FUTURE 400 The Podcast

Wed, May 22 - Wed, Jul 3  2024

New York

FUTURE 400 is a bi-weekly four-part podcast series created in collaboration with The John Adams Institute. It is part of our FUTURE 400 initiative, marking the 400th anniversary of the founding of New Amsterdam, the city that became New York.

Each episode highlights a selection of the creative collaborations between artists, communities and institutions in both the Netherlands and the United States. Want to learn more about FUTURE 400? Just visit our FUTURE 400 page!

Episode 1: New York Before New York

This first episode of the FUTURE 400 podcast looks at New York when it was still New Amsterdam. When the Dutch colonists set foot on the island of Manhattan, four hundred years ago, there were already people living there: the Lenape. Historian Russell Shorto curated an exhibition for the New York Historical Society to tell the other stories about the town of New Amsterdam – and invited the Lenape to react with a powerful letter to an Unknown Ancestor, read by Brent Stonefish. And Pauline Toole, New York’s Commissioner of Records, tells us about the wonderful stories of real live people of many faiths and nationalities living in New Amsterdam that can be found in the 17th century archives.

Episode 2: From the Streets to the Heart

This second episode of the FUTURE 400 podcast looks at work by Dutch and American photographers who are part of the annual international photo festival Photoville in Lower Manhattan. Dutch photographer Ernst Coppejans delves deep into the lives of LGBTQIA+ people living on the streets in New York. Kennedi Carter, a young Black photographer from the South, dresses people of color in a combination of garb from colonial times and contemporary streetwear. Photoville’s founder Sam Barzilay says: “Even though they are an Atlantic apart, there is a shared sensibility here.”

Episode 3: Finding Family in Fashion

This third episode of the FUTURE 400 podcast highlights Rambler Studios. Design your look, design your life. Rambler Studios is a creative platform for raw talent. It offers young people a safe space where they can discover what they’re good at and find a sense of belonging – and maybe a career in street fashion. Started by Carmen van der Vecht in Amsterdam in 2010, it has branched out to New York’s Lower East Side. It operates there under the wings of the Henry Street Settlement, a philanthropic institution dating back to the late 1800’s. In the same basement in a social housing project where he himself learned to sew, fashion coach Andres Biel helps kids create and market their own ideas – “with some help from TikTok!”.

Episode 4: Wolves and Kings

This fourth and last episode of the FUTURE 400 podcast is all about theater and dance. Battery Dance, New York City’s longest running public dance festival, is hosting the Dutch-Turkish choreographer Rutkay Özpinar from Korzo Theater as part of the Future 400 exchange. And the Dutch theater director Ira Kip is working on her new play, Kings… Come Home a reflection the impact of being uprooted, which will go to the National Black Theater and the Apollo Theater in New York. Both Kip and Özpinar are searching for a global conversation that brings disparate cultures and histories together on the stage. “The reason why we dance is not just the music,” says Rutkay. “In every culture you can find dance, from a prayer to a celebration.”