Free Programming All Summer Invites

New Yorkers to Rejoice, Reclaim, Remember

First Summer Season Under New Artistic Vision

Hundreds of Thousands of New Yorkers

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) today announced the first Summer for the City. Unveiled by Shanta Thake, Chief Artistic Officer of LCPA, the three-month initiative takes a new approach to LCPA’s summer season that activates the entire campus under one banner.

“One of the most basic jobs of the arts is to help heal. This summer we will do exactly that, with moments to rejoice, reclaim, and remember within a city transformed,” said Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer of LCPA, appointed August 2021. “This season is rooted in our fundamental programming values: offering artistic and civic programs reflective of the City of New York, a majority of them free; prioritizing collaboration and first asking artists and their communities what they want from Lincoln Center; being a home for experimentation; and inviting New Yorkers to actively participate in what we will create together.”

“The season Shanta and the team have curated captures the moment and so much more—incorporating beloved programming of Lincoln Center summers past into something fresh, new, and thoroughly New York,” said Henry Timms, President and CEO of LCPA. “We all seek a remedy for the upheaval and pain of the past two years. Art can help provide it: from group singalongs to celebrations of important milestones missed or truncated. We must empower ourselves to let joy back in, together.”

Held over three months and featuring hundreds of free events, this year’s Summer for the City has three central themes:

Coming together to rejoice after a period of such challenge and crisis.

—The summer kicks off with Sing New York, a large-scale singalong on Josie Robertson Plaza for thousands of New Yorkers alongside the Young People’s Chorus of New York, Francisco J.Núñez, Artistic Director and Founder, conducted by Elizabeth Núñez.

—Social dance and classes at “The Oasis” dance floor installation on Josie Robertson Plaza, with salsa, swing, bachata, merengue, soul, and more, and artists including the Eddie Palmieri Salsa Orchestra, Danny Jonokuchi & The Revisionists, Típico Urbano, Felicia Collins, MaxBanda, Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Hot Sugar Band, Yanos and Beats, Rachael & Vilray, and others.

—Several events celebrate Pride Month throughout June, including the Mini Kiki Ball presented in collaboration with BAAD! Bronx Academy of Dance, National Queer Theater, ULTRA PRIDE!! presented in collaboration with Peace Bisquit, and The Future Perfect Project.

—Joyful tributes to iconic New York City artists and institutions, including the hip-hop genius Notorious B.I.G., as well as Larry Levan and the famous nightclub Paradise Garage.

—BAAND Together Dance Festival returns for a second year bringing five of the city’s most beloved companies together on one stage: Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Central to the summer season is collective recovery of some of the traditions and rituals that were taken from us:

–A sequence of participatory and sculptural installations across campus by artist Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya entitled GATHER: A series of monuments and rituals, invoke emotions of grief, hope, catharsis, joy, and connection.

—Celebrate LOVE: A (Re)Wedding on July 10 invites couples whose weddings were canceled or diminished due to the pandemic to “re”-do this ritual alongside hundreds of other New Yorkers, including live musical performances, a “second dance,” desserts, and a reception on the dance floor.

—QUINCE en la Plaza celebrates a Quinceañera, the Latin American cultural touchstone and rite of passage, in an evening-long celebration co-created by Camilo Quiroz-Vázquez and Ellpetha Tsivicos, founders of One Whale’s Tale, in collaboration with The Bushwick Starr.

—A site-specific, evening-long performance commemorating the landmark holiday Juneteenth, in collaboration with an event at Harlem Stage, featuring an in-depth discussion on some of the myths of the Emancipation Proclamation and the truth of modern-day slavery, and an installation at Park Avenue Armory, all conceived of and curated by Carl Hancock Rux.

—Toshi Reagon leads Songs for the Living, a singalong event of excerpts from Octavia E. Butler’s The Parable of the Sower, her opera inspired by the prescient novel of the same name.

Offering a place to recognize our losses and a space for collective healing is an essential part of the summer:

—Two versions of Mozart’s Requiem offer moments for remembrance. Renée and Robert Belfer Music Director Louis Langrée leads the Mostly Mozart Festival Orchestra in the original with soloists Sunhae Im, Daniela Mack, Matthew Swensen, and Dashon Burton, and The Unsung Collective chorus (directed by Tyrone Clinton Jr.), one of six pairs of concerts by the Orchestra this summer season. Choreographer Kyle Abraham, his company A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, and composer Jlin will transform the seminal work into an electronic opus that memorializes ritual and rebirth for the New York premiere of Requiem: Fire in the Air of the Earth.

—The season honors and celebrates the lives of iconic individuals across the arts including James Baldwin and Greg Tate.

—Jazz at Lincoln Center leads a “second line” processional to Lincoln Center, in the New Orleans tradition to mourn and celebrate lives lost.

Presented as part of Festival of New York, Summer for the City builds on the success of Lincoln Center’s 2021 Restart Stages, which created an outdoor performing art center so that the arts could continue during the pandemic. That initiative attracted an audience of more than 250,000 in person, nearly a quarter of whom were visiting Lincoln Center for the first time.

Summer for the City will animate every corner of the outdoor campus across 10 stages, as well as some of the indoor venues, with more than 300 artistic and civic activations. Stages will include:

—“The Oasis,” the city’s largest outdoor dance floor complete with a mega 10’ disco ball. The creative vision of costume and set designer Clint Ramos, the blue, muraled installation will transform Josie Robertson Plaza and invite New Yorkers to come back together through dance among a sea of mirrors that reflect the myriad participants. Live music, silent discos, adapted dance lessons, dance parties, salsa, swing, soul, and more will all be offered, under the dynamic lighting designs of Andrew Grant. The dance floor will be free and open to the public during the day.

—“The Outdoor Cinema” will host films projected in front of the under-renovation David Geffen Hall. Complete with popcorn and drinks, and transmitted via Quiet Event headphones, the three-week mini festival is in collaboration with Film at Lincoln Center.

—“The Speakeasy,” a pop-up bar and performance space built in the underground driveway at the front southeast corner of campus will host comedy, spoken word, poetry, jazz, and cabaret performances. Designed by Clint Ramos.

Appointed in August 2021, this will be Shanta Thake’s first full season at Lincoln Center. Her new approach moves towards a seasonal model, unifying activities under a single curatorial idea, and deepens artistic and civic connections in order to expand reach. These tenets will guide LCPA’s programming year-round in the new David Geffen Hall and across campus. Additional programs will be announced in the coming months.

Summer for the City has been curated to help deepen Lincoln Center’s service to particular communities, including the Latinx/e, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQIA+ communities—along with expanding offerings for families with concerts, workshops, Storytimes, and Family Dance Days. The season also offers a multitude of events that celebrate and center Deaf and disabled identity, including Deaf Broadway’s Sweeney Todd, ILL-Abilities, Inside/Out presented by Ping Chong, and an Evening of Access Magic, featuring a Silent Disco, as well as adapted dance classes throughout the summer, and incorporating live captioning, Music: Not Impossible wearable technology for Deaf and hard-of-hearing audience members during select performances, and ASL-interpretation and sensory-friendly elements throughout the season’s offerings. The campus will also host dozens of pop-up performances, wellness events, graduations, voter engagement and polling, blood drives, and more as part of the summer season.

“We’re thrilled to welcome many artists this summer making their Lincoln Center debuts and are especially pleased the season includes beautiful offerings from so many of our resident organizations,” said Shanta Thake. “We will complement their work, and honor and learn from our past while not being bound by the ways things have always been done. This is just the beginning of a new LCPA that is intentional about collaboration and participation, ensures a majority of our programming is free, and reflects the multifaceted communities of New York.”

Entry to all Summer for the City performances and events at Damrosch Park, The Oasis on Josie Robertson Plaza, the David Rubenstein Atrium, The Deck, Hearst Plaza, and The Speakeasy on Jaffe Drive will be available for free via General Admission—first-come, first-served. In addition to General Admission, we’re offering a free Advance Reservation option for select Summer for the City events held at Damrosch Park, “The Oasis,” and Hearst Plaza. With Advance Reservation, guests can get priority access to events by booking ahead of time. Event admission is only guaranteed until 10 minutes before showtime. Tickets for performances in Alice Tully Hall and the Rose Theater will be available on a Choose-What-You-Pay basis. More at SummerForTheCity.org.

**In person press opportunities for Summer for the City must be arranged in advance with the Lincoln Center Press Office.**

About Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is the steward of the world’s leading performing arts center, an artistic and civic cornerstone for New York City comprised of eleven resident companies on a 16-acre campus. The nonprofit’s strategic priorities include: supporting the arts organizations that call Lincoln Center home to realize their missions and fostering opportunities for collaboration across campus; championing inclusion and increasing the accessibility and reach of Lincoln Center’s work; and reimagining and strengthening the performing arts for the 21st century and beyond, helping ensure their rightful place at the center of civic life.

Lead Support for Summer for the City Community Programming is provided by Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

Presenting support for Summer for the City is provided SK Group.

Major support is provided by The Mellon Foundation, the LuEsther Mertz Charitable Trust, and First Republic Bank

Additional support is provided by Chanel, the Ford Foundation, the Shubert Foundation, Amazon, the Scully Peretsman Foundation, and Lincoln Center’s 21/22 Donors and Members

Endowment support is provided by the Blavatnik Family Foundation Fund for Dance, The Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Foundation, Oak Foundation, PepsiCo Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund

Lincoln Center’s artistic excellence is made possible by the dedication and generosity of our board members.

Operation of Lincoln Center’s public plazas is supported in part with public funds provided by the City of New York

Public support is provided by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Laurie Cumbo, Commissioner, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature

NewYork-Presbyterian is the Official Hospital of Lincoln Center

United Airlines is the Official Airline of Lincoln Center

Pianos by Steinway & Sons – the Artistic Choice of Lincoln Center

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