The City Park Foundation’s pageant is upgrading to stay aggressive after almost 20 years of offering free live shows.
By the 2019 season, City Park Foundation’s flagship SummerStage venue in New York shall be extensively renovated. Following this season’s last present by Angélique Kidjo on Thursday (Sept. 27), SummerStage shall be fully revamped for its free live performance sequence that serves greater than 250,00Zero attendees yearly at Central Park and in 15-18 neighborhood parks across the metropolis.
Located in Central Park at Rumsey Playfield, the venue shall be revamped with a brand new stage, cowl, sound system and lighting and video. The new venue may have improved sightlines for followers normally admission and for the primary time will embody a VIP part with seating and overlaying.
“We are thrilled to unveil our new venue for our 2019 season and are excited to be ushering in a brand new period of City Parks Foundation’s SummerStage with a venue that has been deliberate holistically, one which enhances each the viewers’s and the artists’ expertise,” Heather Lubov, government director for City Parks Foundation tells Billboard.
Originally based in 1986 on the Naumberg Bandshell to function a free public useful resource to assist enrich the lives of New Yorkers, the venue was moved to Rumsey Playfield in 1990 and has served the group for over 20 years.
The flagship venue now presents greater than 30 free performances annually and helps free live shows in all 5 boroughs by presenting as much as 22 ticketed profit live shows with their unique accomplice, Bowery Presents. The venue can be rented out to Good Morning America for his or her summer time live performance sequence.
“Our SummerStage season was curated to represent New York City’s cultural diversity. Each year we celebrate the joy of communities gathered around the arts, with iconic performances spanning music, dance, film, and more,” government creative director for City Parks Foundation, Erika Elliott, tells Billboard.
Elliott provides: “From Angelique Kidjo, Mura Masa, Mariza, Dej Loaf, TOKiMONSTA, Eddie Palmieri and Big Daddy Kane, to Alvin Ailey Dance Workshops, and Metropolitan Opera Summer Series, there was really one thing for everybody — free of charge!”
The Central Park venue will see a 20 p.c enhance in diameter for its stage cover and foundational help shall be bolstered to accommodate the burden load of bigger productions. The new stage will embody a entrance thrust, added facet wings and LED screens on both facet.
Bleacher seating shall be raised for higher sightlines and floor seating with chairs shall be added for as much as 1,900 friends. VIP areas may have elevated capability together with designated bleacher house, backstage bar and air-conditioned loos.
The up to date venue will now characteristic improved backstage lodging with new greenrooms, personal viewing space for artists and friends, upgraded dressing rooms and a backstage patio space. The renovations can even embody improved ADA entry and varied hydration stations all through the footprint.
“SummerStage has been presenting well-known and emerging artists — free of charge — for more than 30 years. We remain committed to providing all New Yorkers with world-class live performances in the most welcoming and contemporary setting possible, and look forward to continuing to make memories at SummerStage for many years to come,” Lubov says.
To shut out the 2018 season Kidjo, the Grammy Award-winning Beninese singer-songwriter, will carry out her rendition of the Talking Heads basic 1980 album Remain within the Light on Thursday evening.
