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Home to 11 performing arts organizations presenting an array of programming, Lincoln Center is recognized around the world as a cornerstone of New York City, known for its iconic Revson Fountain, open plaza, and the famous facades of its performance halls—all oriented to the east. But for those approaching from the Amsterdam Avenue side, the view of Lincoln Center is far less inviting, with little to no direct access to the campus.

In an effort to make our physical environment more welcoming to all, we are undertaking an ambitious participatory planning process with local community members and stakeholders across New York City to reimagine the Amsterdam Avenue side of the Lincoln Center campus.

Among the goals of the initiative are to:

• Physically transform Lincoln Center’s Amsterdam Avenue side to be more welcoming to communities approaching from the west

• Better serve close neighbors, including residents of New York City Housing Authority campuses at Amsterdam Houses and Addition, and students of LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts and the six high schools at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational Complex

• Create an improved performance park to meet artistic and community goals

• Commemorate the history and public memory of San Juan Hill and historic Lincoln Square

The campus was originally developed as part of a series of “urban renewal” projects in the 1950s that razed the nearby San Juan Hill community. To honor the communities of that neighborhood, LCPA has invested in several major projects that shine a light on this important history and celebrate its significant cultural impact. These include the Legacies of San Juan Hill digital hub, a collaboration with the Center for Puerto Rican Studies at Hunter College (CENTRO) and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, as well as a series of events and exhibits that engage with this history from a multitude of perspectives.

Years in the making, Legacies of San Juan Hill features scholarly essays, articles, multimedia, and a series of live events from a diverse slate of contributors. It is a resource that will grow over time.

This initiative is a continuation of Lincoln Center’s Commitment to Change, actioning bold projects across the campus—including the expansion of free artistic programs, designing and implementing a new Choose-What-You-Pay ticketing model, the reopening of a newly redesigned David Geffen Hall, and working with partners across the city to host blood drives, food banks, graduations, naturalization ceremonies, and more—that marry artistic work and civic service, all with a commitment to expanding equity.

We are collaborating closely with neighbors, partners, and constituents to ensure a broad array of stakeholders have a voice in the process. Together, we will explore how the Lincoln Center campus can be made more accessible, welcoming, and inclusive to create a greater sense of belonging for all.

An Inclusive Planning Process

Through a robust participatory planning and community engagement process, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) is gathering input from the local community and broader public on how to create greater access along its Amsterdam Avenue side.

To date, approximately 3,400 neighbors, advocates, community groups, nearby educational institutions, elected officials, civic leaders, and other members of the New York City community have shared their ideas, interests, questions, and feedback through interactive pop-ups, in-person and online surveys, a community mural and memory wall, community gatherings, interviews, and focus groups.

Pulling from the responses we gathered from the community during our summer engagements, we landed on the below Planning Process Values to guide this work:

• Prioritize community needs
• Damrosch Park should feel welcoming, especially from the west
• Damrosch Park should continue to be about the arts
• The Park should have a flexible design
• The Park should be designed for the widest range of users

Over the summer of 2023, we engaged with more than 3,400 community members at 20+ events, both on and off the Lincoln Center campus. Community members shared their valuable input and insight about how they use Lincoln Center spaces, challenges they face accessing and navigating the campus, and ideas for improvement through surveys, interviews, focus groups, sticker activities, and art-making.

Fall Engagement (October – December 2023)

November 1st Community Workshop

70 community members, artists, and scholars joined us for an in-person workshop to contribute their ideas for reimagining the future of Damrosch Park. Participants worked together in groups to voice what their priorities would be for the redesign of the park.

December 11th NYCHA Resident Community Workshop

Over 60 residents of the Amsterdam Houses and Amsterdam Addition contributed their ideas to help reimagine Damrosch Park as a more welcoming and accessible park for all.

Photos by Lawrence Sumulong

December 12th Student Workshop

Over 30 students from LaGuardia High School and high schools on the Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Campus contributed their ideas to help reimagine Damrosch Park as a more welcoming and accessible park for students and young people in their community.

Photos by Lawrence Sumulong

What’s Next

Public engagement continues! The first stage of the process has been focused on understanding priorities, challenges, and opportunities. We will share an analysis of what we’ve learned throughout the planning process in the coming months.

We’ve received strong interest across stakeholder groups and communities in exploring ways to make Damrosch Park a more inviting, multi-functional, and accessible space. We’re continuing to hold participatory public events to dig deeper into these ideas.

Lincoln Center is continuing to lead the planning process in partnership with the award-winning architecture, urban design, and planning firm NADAAA and the nonprofit Hester Street, whose work focuses on centering the voices of people who are historically and currently excluded from decision-making processes in their neighborhoods and cities.

Design Team Chosen to Reimagine the Amsterdam Avenue Side of Lincoln Center’s Campus

Since June 2023, Lincoln Center has engaged in thousands of conversations and points of engagement with neighbors and city-wide stakeholders, who offered ideas over the course of an ongoing participatory planning process focused on making the Amsterdam Avenue side of campus more welcoming for all.

Based on ideas and feedback from more than 3,400 New Yorkers, the design team — composed of Hood Design Studio, landscape architect; Weiss/Manfredi, design architect; and Moody Nolan, architect of record — will develop plans for the Amsterdam Avenue side of its campus, focusing in particular on Damrosch Park in an initial phase of work.

Beginning with Damrosch Park, the design team will now work to develop proposals that reimagine the Amsterdam Avenue side of the campus to make it more publicly accessible while transforming it into a state-of-the-art performance park. Damrosch is a park under the jurisdiction of NYC Parks, operated and maintained by LCPA. The team will also work towards a design that includes a commemoration of the history and public memory of San Juan Hill and historic Lincoln Square, continuing a slate of programmatic and artistic collaborations that celebrate the legacies of the neighborhood, anchored by the Legacies of San Juan Hill digital hub.

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We’re Working to Make the Amsterdam Avenue Side of Campus More Welcoming

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An Inclusive Planning Process

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Design Team Chosen to Reimagine the Amsterdam Avenue Side of Lincoln Center’s Campus

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