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Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has announced new artistic performances, collaborations, workshops, family programming, and more coming to Restart Stages this August—the outdoor performing arts center created to champion the revival and recovery of New York City arts.
Lincoln Center’s 10 outdoor performance and rehearsal spaces and civic venues are being activated by artists, arts organizations, students, and many more from across its campus and the five boroughs.
“Events in the month of August, including the Faces of the Hero exhibit to be shown in New York City and at the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center in Athens, embody the spirit of international creative exchange that makes New York arts and culture some of the most exciting in the world.” – Henry Timms, President and CEO, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.
Restart Stages at Lincoln Center is made possible through the generous support of the Lincoln Center Board of Directors and the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) as part of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative, a collaboration bringing new approaches in cultural engagement to public spaces.
Mahogany L. Browne, Lincoln Center’s first ever poet-in-residence, continues her “We Are The Work” residency in August, with in-person and virtual events that act as an artistic call to recharge and unite towards justice within our communities. On August 21, Browne hosts an in-person evening of poetry and jazz outdoors. Entitled Working Notes Jazz Café, the night features Adam Falkner, Max Michael Jacob, Vuyo Sotashe, and Shanelle Gabriel. The short film Wash the Dead by Browne and Russell Craig, directed by Aseanté Renee, runs on Campus all day. Two events – a photography viewing Working Apertures and a conversation on using poetry as a lens for racial and gender equity Are You Doing Your Work – will take place online.
Lincoln Center’s artistic offerings centering and celebrating disabled identities continue past Disability Pride Month with emerging theater talent. Dark Disabled Stories, an autobiographical play by writer and performer Ryan Haddad, strings together a series of comical and unforgiving vignettes exploring a world not built for people with disabilities. Queens Theatre’s New American Voices and Theatre for All have carefully curated a talented artistic team with disabilities for An Evening of Short Plays, three short play readings centering fresh perspectives for Disabled Identities. Both performances feature integration of American Sign Language interpretation, captioning, and audio description for audience members.
Now on display on the Lincoln Center campus is Faces of the Hero, a transatlantic art exhibition examining the meaning of a “hero” and “heroism” through time, a partnership with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) in Athens. The project is the inaugural collaboration of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation-Lincoln Center Agora Initiative. The new exhibit features eclectic interpretations of heroism from students at the Parsons School of Design in New York and the Athens School of Fine Arts.
The very first BAAND Together Dance Festival, an unprecedented collaboration of five of New York’s most acclaimed dance companies, begins August 17 – 21. Over five performances, Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem share a different mixed bill, with artistic directors of each organization curating evenings collaboratively, featuring new works and repertory favorites. As part of the festival, all five companies will offer all ages dance workshops. The Festival is made possible by CHANEL and is a project of the Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund.
Free tickets to August’s Restart Stages events will be made available through the TodayTix Lottery, the Official Ticketing Partner of Restart Stages. The TodayTix Lottery will open for entries two weeks before the performance and close three days prior to the performance at 12:59 p.m. EDT. Attendees who secure tickets will be required to follow safety protocols. Enter the Lottery through the TodayTix app. For those without access to the app, please call Lincoln Center Guest Services at 212-875-5456 to reserve. *
Throughout the month of August, audiences can access The GREEN, the participatory public art installation on Josie Robertson Plaza, and spend a few reflective moments with a book at the Outdoor Reading Room, created by the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. New Yorkers may also come across surprise Pop-Up performances in full swing on The GREEN and across campus. Special activities for families and children of all ages include Concerts for Kids, made possible by Amazon, and more. Lincoln Center’s Concerts for Kids and other programming on The GREEN will surprise and delight New York families,” said Carley Graham Garcia, Amazon’s New York City Head of External Affairs. “We’re happy to partner with Lincoln Center as it celebrates New York’s arts and cultural community in space entirely open to the public.”
Select Restart Stages events will be live streamed on Lincoln Center and partner organization digital platforms, increasing access nationally and internationally, well beyond those able to travel to the physical campus.
All performances occur outdoors with health and safety protocols designed in consultation with medical advisors and state guidelines.
Restart Stages is developed in coordination with NY PopsUp, part of Governor Cuomo’s New York Arts Revival, in a partnership to help extend reach of the initiative far beyond Lincoln Center’s campus.
Since the pandemic began, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has driven efforts to bring the power of the arts to New Yorkers outdoors and digitally—from Love From Lincoln Center concerts for individual essential workers to works of art that elevate the voices and lived experiences of people of color in America, such as Carrie Mae Weems’ installation Resist COVID/Take 6!, Davóne Tines’ Vigil, and digital commissions like The Baptism by Carl Hancock Rux. International collaborations with the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center in Athens (SNFCC) will bring new approaches to cultural engagement in both cities. These are just the beginning of a reorientation towards prioritizing openness, access, and inclusive excellence—elevating talent from every corner of the globe and fostering a sense of radical welcome on the campus.
Lincoln Center is continuing its commitment to civic and community service at Restart Stages. The New York Blood Center is set to hold a new blood drive at the David Rubenstein Atrium at Lincoln Center on August 4 from 12:30 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. to help address the critical shortage in NYC. Registration is required. To sign up and for more information, visit nybc.org/lincolncenter. Lincoln Center has also partnered with Food Bank For New York City for several food distributions, and with the City’s new mobile vaccination buses to serve New Yorkers alongside the Campus. In June, the David Rubenstein Atrium served as a designated primary election polling place, in partnership with the Board of Elections, and the Campus hosted public school graduations for over 3,000 graduates and their families from more than fifteen schools from across the city. Additional food distributions, blood drives, and community-related events will be announced in the coming months.
Additional programmatic details, including upcoming events for September, will be announced in the coming weeks. All seating for Restart Stages is located on accessible routes and can be removed to make space for mobility devices. For all Restart Stages family programs, social narratives describing entry and seating through images will be available. These are designed for neurodiverse families preparing for new experiences. American Sign Language, captioning and live audio description are available for select performances and upon request.
Reserve FREE tickets for the above August performances: TodayTix.com
*No purchase is necessary to enter the TodayTix Lottery. The prize value of tickets is $0. The odds of winning tickets depend on the number of eligible entries received. The TodayTix Lottery is open to residents of the 50 United States and D.C., age 18 or over.
Receive updates about Restart Stages: RestartStages.org
