Italian Heritage and Culture Month Committee of New York

"'New York's Italian Heritage and sex them is rooting [http://www.italyculturemonth.org italyculturemonth.org] has celebrated Italian culture and heritage with more than thirty years of special events, concerts, exhibits, lectures, and proclamations in New York. A wide range of Italian educational materials are distributed annually.

In 1976, Mayor Abraham Beame, of New York City, proclaimed the first Italian Culture Week. Nine years later, in 1985, the festivities moved to October, to coincide with the Columbus Day celebrations. By then, a week had become too short to contain the entire program, so Italian Culture Week became Italian Heritage and Culture Month.

This annual celebrations grew out of an idea from Dr. Angelo Gimondo, then President of the Italian Bilingual Educators Association and now Superintendent of School District 30 in New York City. Since then, this group of volunteers coordinate the celebration of Italian heritage and culture in the five boroughs of New York City.

Soon, after inception, the idea to dedicate each year's event to a specific theme or personality representative of the history and culture of Italy and Italian Americansevolved. [http://www.http://italyculturemonth.org/programs.htm Programs]

Themes

* 2008 Andrea Palladio 1508-1580: 500th Anniversary
* 2007 Giuseppe Garibaldi: Eroe Dei Due Mondi, Hero of Two Worlds;
* 2006 The Leonardo Da Vinci Legacy;
* 2005 Focus on Giuseppe Mazzini;
* 2004 Amerigo Vespucci;
* 2003 Focus on Italian Opera Celebrating The Centennial Enrico Caruso's Debut in America;
* 2002 Constantino Brumidi: Artist of the United States Capitol;
* 2001 Giuseppe Verdi: A Tribute to Italy's Patriotic Composer;
* 2000 Italy in the Year2000: Italian Heritage and Cultural Roots at the Threshold of the New Millennium;
* 1999 The Italians of New York: Five Centuries of Struggle and Achievement;
* 1998 New York City at100: Italian Americans Commemorate the Immigrant Experience (Patria e famiglia);
* 1997 The Voyages of Giovanni Caboto: 500th Anniversary;
* 1996 Italy and its Regions (L'Italia delle Regioni);
* 1995 Guglielmo Marconi: Centennial of the Radio;
* 1994 Italian Americans in Law: From Beccaria to Scalia;
* 1993 The Legacy of Italy's Artistic and Cultural Contributions to the World;
* 1992 Cristoforo Colombo 500th Anniversary: The Legacy Lives on;
* 1991 Italian Americans: The Legacy of Cristoforo Colombo;
* 1990 William Paca: Signer of the Declaration of Independence, Jurist, 3 times Governor of the State of Maryland;
* 1989 Italians Reaching Out: Antonio Meucci, Inventor of the Telephone, and Mother Cabrini, Missionary of the Immigrants;
* 1988 Lorenzo Da Ponte/Academia;
* 1987 Year of the U.S. Constitution: Mazzei and the Italian Contribution;
* 1986 Year of Lady Liberty;
* 1985 Building America;
* 1984 Year of the Etruscans;
* 1983 Italian Culture Week;
* 1982 Italian Culture Week;
* 1981 Italian Festival of the Arts;
* 1980 Italian Culture Week;
* 1979 Italian Culture Week;
* 1978 Italian Week, Board of Education of New York;
* 1977 Italian Culture Week;
* 1976 Italian Culture Week;

The Board of Directors of the Italian Heritage and Culture Committee of New York, Inc. is composed of eminent representatives of New York's Italian and Italian American community. Each year the Board of Directors selects a new theme and then proceeds to create educational materials including a theme poster, bookmarks brochures and other teaching aids, The Committee sponsors events and publishes a "Calendar of Events." The role of the Board of Directors has always been to promote, coordinate, and manage the month long celebration.

Today, a multitude of programs and events are organized by cultural associations, community centers, libraries, schools, and university departments of Italian in the New York metropolitan area to "Celebrate October … Italian Heritage and Culture Month."