Performance Transcript: Opening Remarks for The Passion of Joan of Arc with organist Filip Presseisen

Kristen: Hello everyone, and welcome to Northrop. My name is Kristen Brogdon. I’m Northrop’s director of artistic and community programs, and I’m delighted to welcome you today, whether you’re here in person or joining us online. 

I’d like to begin with gratitude that this performance is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Northrop is part of a public university, rooted in Minnesota, and we are proud of and thankful for our place here. We also acknowledge that this place that many of us call home has a complex and layered history, and not everyone has been served and treated equally throughout that history. Northrop is located on contemporary, traditional, and ancestral homelands of Dakota people. We seek to show up in support of Native and Indigenous Artists, and land acknowledgement is one of the ways we educate our campus and community about our relationships with the land and each other. We are also responding to our history by welcoming EVERYONE to Northrop. You belong here, whether you’re here for the first time or have been attending for decades.

Let’s have a show of hands - how many of you are here at Northrop for the first time? Welcome. Regulars, thank you for your ongoing support, and please help us welcome our newcomers. We’re so glad you are all here in community together.

We’re very glad to have Filip Presseisen here at Northrop for this screening of The Passion of Joan of Arc. Filip will join me on stage for a Q&A after the film, and you can ask him all your questions about the organ and his playing. I hope you enjoy the performance and please join us in a warm Northrop welcome for Filip Presseisen and The Passion of Joan of Arc!