A CULTURAL EVENING

Women of
the Air Age.

Music, memory & the women
who changed the future.

WITH KATE BROUG & DR. ELAINE KWON

LIVE MUSIC · DOCUMENTARY FILM · HISTORICAL OBJECTS · STORYTELLINGNEW YORK CITY / PLANNED FOR 2027

Who do we choose
to remember?

Women of the Air Age is a cultural evening commemorating women whose service, creativity and determination helped shape the world during the Second World War.

During WWII, the Women Airforce Service Pilots flew military aircraft across the United States, undertaking dangerous assignments that freed male pilots for combat duty. At the same time, American composer Dana Suesse was writing music that captured the spirit of her age.

Their fields were different. Their talent and determination challenged the expectations of their time. Through live music, documentary film, historical objects and storytelling, we bring their stories back into collective memory.

Watch the teaser

Created by longtime friends
Kate Broug & Dr. Elaine Kwon

A pilot. A pianist.
A shared purpose.

Our disciplines are different. Our commitment is shared: to give extraordinary women the opportunity to be heard, seen and remembered.

Kate Broug holding a wooden aircraft propeller — Kate Broug / Filmmaker & pilot

CO-CREATOR / FILM, FLIGHT & STORYTELLING

Kate Broug FRGS

Dutch documentary filmmaker, pilot, former professional ballet dancer and WWII remembrance advocate. Kate’s work bridges aviation, exploration and historical preservation, bringing the personal stories of the wartime generation to younger audiences.

A Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and member of The Explorers Club, her documentary and social media work reaches millions of viewers worldwide. In 2024, she flew her 1943 Boeing Stearman approximately 3,700 miles across America, retracing the WASP’s history.

Full biography ＋

Kate has developed and collaborated on documentary projects with institutions including the Dutch Parliament, the USS Intrepid Museum, the National WASP WWII Museum, the Royal Netherlands Air Force, Gravity Industries and the Delta Flight Museum.

Her work and career have been featured in ELLE, Variety, Vanity Fair, Marie Claire and The Village Voice, among other publications. Represented by Storm Models LA, she brings together aviation storytelling and cultural preservation.

As a public speaker, Kate has appeared at Climate Week NYC, Air & Sea, the St Wilfrid’s Club and EAA AirVenture Oshkosh 2026. Her talks explore aviation history, remembrance and ways to engage new generations through historical storytelling.

KATE BROUG ↗FIRST FLIGHTS ↗

CO-CREATOR / PIANO & MUSICAL DIRECTION

Dr. Elaine Kwon

Prize-winning concert pianist, composer/arranger and artistic director whose work bridges music, the arts, health and human connection. Elaine has performed internationally, including at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center.

She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts and taught music at MIT for 23 years. She is Co-founder and Artistic Director of Savor Your Senses®, Founding Artistic Director of Apollo & Psyche, and Artist in Residence for One Mind.

Full biography ＋

Elaine has collaborated with acclaimed artists across classical, Broadway and popular music, and appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show and StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Her composition Thank You, a tribute to essential workers, inspired an international collaboration commissioned by Pfizer that received multiple awards.

Through Savor Your Senses®, she pairs live music with wine, food, spirits and other sensory experiences. Apollo & Psyche explores the human experience through the arts, while her work with One Mind connects with its mission to advance brain health through science and innovation.

A five-time U.S. National Tae Kwon Do Forms Champion and second-degree black belt, Elaine continues to train in Shaolin Kung Fu. Through LifeChord–Passion, Health, and Purpose®, she explores how music, movement, creativity and mindful living can inspire well-being, resilience and possibility.

SAVOR YOUR SENSES ↗

THE WOMEN AT THE HEART OF THE EVENING

In the air.
At the piano.

Four WASP pilots in flight gear beside an aircraft

Women Airforce Service Pilots (WASP)

WOMEN AIRFORCE SERVICE PILOTS

The women who
took the controls.

The WASP flew military aircraft during World War II. Their work included ferrying and testing aircraft, taking on demanding assignments in support of the war effort.

Kate Broug brings their stories to life through documentary footage, archival photographs and personal accounts, drawing on her 3,700-mile journey in her 1943 Boeing Stearman. Her storytelling puts the women behind the history—and the service and sacrifice we commemorate—at the heart of the evening.

Dana Suesse, the “Girl Gershwin”

DANA SUESSE

The music
of an era.

Celebrated as the “Girl Gershwin,” American composer Dana Suesse wrote music that captured the spirit of her age. Her story opens a parallel chapter in the creative lives of twentieth-century women.

Dr. Elaine Kwon will bring Suesse’s music back to the concert stage, placing live performance in conversation with the WASP’s stories and the wider world of wartime memory.

The live experience.

To be heard.
To be seen.
To be remembered.

A performance in which music and historical storytelling illuminate one another.

Elaine Kwon performing at the grand piano, photographed from behind — ELAINE KWON AT THE PIANO PHOTOGRAPH BY KEN GOODMAN

Live piano

Dr. Elaine Kwon performs Dana Suesse’s music, reconnecting audiences with a remarkable American composer.

Documentary film & storytelling

Kate Broug recounts the WASP’s stories through film, archival photographs and personal accounts, connecting wartime lives with her own journey across America.

Objects that carry memory

A WWII parachute gown, historical love letters and personal artifacts offer an intimate encounter with the past. Objects become vessels for stories that might otherwise disappear.

A shared cultural evening

Conversation and WWII-era cocktails extend the encounter beyond the performance, inviting audiences to reflect together on the people we choose to remember.

Marie Claire editorial image of Kate Broug in her WWII parachute gown, The Shape of Survival

A MATERIAL WITNESS TO HISTORY

Once a parachute.
Now, a gown.

A dress made from a World War II parachute connects the material past with a living act of remembrance.

Featured in the evening, Kate’s parachute gown shows how an object can outlive its original purpose and carry history into a new setting. Alongside music, letters and film, it makes remembrance tangible.

“How do we preserve a memory
when its witnesses are gone?”

THE JOURNEY BEHIND THE FILM

Following in
their footsteps.

3,700 MILES ACROSS AMERICA

In 2024, Kate piloted her 1943 Boeing Stearman biplane approximately 3,700 miles across the United States.

Retracing routes and locations associated with the WASP, she documented their history from the perspective of a contemporary pilot. The journey connects generations through the experience of flight and the work of preserving personal stories.

1943 BOEING STEARMAN2024 REMEMBRANCE JOURNEY

About the documentary materials ＋

The production brings together Kate’s journey footage, archival photographs, historical accounts and artifacts. Flight and performance films will be added to this site as they become available.

Kate Broug in her flying suit and parachute harness beside an aircraft — KATE BROUG / PILOT & DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER

AN ONGOING CULTURAL SERIES

Remembrance is
something we do.

New York is the first chapter. Women of the Air Age is conceived as a continuing dialogue between music, history and memory, with future performances envisioned in both countries.

MEET THE WOMEN WE REMEMBER ↑

Women ofthe Air Age.

Who do we chooseto remember?

Watch the teaser

A pilot. A pianist.A shared purpose.