Summer’s Ultimate Comeback – Festival of New York

Summer’s ultimate comeback is Festival of New York! The inaugural Festival of New York is a collaboration and celebration of the best NYC has to offer: art, culture, and most importantly — the people whose hearts beat for New York. From Memorial Day  thru Labor Day the Festival will showcase live musical events, city-wide dance parties, neighborhood sports, and much more.

Overlapping and presented as part of the Festival of New York are NYC celebrations that include the returns of the annual June is Music Month, Central Park’s Summer Stage, the Blue Note Jazz Festival, Lincoln Center’s inaugural Summer for the City, and the NYC Pride Events and events!

Festival of New York was born out of the need to recover from one of the most difficult periods in NYC’s history and to see its way through to a kinder, more equitable, more collaborative, and more inclusive future.

This summer Fest is an unprecedented movement to marshal the creativity, resiliency, diversity, and spirit of collaboration that makes New York one of the strongest and most inspiring cities on earth.

Currently the growing coalition of participatory organizations top over 300 across the 5 boroughs. New Yorkers and tourists alike can participate in the Festival of New York through one of the many activations, performances, block parties, and small business opportunities being offered. The Festival will animate the city with events  through cross-borough collaborations, performances, installations, family fairs, community service opportunities, participatory arts and culture experiences, career fairs, and more.

• BAAND Together Dance Festival: Returning for a second year and born from close pandemic-era collaboration, five of the city’s most beloved companies will share the stage at Lincoln Center for thrilling outdoor performances over five evenings: Ballet Hispánico, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem.

• Citywide Dance Party: On Saturday, August 6, thousands of New Yorkers will be dancing in the streets in a moment of mass joy and celebration. Spearheaded by the New York Public Library in partnership with the Brooklyn Public Library and Queens Public Library, partners in all five boroughs will host dozens and dozens of outdoor dance parties—come out, and let’s all dance together.

• Expansive Pride Calendar: A lineup of free public events May through August will honor the lives and invaluable contributions of Black Queer civil rights giants such as Pauli Murray, Sylvia Rivera, and Marsha P. Johnson. STARR, America’s oldest Trans civil rights group, invites everyone to expand their Pride programming; in collaboration with Claim Our Space Now, National Queer Theater, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Make Music New York, and more.

• France Rocks Summer Fest: The largest festival of Francophone music in the U.S., France Rocks Summer Fest highlights the rich diversity of music from these countries featuring over 30 concerts across 25 New York venues. A series of concerts showcases the best French electronic, jazz, world music, and pop/rock artists across multiple cultures in iconic New York venues throughout June. This year’s fifth edition will culminate with La Fête de la Musique 40th Anniversary at Central Park Summerstage in partnership with French Institute Alliance Française NY, Make Music New York, and more.

• Giulietta e Romeo: A rare jewel of opera history, Battery Park City Authority in collaboration with Teatro Grattacielo presents a full production of “Giulietta e Romeo” for its 100th anniversary. Composed by Riccardo Zandonai, the 3 act opera is full of love, passion, and tragedy, epitomized to their most pure and intimate essences. Known for its forward-thinking, multimedia exploration of opera, Teatro Grattacielo creates a site-specific work for the open-air riverside setting of Wagner Park, within Battery Park City. A once in a lifetime experience; free and open to the public. Presented by Battery Park City Authority in collaboration with Teatro Grattacielo and partners Parsons School of Design, New York Institute of Technology, Frank Sinatra School of the Arts High School, and more. (June 4 & 5)

• Grooving Under the Apollo Marquee: Playing under the Apollo Theater’s iconic marquee, DJs will spin their best sets to give 125th Street a taste of the multifaceted flavors of Harlem. This fun dance party will get New Yorkers and visitors alike moving and grooving through a musical journey of Motown, Soul, Hip-Hop, Afrobeat, Latin Music and more.

• Poster House Block Party: A block party presented in the heart of the Flatiron District celebrating the art and cultural impact of the poster through performances, activities, and activations by local community groups and arts institutions. The day-long event is sponsored by Poster House, the first and only poster museum in the United States.

• Small Business Weekends: A series of special activations and offers focused on small businesses in each borough. Along Tompkins Avenue in Brooklyn, for instance, home to 14 small businesses owned by Black women, Black Girl Magic Weekend will be spearheaded by the Tompkins Avenue Merchants Association and Bridge Street Development Corporation, in collaboration with Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

• Discover Parks and Open Spaces Across the Five Boroughs: Experience the restorative power of the City’s 30,000 acres of parks and open spaces through various opportunities to learn about and celebrate these essential greenspaces that energize New Yorkers every day. Throughout the summer, parks organizations across NYC will host outdoor events, performances, and educational programs, and welcome attendees to give back by getting involved in their local park’s care. Participants include: Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Battery Park City Authority, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy, Central Park Conservancy, Hudson River Park Friends, New York Botanical Garden, Channel Gardens at Rockefeller Center, NYC Parks, Prospect Park Alliance, Randall’s Island Park Alliance, Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden, and Wave Hill.

• New Victory Dance: The New Victory Theater presents the ninth season of its beloved dance program. Designed to provide free summertime dance and dance education for kids in New York City day camps, schools and youth programs, New Victory Dance features compelling contemporary dance performances from across the five boroughs curated for kids eight and older. $10 tickets will be available to the public for evening performances in July.

• This Is NY: Celebrating Our Immigrant Heritage and Communities: Cultural institutions across all five boroughs will create activations, such as food events, photo exhibits, oral history exhibits, documentary film and theatrical debuts, panel discussions, concerts, digital content, and other cultural programming, that highlight and celebrate the remarkable immigrant history and communities of NYC from June 11th through June 21st. Spearheaded by the Queens Night Market with partners that include Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Tenement Museum, New York Public Library, Rockefeller Center, Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), Make Music New York, NY Forever, and many others.

• We Love New York by New York Liberty: Throughout the 2022 WNBA season, the New York Liberty will host a variety of events in and around NYC, as well as games at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. As part of Festival of NY, Liberty players will share why they love NYC in a social media campaign. Discover what makes NYC home for these world-class athletes.

Summer in New York City 2022 will most definitely be the Ultimate Comeback Festival.  The return of NYC in its full glory will be on display for all to partake in and view. We’re talking dancin’ in the streets, live music everywhere, dance and theatre performances and art outdoors! The city that never sleeps will be living up to its namesake once again. I’ll be putting my dancing shoes on for a summer to remember. Join me. — Abbe is Socially Sparked®!  Tweet @sosparkednews & @asparks01