students, thereby enabling full individual participation and a lively and elegant atmosphere. The instructors are native speakers with extensive teaching experience and hold advanced degrees in various fields. Outside the classroom, the students are encouraged to immerse themselves in Spanish and Latin American culture by participating in the Institute’s events and by facilitating their participation in field trips, readings, musical and dramatic performances, art exhibitions and restaurant events around New York City.
In winter 2011, the Spanish Institute Class Program, as part of a greater effort to expand the curriculum, introduced Sábados Sociales, new weekly programming meant to deepen current students’ immersion in the Spanish language and open up the possibility of participating in short-term Class Program workshops to prospective students who otherwise were unable to commit to a full course schedule. Structured as a social Spanish lesson, students and an instructor discuss a new topic each Saturday afternoon over wine and tapas.
Special Class Program Workshops offered in the past have included: ¡Me Gusta el Vino! Wine Appreciation Course for the Non-Expert, Relax & Learn! Yoga in Spanish, Accent reduction techniques, ¡A bailar! Approach to Latin rhythms, ¡Vamos al cine! Let's talk Hispanic movies, and others.
Queen Sofía Spanish Institute has maintained a strong commitment to the fine arts by exhibiting major masters and newly emerging artists from Spain, Latin America and Europe. Exhibitions on themes related to Spanish art and the Spanish tradition in the Americas are offered throughout the year at the Institute's two galleries. The Institute most recent cultural endeavor was an exhibition entitled Balenciaga:Spanish Master. This was the first exhibition to consider the impact of Spain’s culture, history and art on one of its greatest twentieth century sons, the legendary designer Cristóbal Balenciaga (1895–1972). Conceived of by our Chairman, Oscar de la Renta, and curated by Hamish Bowles, the exhibition drew on Balenciaga clothing and supporting historical and regional Spanish dress from museum and private collections in the United States, Canada, France and Spain. The exhibition and its accompanying catalogue focused on the influence of Balenciaga’s native country on the designer’s creative process and work, considered the influences on his designs of the country’s great artists, from Zurbarán and Goya to Picasso and Miró; significant Spanish works of art and decorative arts supported the curatorial thesis of the exhibition to create a compelling, lively, and dramatic vision of Spain in all its glory, and the work of its most masterful designer. The exhibition took place from November 17, 2010 to February 19, 2011.
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