From Performing Arts Springboard to Neighborhood Recovery:
SummerStage Revitalizes Parks and Communities in All Five Boroughs

SummerStage proved, in Central Park and now across New York, that serious, vibrant art can transform public spaces from liabilities into community assets. Back in 1986, the first SummerStage venue—the once grand Naumburg Bandshell—was as run down as dusty, dangerous Central Park itself.

SummerStage, organized by the City Parks Foundation, changed that. The series helped turn the bandshell and the park back into a cultural destination, eventually moving to a larger venue on Rumsey Playfield and presenting everyone from Pete Seeger to David Byrne, from Sonic Youth to Curtis Mayfield, from Diamanda Galas to Astor Piazolla at its Mainstage. It’s repeated the success citywide, using high-quality art to transform neglected parks and cultivating demanding, open-minded audiences.

Thanks to the size of its outdoor venues—the Central Park Mainstage only accommodates around 5,000 visitors—SummerStage focuses intently on emerging artists, thinking across and beyond genres in ways that have launched (or relaunched) many a career. Though known for its strong record of introducing world music to America (Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Chico Science), SummerStage’s programs increasingly embrace just-about-to-break artists like MIA and the XX.

The approach works. Thousands of new patrons have flocked to SummerStage shows—audience numbers grow by double digits annually. This is about more than the lack of an admission price: “In New York City,” says James Burke, Director of Arts & Cultural Programming for City Parks Foundation, “free programs are extremely competitive. Just because it’s free doesn’t mean people will come.”

“In the last six years, we’ve been integrating contemporary, mainstream performers into what was mainly a more world-music orientation,” explains Erika Elliot, artistic director at City Parks Foundation. “We’ll do a bit a bit of everything: indie rock, hip hop, dance music. It’s an interesting way to mix up programming and to bring people in who have never been at our shows before.”

Patrons from all walks of life come to hear the latest indie phenomenon (Vampire Weekend) or a neglected soul diva (Bettye LaVette), even in the pouring rain. They get exposed to one-of-a-kind, unexpected pairings, as artists from radically different backgrounds meet and jam on its stages.

Soft-spoken singer-songwriter Jose Gonzalez has shared the bill with the brash Brazilian Seu Jorge. The Bronx-born hip hop of Afrika Bambaataa followed Afrobeat scion Seun Kuti and Egypt 80, the son of the legendary Fela. For New Yorkers, the mix of uncompromising quality and open possibility has become such a fixture on the cultural landscape of the city that’s it’s next to impossible to imagine summer without it.

On top of anything-goes concerts, SummerStage has also begun commissioning original works from the ground up and premiering them. “We’re known for curating interesting days of music that bring out lots of people, but we’ve also begun creating commissioned dance and theater pieces,” says James Burke, director of arts & cultural programming for City Parks Foundation, such as the recent ballet work by choreographed by Christopher Wheelden to music composed by folk-rock singer-songwriter Martha Wainwright. “It’s very satisfying and very well received.”

For aspiring artists in and far beyond New York City, SummerStage has become the place to play. “It’s become a platform, something artists from all over the globe aspire to. It’s always interesting to me when I’m travelling abroad to hear how many performers have heard of SummerStage,” notes Elliott. “The list of iconic and amazing artists sets the bar, and people long to have that same opportunity.”

A focus on artists—what they need and how to support them—flows from the SummerStage staff’s own experience as musicians and music industry veterans. Artist friendliness has led to fruitful long-term relationships, as artists’ careers build. Neo-soul darlings Sharon Jones and the Dap-kings played Jackie Robinson Park, then Central Park Mainstage, then made it big. But the band remained so loyal to SummerStage, they happily agreed to play a fundraiser when asked.

SummerStage has quietly been transforming important neighborhood parks in all five boroughs. Parks that lack a large citizen-led conservancy and that have few if any cultural events are adopted by City Parks Foundation and became the sites of new arts programs for at least five years. “Once a park has its own advocates and its own groups sponsoring events, we consider our job done,” Burke comments, citing Ft. Greene Park in Brooklyn as an example.

Until recently, the free events in these parks carried a variety of different monikers. Last year, City Parks Foundation decided it was time to bring all its performing arts endeavors under the SummerStage name. “Because we had such an established brand with SummerStage, we knew we had to improve production quality and grow the budgets of these programs. We had to put on performances that really deserved the name,” Burke recalls. “It turned out to be a huge success.  Many more people began taking an active interest in local parks in all the boroughs.”

While the goal is to engage and empower the community, these aren’t run-of-the-mill community concerts. When planning the season, SummerStage staff talk to people in the park to see what music they want to hear, and book performers with strong connections to the neighborhood, bringing artists like Big Daddy Kane and Talib Kweli back to their Brooklyn stomping grounds. In the South Bronx birthplace of salsa, Eddie Palmieri drew 3,500 dancers into a park that few venture into after dark. “We try to connect New York artists who have gone on to big things back to neighborhoods and parks that are meaningful to them,” Elliott reflects.

Travel/tourism supplementary pitch:

SummerStage offers the perfect chance to get a real glimpse of life in New York City—its diverse people, its unique creative energy—for free. Admission is first come, first served and free, making a SummerStage show a great alternative to more touristy locales. Take your family to see performers everyone will be talking about next year, all while enjoying one of the nation’s most beautiful parks or while discovering a little-known but amazing corner of New York.

In addition to the centrally located, easy-to-find Mainstage in Central Park, other parks offer superb views and intriguing windows into the city’s past and vibrant present, all within a short subway ride of NYC’s main sights:

·         East River Park is in Manhattan’s hip and gritty Lower East Side, right on the East River. The bandshell allows great views across the river into Brooklyn. Mere steps from a plethora of cheap eats, cool bars, and elegant bistros, it was the original site of Joseph Papp’s free theater programs and the location of a scene in the breakdancing/hip-hop movie Wild Style.

·         Queensbridge Park ,in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, is also on the East River, with great views of the Manhattan skyline. Right over the bridge from midtown Manhattan, the park lies across from the Queensbridge Houses, where Nas and many other musicians grew up.

·         Marcus Garvey Park is a lively park in the historically important and increasingly diverse and artsy neighborhood of Harlem. A very active park for events, especially music, it’s near a variety of great food and down the street from the legendary Apollo Theater.

Economic supplementary pitch:

While performances alone may not transform a community, they can play a pivotal role in restoring the heart to a neighborhood, thereby boosting its desirability and driving economic improvements. SummerStage partners thoughtfully with local vendors, inviting food and craft producers to the park during concerts and supporting tie-in promotions with local establishments. “We don’t just invite performers,” Burke states. “We think of ways to drive traffic locally, to local businesses.”

Additional Info
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About SummerStage
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