Lincoln Center Out of Doors

Slideshow credits: See Practical information below
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Festival Story:

Inaugurated in 1971 under director of community programming Leonard DePaur, Out of Doors began as a small festival of street theater in collaboration with Everyman Theater (co-founded by actress Geraldine Fitzgerald.) Former Lincoln Center President John Mazzola’s vision was “to bring the community to Lincoln Center and bring Lincoln Center to the community.” Gradually expanding to include music and dance performances, the re-christened Lincoln Center Out of Doors has grown into one of the largest free performance festivals in the U.S.

Over its history, Out of Doors has commissioned some 95 works from composers and choreographers and presented hundreds of major dance companies, renowned world-music artists, and legendary jazz, folk, gospel, blues and rock musicians. It has highlighted the rich cultural diversity of New York City with its annual “La Casita” project which offers poetry and spoken word, along with music and dance performances. Out of Doors has partnered with dozens of community and cultural organizations including the Caribbean Cultural Center African Diaspora Institute, Lincoln Square Neighborhood Center, The Ponderosa Stomp Foundation, Brooklyn Arts Council, Bronx Council on the Arts, Center for Traditional Music and Dance, the Chinese American Arts Council, Americas Society, and Dancing in the Streets. Since 2008 the festival has been produced by Lincoln Center’s director of public programming, Bill Bragin, with associate producer Jill Sternheimer.

Festival Events:

Highlighted programming 2013:

• “KRONOS at 40” in Collaboration with Kronos Quartet Features Premieres and Commissions By:
  
  • Kronos Quartet
  • Mark Dendy Dance & Theater Projects
  • Red, Hot + FELA LIVE!
  • Superhuman Happiness
  • Mariana Sadovska
  • Jherek Bischoff
  • Dan Deacon
  • Amon Tobin
  • and others…
• Performances by:
  
  • Asphalt Orchestra
  • The Pixies’ Surfer Rosa (World Premiere/Commission)
  • My Brightest Diamond
  • Emily Wells
  • The Gloaming
  • Found Sound Nation
  • Dan Zanes
  • Ozomatli
  • and more…
• Additional highlights:
  
  • Rubén Blades in Concert
  • A Tale of Two Nations – U.S. Debut of Northeast Brazil’s Maracatu Nação Estrela Brilhante in World Premiere collaboration with Nation Beat
  • El Gusto – Reunited Muslim & Jewish Algerian Chaabi Orchestra in U.S. Debut
  • Festival au Désert: Caravan for Peace with N.Y. Debuts by Mali’s Mamadou Kelly, Imharhan / Tartit and Morocco’s Aziz Sahmaoui & University of Gnawa
  • Dance Heginbotham and Raymond Scott Orchestrette in World Premiere of Manhattan Research
  • Kyle Abraham / Abraham.in.Motion’s Pavement Shares Bill with Marc Bamuthi Joseph’s Word Becomes Flesh
  • La Casita: Music and Spoken Word Artists Honor Legacy of Sekou Sundiata
  • Amanda Palmer & the Grand Theft Orchestra
  • “Roots of American Music” 30th Anniversary: Performances by Nick Lowe, Bobby Rush, The Crickets: Farewell Show, Allen Toussaint, Motown’s Brian and Eddie Holland, Jason Isbell, More

Other Sources:

Want more? Click on a color — travel and explore.  

Podcast interviews:

• If you like this festival… listen to
  
  • Keith Terry, founding artistic director of the International Body Music Festival
    http://kadmusarts.com/podcasts/?p=1291
  • Jane Moss, White Light Festival
    http://kadmusarts.com/podcasts/?p=2365
  • Claudia Norman, Director of the Chase Latino Cultural Festival
    http://kadmusarts.com/podcasts/?p=937
  • Yoshiko Chuma, Artistic Director and Choreographer
    http://kadmusarts.com/blog/?p=549
  • David Rivel, executive director of City Parks Foundation
    http://kadmusarts.com/podcasts/?p=1706
  • Bill Bragin, Director of Public Programming at Lincoln Center
    http://kadmusarts.com/blog/?p=786

Articles:

• International Body Music Festival celebrates sounds of the flesh, by Ronni Reich (NJ.com, August 11, 2010)
  http://www.nj.com/entertainment/music/index.ssf/

Practical Info:

Slideshow credits:

• In order of appearance
  
  • Kronos Quartet — David Harrington, violin; John Sherba, violin Hank Dutt, viola; Jeffrey Zeigler, cello
    Photographer: © Zoran Orlic
    From left to right: David Harrington, John Sherba, Hank Dutt, and Jeffrey Zeigler
  • DANCE — Lucinda Childs, choreographer
    Philip Glass, music
    Sol LeWitt, film
    Photographer: © 2009 Sally Cohn Photography
    LUCINDA CHILDS’S DANCE- Photo by Sally Cohn
  • Mucca Pazza
    Photographer: Eric Harvey Brown
  • Brian Brooks Moving Company
    Photographer: © Stephen Aubuchon 2009
  • Bassam Saba, director of The New York Arabic Orchestra
    Taken at Symphony Space, Photographer: John Cenzig
  • The New York Arabic Orchestra
    Bassam Saba, director; Salma Habib, singer; Date Image Taken: 2/12/2011; Taken at Symphony Space; Photographer: John Cenzig
  • Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors — Asphalt Orchestra
    Venue: Credit Suisse Information Grandstand
    Photographer: © Stephanie Berger
    Date Photographed: 8/8/2009
    The Asphalt Orchestra performs at Lincoln Center out of Doors Festival on the plaza of Lincoln Center and near the Metropolitan Opera House on August 8, 2009.
    Photo credit: ©Stephanie Berger

Venues:

• BROADWAY PLAZA
  Located at the corner of Broadway and West 65th Street (grandstand plaza in front of Alice Tully Hall)
• DAMROSCH PARK
  West 62nd Street, between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenue.
• DAVID RUBENSTEIN ATRIUM
  Broadway, between West 62nd and West 63rd Streets
• HEARST PLAZA / (WITH SEATING IN BARCLAYS CAPITAL GROVE)
  North of the Metropolitan Opera House, in front of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and Lincoln Center Theater.
• JOSIE ROBERTSON PLAZA
  Main plaza of Lincoln Center, fronting Columbus Avenue, between 63rd and 64th Street.
• Note: All programs and artists are subject to change

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