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SummerStage Over the Past 25 Years
An interview with the executive director of City Parks Foundation David Rivel
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For what purpose was the summer stage founded 25 years ago?
The original mission of summer stage was twofold. First of all, it originally was founded only in Central Park; it was Central Park SummerStage. It was a time when Central Park was not the beautiful park that it is now; it was, in fact a place that was in some times foreboding if not downright dangerous to go into. The idea was, that having large scale events in the park would encourage people to use the park. Especially in the evenings or on weekends, when maybe they wouldn’t otherwise go into the park. So it was a way to bring people into the part and, kind of, make the park feel safer.
The second aspect of the mission was really to showcase art and artists that would resonate with all the various communities that live in New York City. So it was. From its very inception, meant to be a diverse festival that would appeal to all the kinds of people who lived in New York City. And, that is very much what the 25th anniversary of the SummerStage is all about.
How long has the City Parks Foundation been involved in the summer stage?
Well the Central Park SummerStage was originally founded by the Central Park Conservancy; and then we took over the series in 1994. As the festivals started to get bigger the Central Park Conservancy, which basically focuses on maintenance and operations issues in Central Park; just felt they didn’t really have the expertise to run it anymore. The City Parks Foundation, which by then was known as an organization that did concerts in parks all around the city and other types of events, was seen as having the production expertise to keep the series going.
Your 25th anniversary lineup is amazing and diverse, what was it like booking all those acts?
I have an arts and cultural programs department here at City Parks Foundation, headed up by a guy named James Burch. He has a music curator, a dance curator, a theater curator, a Stanley Programs curator, and these people have been working on this for over a year. In fact they have already starting on next year’s lineup. And they visit performances all over the world trying to lineup artists which would be appropriate for SummerStage.
What are the NYC Music Themes, and what makes them NYC?
As I mentioned SummerStage has always been about highlighting art and artist that resonate with the people who live in New York City. We’re taking that one step further this year and making that really explicit in our programming. We’re highlighting three artistic traditions that were born and raised in New York City. The first one is the Harlem Renaissance, the second is Salsa, and the third is Hip Hop. With each of these artistic movements, they obviously had roots in places outside New York. But, they were all developed in New York City, By New York City artists. So we’re highlighting these artistic themes not just at the main stage in Central Park but also in neighborhood parks; in many cases where the artists originally developed the art form. We’re really not only highlighting these New York City artistic movements but also putting them in a historical and geographical context for people.
The summer stage has a new look, who is that targeting?
We really wanted to bring all of our arts programming together under one banner. The programs in Central Park have been going on 25 years; we’ve been doing concerts in other parks since 1990; and we’ve been doing dance and theater for the last 5 years. And, the other programs that we’ve been doing had their own names. So we had City Parks Concerts, City Parks Dance City Parks Theater. What we thought, as a way to celebrate the 25 year history, is to bring it all together under the banner of SummerStage. It’s meant to make some connections between programs, and also to encourage people to be adventurous and travel and hear some of these artists, and see some of these other parks that maybe they haven’t been to. By putting it under one banner I think people are seeing that they can really explore the city and explore the arts in a way that they haven’t been able to before.
Is it hard to coordinate all the different venues?
I wouldn’t say it’s hard, I would say it’s a big job. We have about 150 people on our staff producing all of this. Just running the main stage in Central Park is a big job but when you add to it the 17 other parks, and the different types of art that we’re doing. It’s one thing to do a concert; it’s another thing to do a theater performance, with lights and sets and changing rooms, in the middle of a park. The production of doing dance and theater are a little tougher but we’ve developed a real expertise. In 2005 we extended dance and theater in parks around the city. So we now have a 5 year history of doing that, so we kind of have it down to a science.
What are the highlights of the season in your view?
You know I love all my children equally. But here are some of the things I’m personally looking forward to.
We’re commissioning a new play called American schemes by an emerging playwright named Rhadda Blank. I’ve met Rhadda and spoken to her a number of times, I think she does really interesting work, and I’m really curious to see what she comes up with.
St. Vincent; I’m a big fan of her CD and I’ve never heard her live and I’m looking forward to seeing her.
And then, in dance I’m looking forward to Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, I’ve seen them before but this is a rare free performance from them. I’m very curious to see what the kinds of interactions are going to be between the audience and the dancers. I think there’s going to be a lot of love in the park that day, and I’m excited to see that.
But from June 1st when it starts till august 29th when it ends there’s at least one performance a day and on some days there’s two. So to pick just two or three is really hard, and fortunately you don’t have to pick two or three you can go every single day if you want; and I’m sure some people will. More info: www.summerstage.org