Calling all SummerStage enthusiasts: Pack a beach chair and throw on your most comfortable shoes, because this time around, there is much more to look forward to. The organizers of the summer-long performance series are going all out with a citywide agenda to mark the milestone 25th anniversary.
“We wanted to do something special for the anniversary,” says Nora Lanning, the director of marketing and communications for City Parks Foundation. “We thought, what better way to honor the city than to celebrate the types of music that we present in the neighborhoods where they were crafted.”
The series launched with a performance by the Sun Ra Arkestra. For the past 20 years, City Parks Foundation has been presenting music programs in Manhattan with limited offerings in the other boroughs.
In 2006 they began presenting theater programs which, along with dance, are essential to the organization.
“New York is a place where people automatically think of performing arts and they don’t necessarily think that they can have access to them unless they have money to buy tickets, especially dance and theater,” says Lanning. At SummerStage, these events are free — something definitely worth celebrating.
