The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
Garden offers space for healing
Louisville Ballet site in response to 2023 shooting
The Louisville Ballet has unveiled a new community garden outside their headquarters in downtown Louisville, intended to provide a space to heal from the anxiety caused by the Old National Bank shooting in 2023. ● The garden, unveiled Wednesday at 315 E. Main St., comes as a result of the company looking for ways to offer its dancers and staff a chance to heal from the aftermath of the shooting, since the studio is next door to the Preston Pointe building where five people were killed. ● “One of our expansive studio windows looks directly into the Old National space, and every time we pull into the parking lot or dancers take class, we look directly at the building,” Louisville Ballet CEO Leslie Smart said.
Gov. Andy Beshear was present for the unveiling, calling the space “a place where we can reflect on what was lost and move forward with love and care for each other.”
“Our lives were forever changed by an unthinkable act of violence in Louisville that shook me, this community, and the commonwealth to our core,” Beshear said. “The new Louisville Ballet Healing Garden is a beautiful way for our community to come together and heal.”
Greenberg added, “This garden is a sacred space in the perfect spot for reflection and restoration. We owe the Louisville Ballet and their generous partners a debt of gratitude for providing our community with beauty — first on stage and now here.”
After the concept came up through sessions with
“The new Louisville Ballet Healing Garden is a beautiful way for our community to come together and heal.” Gov. Andy Beshear
a social worker, the company worked with awardwinning Kentucky landscaper Jon Carloftis to help create the garden. The space has a Gallopalooza horse, with a design inspired by the Waltz of the Flowers from “The Brown-Forman Nutcracker,” designed by Andy Perez.
The garden is free and open to the public.