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A panoramic view of the Lincoln Center, surrounded by skyscrapers of the New York City.
News & Stories Stories

Lincoln Center strives to make campus more welcoming to all

From the east, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opens its arms to Manhattan, its iconic plaza cascading down seamlessly onto the sidewalk. Not so from the west, where the vertical faces of walls and buildings separate campus from the street.

With support from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), Lincoln Center is working to extend its welcome equally in all directions, both in terms of physical access and in terms of creating a sense of belonging for all. The effort began with an extensive process of public outreach to solicit ideas from thousands of New Yorkers though surveys, community workshops, focus groups, and stakeholder interviews.

People congregate outside the Lincoln Center at dusk, surrounded by the glow of city lights.
A diverse crowd of people congregates in front of the Lincoln Center, creating a lively atmosphere.

“We at SNF are most appreciative of the opportunity to be able to contribute to this very thoughtful and exciting project,” said SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos. “We share a common vision with Lincoln Center for providing access for all to welcoming, high-quality public space permeated by the arts and their power to uplift, inspire, and bring us together.”

Through a yearslong partnership and landmark grants, SNF has lent major support to Lincoln Center’s work to expand its welcome to its New York neighbors, including those to the west, and visitors from around the world while reimagining what public space can do. This endeavor involves both physical transformations of the space to open up access, beginning with a redesign of Damrosch Park at the western edge of Lincoln Center’s campus, and programming that creates a sense of belonging for all, including Summer for the City and Legacies of San Juan Hill. The SNF-LC Agora Initiative formed an ongoing link with the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Cultural Center (SNFCC) in Athens to promote global cross-cultural exchange.

A large fountain stands in the center of Lincoln Center, surrounded by people.
Aerial view of the Lincoln Center featuring the central fountain.

“We all recognize that public art and public space are at an inflection point,” said SNF Co-President Andreas Dracopoulos when the partnership with Lincoln Center expanded in 2022. “The question is whether we will attempt to get back to the ‘normal’ that existed before the pandemic or will use this moment to move forward, truly democratizing civic spaces, opening up access as broadly as possible, and embracing a definition of ‘public’ that encompasses every New Yorker and beyond. SNF is proud to support Lincoln Center in its efforts, at once bold and thoughtful, to continue to reimagine how one of the city’s premier public spaces can best serve people.”