Exciting events around New York May 2021
By Great Performances
Explore Great Music, Art and More at Our Partner Venues This Month!
Footprint – Design & Creativity in Sneaker Culture
Monday, May 17 at 7:00 pm
Location: Apollo Digital Stage
Ticket Information: Free with RSVP; Donation Suggested
Presented by Apollo Theater Education, Harlem 2020, and GoodThin.gs, FootPrint – Design and Creativity in Sneaker Culture will celebrate the cultural, societal, and aesthetic impact of the sneaker through interactive storytelling, demonstrations, and conversations with leaders from the creative and business industries.
Imagenation’s Cocktails and Sol Cinema
Wednesday, May 20 at 7:00 pm
Location: Apollo Digital Stage
Ticket Information: $12, $10 fo Apollo A List Members
MUSE: BLACK ART UNSEEN
ImageNation brings together a diverse collection of short films in a variety of genres ranging from documentary and experimental to psychological thriller in an evening that explores the creative process from four different perspectives. MUSE: Black Art Unseen fuses music, movement, and visual presentation to take a deep dive into unexplored areas of Black creativity. Collectively, these films center artists as the subject and challenge our systems of traditional and mainstream Western creativity to ask the questions: What drives us to innovate? How does our creativity impact communities? and How do we honor our legacies and find freedom through self-expression?
Films include:
- My Father the Mover (2020), Tribeca Film Festival winner directed by South African writer/director/producer Julia Jansch
- A Concerto is a Conversation (2021), Sundance Film Festival selection executive produced by Ava DuVernay featuring Emmy Award winning, Grammy-nominated composer Kris Bowers who has created scores for popular series including Netflix’s Bridgerton and When They See Us.
- Music is My Mistress (2017), directed by Kahlil Joseph, director for Beyonce’s Lemonade, starring Tracee Ellis Ross, Jesse Williams, Kelsey Lu and Ish from Shabazz Palaces and Digable Planets
- Rhyme Animal (2007) starring the late Craig “muMs” Grant and Al Thompson.
Following the screening, stay tuned for a talkback with filmmakers Kris Bowers, Julie Jansch, Philippe Roc and Jorge Rivera moderated by ImageNation’s Moikgantsi Kgama.
*Due to strong language and mature content, these films may not be suitable for all audiences. Viewer discretion is advised.
2021 Asia Arts Game Changer Awards
Wednesday, May 5 7:30 – 8:30 pm
Location: Online
Ticket Information: $500+
Asia Arts Game Changer Awards is a signature gala celebration honoring visionaries across the arts field making an impact in the world. Major art collectors, artists, gallerists, dignitaries from the art world, and Asia Society trustees and patrons will gather online to celebrate the contemporary arts in Asia for their significant contributions.
For more than thirty years, Asia Society has been a pioneer in identifying and fostering contemporary Asian artists and engaging new audiences in their work.
Past honorees include: Christine Ay Tjoe, Cai Guo-Qiang, Fang Lijun, Subodh Gupta, Hon Chi Fun, Shirazeh Houshiary, Ju Ming, Bharti Kher, Lee Ufan, Liu Guosong, Nalini Malani, Nyoman Masriadi, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Park Seo-Bo, Imran Qureshi, Rashid Rana, Shahzia Sikander, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Do Ho Suh, Natee Utarit, Wucius Wong, Xu Bing, Zeng Fanzhi, and Zhang Xiaogang.
Global Talent, Diversity & Inclusion
Wednesday, May 12 – Thursday May 13
Asia Society’s 2021 Global Talent, Diversity and Inclusion Virtual Symposium, presented by Marriott International and hosted by Katie Soo, SVP, Growth Marketing HBO Max, is a timely and important annual event that will bring together our partners and supporters to discuss the challenges and opportunities facing the Asian-Pacific American (APA) community, and other communities, within and outside the workplace in an environment marked by the ongoing pandemic and an increase in anti-Asian sentiment in the U.S. During this concerning time, we seek to come together to tackle injustice and embrace our common set of beliefs that we are all part of one human family.
This year’s theme is In Solidarity, We Rise!
Eat, Drink & Be Literary 2021: Luis Alberto Urrea
Tuesday, May 4 at 7:30 pm
Location: Online
Ticket Information: $10
Presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation
Join Luis Alberto Urrea for an evening of intimate discourse and reflection at this digital event, rescheduled from last spring due to the shutdown.
A novelist, essayist, and poet, Urrea is the author of the landmark nonfiction work The Devil’s Highway, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He also wrote the novels The House of Broken Angels, Into the Beautiful North, The Hummingbird’s Daughter, and Queen of America, as well as the story collection The Water Museum, which was a PEN/Faulkner Award finalist. He is the recipient of a Lannan Literary Award, an Edgar Award, a 2017 American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature, and a 2019 Guggenheim Fellow, among other honors. Urrea currently lives outside of Chicago and teaches at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
1:1 Concerts
May 8-9 & 15-16
Location: Brooklyn Navy Yard
Ticket Information: Free with reservation
This event is currently at capacity. Please check back later, as additional seats may become available.
BAM Presents 1:1 Concerts© at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Curated by Silkroad
Conceived for BAM by Stephanie Winker, Franziska Ritter and Christian Siegmund
Featuring Members of the Silkroad Ensemble & Guests
Step into a world-class concert curated just for you. Nestled in secluded corners of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, acclaimed artists from the Silkroad Ensemble and their guests from New York’s thriving music scene await. Follow your unique path to a socially distant, private stage and discover which musician will share their artistry in a ten minute, one-to-one concert. The safety restrictions of the pandemic open up new performance possibilities, inviting you to an intimate musical experience unlike any other, and encouraging you to give back the profound gifts of an appreciative audience: admiration, connection, and joy. In a world where we are more separated than we have ever been, this series encourages audiences and musicians to re-connect, one person at a time.
The musicians and producers of 1:1 Concerts conceived this experience as a show of solidarity to artists who lost their income as a result of the pandemic. Music is a gift, and there is no charge to attend these concerts. Instead, BAM and Silkroad invite you to reciprocate by supporting a local cultural institution. We are taking this opportunity to raise funds for Weeksville Heritage Center, a historic site and cultural center that uses education, arts, and a social justice lens to inspire engagement with the history of one of the largest free Black communities in pre-Civil War America.
KAWS: What Party
February 26 – September 5, 2021
Location: Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing and Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Gallery, 5th Floor
For twenty-five years, Brooklyn-based artist KAWS (Brian Donnelly, American, born 1974) has bridged the worlds of art, popular culture, and commerce. Adapting the rules of cultural production and consumption in the twenty-first century, his practice both critiques and participates in consumer culture. KAWS: WHAT PARTY is a sweeping survey featuring more than one hundred broad-ranging works, such as rarely seen graffiti drawings and notebooks, paintings and sculptures, smaller collectibles, furniture, and monumental installations of his popular COMPANION figures. It also features new pieces made uniquely for the exhibition along with his early-career altered advertisements.
KAWS’s practice acknowledges that works of art can occupy multiple realms—the aesthetic and the transcendent, the commodified and the priceless—and emphasizes that even within a cultural environment shaped by image and consumption, universal emotions such as love, friendship, loneliness, and alienation remain constant. KAWS invites us to engage with his work, both in person and virtually, and explore our own relationship with and connection to objects. Teaming up with Acute Art, a digital art platform directed by acclaimed Swedish curator Daniel Birnbaum, KAWS presents new augmented reality works, allowing visitors to interact virtually with his sculptures using their smartphones to create their own experience.
Livestream: Catherine Russell
Presented in Collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center
Saturday, May 8 at 8:00 pm
Location: Online
Ticket Information: $15, $30, $45 / Members Free
Catherine Russell dazzles her audiences with familiar favorites and forgotten gems alike. Russell excelled as a backup singer and multi-instrumentalist with David Bowie, Steely Dan, Cyndi Lauper, and Paul Simon, before launching a remarkable solo career, featuring Grammy award-winning and chart-topping recordings. In 2019 she released her seventh album, Alone Together, which was then Grammy-nominated for Best Jazz Vocal Album.
Livestream: Junction Trio
Sunday, May 23 at 3:00 pm
Location: Online
Ticket Information: $15, $30, $45 / Members Free
Three renowned visionary artists of the next generation combine talents in this eclectic new piano trio, Junction. Violinist Stefan Jackiw (Evnin Rising Star, 2007), recognized for musicianship that combines poetry and purity with an impeccable technique, returns with pianist Conrad Tao and cellist Jay Campbell of the trail-blazing JACK Quartet. Tao, who appears worldwide as a pianist and composer, has been dubbed a musician of “probing intellect and open-hearted vision” by the New York Times. Approaching both old and new works with the same curiosity and emotional commitment, Campbell has been called “electrifying” by the New York Times. Join these soloists-turned-trio for two classic yet contrasting chamber music masterpieces.
Following the concert, there will be a Q&A with Junction Trio, with an opportunity for the audience at home to ask questions; moderated by Caramoor’s Artistic Director, Kathy Schuman.
Paquito D’Rivera & Alex Brown
Thursday, May 6 at 7:30 pm
Location: Online
Ticket Information: Suggested donation $10
Like his mentor Dizzy Gillespie, virtuoso clarinetist and saxophonist D’Rivera possesses a deep commitment to the cultural exchange between jazz and Latin music. He’s also an 11-time GRAMMY® Award winner, NEA Jazz Master, and Carnegie Hall Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, who ranks among the likes of Benny Goodman and Sidney Bechet.
This performance will feature the music of Dizzy, Chano, Bebo & Mario — all friends of Paquito who’ve left their contributions on American culture, jazz and much more.
Lakecia Benjamin
Pursuance: The Music of the Coltranes
Thursday, May 13 at 7:30 pm
Location: Online
Ticket Information: Suggested donation $10
Rising star saxophonist and Essentially Ellington alumna Lakecia Benjamin returns to the Dizzy’s Club stage for a special Livestream performance. Benjamin has developed a reputation for energetic, genre-crossing performances, and she has played with musicians ranging from Jimmy Heath, Joanne Brackeen, Charenee Wade, and Harry Belafonte to Macy Gray, Stevie Wonder, Alicia Keys, and The Roots. For this performance she will return to a favorite source of material by leading her quartet through an evening of Coltrane repertoire from her new album, celebrating and exploring her major saxophone influence, John Coltrane, and the great multi-instrumentalist Alice Coltrane.
Freedom
Justice
And
Hope
Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
And Special Guest Bryan Stevenson
Premieres Friday, May 21 at 7:00 pm
On-Demand through May 26
Location: Online
Ticket Information: $20; $15 subscribers; $0-$15 members
Witness the world premiere of new music by emerging composer/trumpeter Josh Evans as well as guest performer and bassist Endea Owens (Jon Batiste’s Stay Human). In collaboration with Bryan Stevenson—a globally acclaimed activist, public interest lawyer, and founder of the Equal Justice Initiative—the band will perform works that address freedom, justice, and hope.
Though the program asks the composers to consider some enormous questions, the musical outcome will be as compelling and personal as anything in the Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis’s oeuvre. Witness this important new body of work come to life, as Stevenson recounts the historical significance of these new pieces of music. Join us in the ongoing search for truth and unity through art.
WHAT TO EXPECT
• A creative collaboration with founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and social justice advocate Bryan Stevenson.
• New music by Endea Owens on the life and work of Ida B. Wells and Josh Evans inspired by the terrible events of 1919’s Red Summer.
30th Anniversary Gala
Three Decades Together, One Future For Us All
Virtual Celebration
Thursday, May 6 at 7:00 pm
Location: YouTube
Ticket Information: Free with Registration
For 30 years, Signature Theatre has been an essential part of our cultural landscape. As we look ahead to Signature’s reopening, we hope you’ll be a part of this remarkable evening celebrating our beloved community of resident playwrights, artists and audiences.
Presenting the inaugural
Signature Outstanding Artist Award to
Resident Playwright
ANNA DEAVERE SMITH
Featuring
Signature Resident Playwrights Katori Hall, Samuel D. Hunter, Dominique Morisseau, Lynn Nottage, with performances by Dave Malloy and members of the Off-Broadway cast of Lauren Yee‘s Cambodian Rock Band: Abraham Kim, Jane Lui, Joe Ngo, and Courtney Reed.
Directed by
Lila Neugebauer
Signature Theatre is committed to making theatre that’s affordable and accessible. We have chosen to make this event free to the public. If you’re able, please consider making a donation to support our programming and the
Signature Ticket Initiative.
Family Art Projects
Saturdays and Sundays in May at 10:00 am
Location: Conifer Slope
Ticket Information: Free (does not include admission to Wave Hill)
Family art projects vary each day. Visit the Wave Hill website for more information.
- The number of families able to participate at any given time will be limited to about five. If you arrive and capacity is full, program staff will provide a “come back” card so you will have first entry for the next session.
- Shine only. Check the website starting at 8AM morning of, for the status of the day’s program.
- Be sure to dress appropriately for the weather and to work with natural materials.
- Have your masks on when you arrive! And please be prepared to respect physical distancing throughout your stay.
- The location will be the Conifer Slope, just to the right of, and below, Wave Hill House. Please enter from the paved roadway that runs along the front of Wave Hill House, then cross the lawn leading down to the Conifer Slope. Staff will greet you there!
- Throughout the program, staff will follow strict cleaning and physical distancing protocols to be sure that all materials and surfaces are safe for you to use.
- The Conifer Slope is on a grassy hill. If getting there will be difficult for you or any family member, please contact Mallory Muya, our Arts Program Coordinator, at mallorym@wavehill.org. We want to accommodate your needs whenever possible.
Most important: Please come prepared to relax and connect fully with the beauty and serenity of Wave Hill in spring!
Mother’s Day Picnic
Sunday, May 9 from 11:00 am – 3:00 pm
Location: Wave Hill Lawn
Ticket Information: $99 per picnic for 2-3 adults/$23 for each child’s picnic
Premium Day Admission ($2 additional)
This year, Mother’s Day and our traditional Mother’s Day picnic are so very welcome! In addition to the opportunity to start your morning at the Family Art Project, or join our first Garden Highlights Walk in the afternoon, we invite you to enjoy a custom Mother’s Day picnic provided by Wave Hill exclusive caterer Great Performances. Be sure to make your reservations now for whatever menu of events you’d like to share with Mom. May we suggest you cap off the day with a browse in The Shop at Wave Hill? We think Mom will be grateful!
Picnic on the Wave Hill House Lawn
Outdoor picnicking will happen on the lawn in front of Wave Hill House only, but there will be limited space indoors in Armor Hall, on the Kate French Terrace and in the Café dining space, on a first-come, first-served basis. As a special Mother’s Day exception, we invite you to bring a blanket to enjoy the gardens in all their spring glory.
Each Picnic Order Serves Two to Three
Each bountiful picnic includes four dishes—lemon rosemary roast chicken, a quiche, couscous and a strawberry rhubarb linzer torte—and is served with coffee or tea and sparkling water. Great Performances is also offering salmon as an alternative to chicken. A “Junior Gardeners Picnic” is also available for children ages seven and younger. Each picnic comes with a reusable, insulated picnic bag and cutlery kits. Oh, and you will have a chance to add champagne to your order, or pinot grigio, a bottle of red wine or two Bronx beers! By the way, if it gets stormy, you are welcome to pick up your picnic and head inside Wave Hill House to enjoy it.
Each picnic, perfect for two to three people, is $99 plus tax; the children’s picnic is $23. Wave Hill Members, remember you save 10%! Want to become a Member? We invite you to join now.
Picnic Reservations by Thursday, May 6, at 3PM
Be sure to make your reservations by next Wednesday. When you do, you will select a pick-up time—sometime between 11AM to 3PM. Make your reservations by emailing WaveHillReservations@greatperformances.com. You will be picking up your order in Wave Hill House’s Mark Twain Room.
Mother’s Day is a Premium Day at Wave Hill
Be sure to also register for admission on Mother’s Day! On Premium Days at Wave Hill, admission to the grounds is $2 more for all visitors.
