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Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts will present Summer for the City, inviting New Yorkers and visitors to a season centered on movement, community, and international artistry. The Festival animates the Lincoln Center campus indoors and out, featuring hundreds of performances, all free or Choose-What-You-Pay.
Summer for the City has established itself as a quintessential New York City summer destination, welcoming more than 1.6 million visitors since launching in 2022.
Now in its fifth year, the Festival reaffirms Lincoln Center’s commitment to advancing the arts as a force for inspiration, connection, and as central to thriving communities. A vibrant range of dance, music, and multidisciplinary performance uplift extraordinary artists from around the world and around the corner.
Across the 16-acre campus, Summer for the City emphasizes the power of place while ensuring the transformative impact of the arts remains deeply connected to everyday life in the city.
Dance takes center stage in the 2026 season, spanning a range of forms and traditions. A much-anticipated highlight of this summer, the launch of the Pasculano Collaborative for Contemporary Dance includes:
The inaugural Lincoln Center Contemporary Dance Festival in Alice Tully Hall, featuring five international companies with two U.S. premieres and two New York premieres; and
Dance Encounters, a new outdoor contemporary dance series on Hearst Plaza uplifting New York-based companies and featuring three new commissions.
Summer for the City opens Wednesday, June 10 with a triple header of dance on opening night:
KEIGWIN + COMPANY’s Rhapsody, a community dance work featuring 30 New Yorkers;
Inayat: A Duet for Four merging two ancient north Indian performance traditions; and
a swing dance party with Caleb Teicher & Company and Eyal Vilner Big Band
This summer also sees the return of the BAAND Together Dance Festival; the ever-popular social dance series across swing, Hip Hop, salsa, ballroom, and more; and silent discos under the stars, outdoors on Josie Robertson Plaza.
The season boasts nine new commissions, including:
Three commissions as part of Dance Encounters including two by choreographers Shen Wei and Vangeline, as well as Eichterling’s With Love film commission and world premiere, part of the Movement on Film: Athletic Shorts series;
Three commissions by composers Billy Childs, Hannah Ishizaki, and Jessie Montgomery with the Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center;
A brand-new iteration of KEIGWIN + COMPANY’s Rhapsody, a dance work featuring 30 New Yorkers made specifically for Lincoln Center and the surrounding community;
Du Yun’s The Ocean Etched in the Forest (刻在森林的海); and
Declaration by American pianist Lara Downes.
International artistry is a defining feature of the 2026 Festival, woven throughout the summer, inviting New Yorkers into individual initiatives celebrating artists and cultures from around the world, including:
Chinese Arts Week (Jul 22-29); Ruidosa Fest (Jul 12); globalFEST (Aug 1); K-Pop Dance Night (Jul 1); Brazil Day (Jul 9); Jamaica Day (Aug 8); and more.
The World at Play at Lincoln Center series celebrates the global spirit of soccer and the intersections of arts and sports. Live concerts and dance parties honor global soccer cultures and communities, while freestyle soccer performers showcase their skills and lead family-friendly workshops. The series also includes a film series curated by Film at Lincoln Center, and World Club DJ nights curated by Bill Coleman—featuring DJs from around the world and across New York City.
Collaborations with resident arts organizations across Lincoln Center continue to be a cornerstone of Summer for the City. The 2026 Festival includes collaborations with Film at Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, New York City Ballet, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, The Juilliard School, the New York Philharmonic, and the School of American Ballet.
This summer also sees the return of Summer Forum: Moving the Field Forward, a five-day celebratory convening that brings together teaching artists and educators from around the world. Through Lincoln Center Education’s signature immersive workshops and hands-on labs, participants explore the power of imaginative thinking, the intersections of the arts across schools and civic spaces, and new possibilities for advancing arts education.
Each summer, Lincoln Center’s outdoor spaces transform through designs by Artist-in-Residence and Summer for the City Visual Director Clint Ramos, inviting New Yorkers to come together, unwind, and share unforgettable artistic experiences under the open sky. This year unveils an entirely new design inspired by the season’s focus on dance, with the Revson Fountain—featuring a newly commissioned fountain show—and the Dance Floor as its centerpiece under the dynamic lighting designs of David Weiner.
The Festival celebrates the key role of the arts in our individual and collective wellbeing with the continuation of the Art of Wellbeing series—a pop-up wellness studio that harnesses the power of art to engage the mind, body, and spirit with free guided meditations, movement-based workshops, and more, accompanied by live music from world-class performers, and presented in collaboration with NewYork-Presbyterian, the Official Hospital of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. The summer also shines a light on disabled artists, with the return of Big Umbrella Day; comedy nights curated by The Squeaky Wheel, a series in the Atrium curated by disabled multi-disciplinary artist Jerron Herman, and more. Events throughout the summer are inclusively designed, integrating access needs with a range of accommodations for select performances and upon request—from ASL interpretation to audio description, live captioning, relaxed performances and more.
Summer for the City features a plethora of outdoor food offerings throughout the season, including a rotating Festival Food Truck and The Spotlight Bar hosting different iconic New York City establishments — presented by Chase in collaboration with The Infatuation, a restaurant discovery platform. The rotating food options feature international cuisines reflective of the cultural traditions within particular events, and a focus on local restaurateurs who use traditional methods, small-batch preparation, and an artisanal approach. Participating food trucks and bartenders will be announced in the coming weeks.
LCPA is dedicated to making the arts accessible to the widest possible audience. The majority of Summer for the City events are free, and select indoor performances are Choose-What-You-Pay starting at $5.
Choose-What-You-Pay tickets go on sale to Lincoln Center members on Wednesday, May 13 at 12pm and to the general public on Wednesday, May 20 at 12pm. All free events are General Admission, first-come, first-served unless otherwise noted. Fast Track reservations are available for select free events on Mondays at noon for that week’s events at LincolnCenter.org/FastTrack.
DANCE
The first iteration of the inaugural Lincoln Center Contemporary Dance Festival—a new, twice-yearly festival—establishes a consistent, visible, and ambitious home for contemporary dance in New York. Alice Tully Hall will be transformed into a brand-new world-class dance venue over three weeks, featuring five international companies and choreographers, two U.S. premieres and two New York premieres, presented as part of the Pasculano Collaborative for Contemporary Dance:
The New York premiere of Basel-based choreographer Jeremy Nedd’s from rock to rock…aka how magnolia was taken for granite, a work that uses the viral Milly Rock dance move as a vehicle for the reclamation of Black genius in popular culture (Jun 18 – 19); the New York premiere of Yinka Esi Graves’s The Disappearing Act which shines a light on the African roots of flamenco (Jun 20 – 21); South Korean choreographer Sung Im Her | Her Project uses pulsating movement to create a sense of urgency around the changing environment around us with the U.S. premiere of 1 Degree Celsius (Jun 24-25); Rachid Ouramdane | Compagnie de Chaillot presents Tordre, an intimate, sensitive duet celebrating atypical physicality (Jun 27-28); and culminating with the U.S. premiere of Akram Khan’s newest work, Thikra: Night of Remembering, which explores heritage and ancestry in a desert landscape with an international female ensemble. (Jul 2-5)
The first iteration of the Lincoln Center Contemporary Dance Festival was developed by a team of curators, including guest curator Kyle Abraham and has a focus on International Artists.
Dance Encounters, a new outdoor dance series on Heart Plaza highlighting New York-based companies, in intimate and dynamic performances, presented as part of the Pasculano Collaborative for Contemporary Dance:
Three new commissions including Shen Wei (Jul 22-25) as part of Chinese Arts Week; Butoh artist Vangeline (Aug 5-8); and a world premiere digital commission of a new dance film by Eichterling, Bret Easterling and Julia Eichten, titled “With Love” (Jul 15-17). Other performances include Les Ballet Afrik’s Omari Wiles (Jun 17-18); Brooklyn-based Ogemdi Ude’s outdoor version of her celebrated performance MAJOR (Jun 24-27); Anna Sperber’s Bow Echo (Jul 1-3); and Benjamin Akio Kimich’s Tiger Hands (Jul 29-31)
Two film series, Movement on Film: Athletic Shorts (Jul 15-17) and Born to Fly: Elizabeth Streb vs. Gravity (Jul 10)
The sixth anniversary of the BAAND Together Dance Festival, as five of NYC’s most iconic dance companies—Ballet Hispánico New York, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Dance Theatre of Harlem—reunite on one stage. BAAND Together Dance Festival is made possible by CHANEL. Major Support provided by Chase. (Jul 28-Aug 1)
Street Dance Takeover: Beats, Battles and Breaking, a daylong celebration of contemporary street dance highlighting multigenerational artists and culture-makers from New York City and beyond (Aug 2)
INAYAT: A Duet for Four merging two ancient north Indian performance traditions, presented in collaboration with Jodhpur RIFF Festival (Jun 10-12)
KEIGWIN + COMPANY’s Rhapsody, a community dance work featuring 30 New Yorkers (Jun 10).
SOCIAL DANCE & SILENT DISCOS
Social dance on The Dance Floor with dozens of genres all summer long. Featured artists include an opening night Swing Dance Party with Caleb Teicher & Company and Eyal Vilner Big Band (Jun 10); Stud Country (Jun 12); La Tribu de Abrante (Jun 18); Louis Armstrong House Museum Big Band (Jun 25); Joe McGinty & The Loser’s Lounge and DJ Bill Coleman (Jul 2); Glad Rags Orchestra (Jul 8); Herencia de Timbiqui (Jul 17); Chelsea Reed and the Fair Weather Band (Jul 31) and more—each beginning with a DJ set and dance tutorials across a variety of dance styles.
Silent discos on The Dance Floor multiple nights per week with a diverse range of dance styles, opening with GINJA: Featuring DJ Ethan Tomas (Jun 10); other featured guests include DJ Reborn, A Tribute to D’Angelo presented in collaboration with The Apollo (Jun 27); a K-Pop Dance Night With DJ MOOBEK & HWARANG (Jul 1); Summerstage Silent Disco honoring their 40th anniversary (Jun 17); Latine DJ collective Future Rootz (Jun 13); The Illustrious Blacks (Jul 29); Gathering: An R&B SoulFest with DJFLWRSHRK. (Jul 30); and more.
World Club DJ nights curated by DJ Bill Coleman—featuring DJs from Canada, Mexico, and the United States including Béco Dranoff (Jul 9); Belinda Becker (Jul 10); Arty Furtado & DJ David (Jul 11); Soul In The Horn (Jul 16); Hector Romero (Jul 17); dj.shErOck* & Moni (Jul 18); Múlu & Keys N Krates (Jul 19). Support for the World Club DJ series is provided by United Airlines.
CLASSICAL MUSIC
The Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center returns with an expanded season of concerts in David Geffen Hall, under Renée and Robert Belfer Music & Artistic Director Jonathon Heyward. The resident summer orchestra season features three commissions, including a world premiere, alongside traditional classics. Additional Support for Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center is provided by Mitsui & Co. (U.S.A.), Inc. (Jul 8 – Aug 8)
Commissions include the Northeast premiere of a Double Concerto by Billy Childs for Anthony McGill and Demarre McGill, in the Avery Fisher Legacy Concert; the U.S. premiere of Jessie Montgomery’s new cello concerto These Righteous Paths with Abel Selaocoe; and a world premiere commission by Hannah Ishizaki. Additional guest artists include conductor Eun Sun Kim, conductor Chloé Van Soeterstède, violinist/leader Alina Ibragimova, violinist Simone Lamsma, mezzo-soprano Taylor Raven, and pianist Alice Sara Ott
The final installment in the multi-year exploration of Robert Schumann’s symphonies through the lens of mental health via a conversation series, presented in collaboration with Jameel Arts & Health Lab, established with the World Health Organization (WHO), focusing on the intersection of arts and wellbeing.
Continued collaborations with the New York Philharmonic through their Very Young Composers Program (VYC), as well as with the New York City Public Schools Summer Arts Institute (SAI).
The world premiere of Lara Downes’ Declaration, a Lincoln Center co-commission with Valerie Coleman’s Life, a work for solo piano; Arturo O’Farrill’s Liberty; and Christopher Tin’s The Pursuit of Happiness. Performed by the American Composers Orchestra under the baton of Eric Jacobsen (Jul 1).
The Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra presents Of Rivers and Roses, with works by Handel in dialogue with works by Caroline Shaw, featuring countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen, soprano Lauren Snouffer, bass-baritone Dashon Burton, and conducted by Peter Whelan (Aug 6)
Nadia Sirota’s Living Music series explores innovations in contemporary sound with Sam Amidon (Jun 24); Poiesis Quartet (Jul 8); Ian Chang (Jul 22); and Nadia Sirota and Friends (Aug 5).
CHINESE ARTS WEEK
Building on the success of Brazil Week, Korean Arts Week, and India Week in summers past, this year’s festival immerses audiences in a range of festivities that highlight the depth of China’s cultural landscape during Chinese Arts Week—showcasing the country’s music, dance, art, cuisine, and more. Events span from traditional to contemporary and include:
The North American premiere of Du Yun’s The Ocean Etched in the Forest (刻在森林的海); Theater Storytime with Grace Chang; Zhao Family’s Lion Dance and the Fumei Youth Yingge team from Guangdong China; a social dance event featuring music by the electronic group Shanghai Restoration Project and South African rapper and dancer Tebza Diphehlo; Shen Wei and Guangdong Modern Dance Company; Chinatown Records and Red Silk Dancers; Kungfu Hip Hop; Tai Chi With Raymond Li as part of the Art of Wellbeing; About Face: Disrupting Ballet Film Screening; and more (Jul 22-29)
FEATURED CONCERTS & TAKEOVERS
Dream Machine Studio presents Nightbirds, the Music of Labelle featuring Nona Hendryx, with Labelle founding member Nona Hendryx alongside a trio of original Labelle musicians—Eddie Martinez on guitar, Carmine Rojas on bass, and Jose Rossy on percussion—with guest lead vocalists including Ledisi, Tony Award-Winner Adrienne Warren, Kimberly Nichole, and more to be announced. The concert features their original songs woven into the currently-in-development rock opera, inspired by the legendary trio and written by Nona Hendryx and double Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage (Jun 28)
The influential Hip-Hop duo dead prez makes their Lincoln Center debut. This special performance is produced by Jill Newman Productions & liber8 (Jun 11)
Ruidosa Fest returns to Lincoln Center for the third year in a row for a day of women-led Latine music and dance, with featured guest artists Lila Downs, Elsa y Elmar, Rubio, duendita, Edna Vazquez, Francisca Valenzuela, Ella Bric, Brazilian pop icon Pabllo Vittar bringing CLUB VITTAR to the Dance Floor, and more (Jul 12)
The first NYC revival in 25 years of Glenn Branca’s Symphony No. 13, “Hallucination City”, written for 100 guitars (Jun 12)
A celebration of Juneteenth curated by Carl Hancock Rux with Oh Sankofa commemorating the rich history of Black American culture and music, across genres and eras through music, choral performance, dance, and storytelling (Jun 19)
Jamaica Day featuring legendary roots and reggae band Black Uhuru, world roots band Brown Rice Family, and Sound Clash curated by Jive Poetic with host and DJ Max Glazer with opening sets by Rico Frederick and DJ Paco from BKHP and featuring GT HIFI, King Civic Sound, and SOUNDPLEX (Aug 8)
Brazil Day presented in collaboration with Brasil Summerfest featuring singer-songwriter Maurício Baia, and Alici Sol; also featuring Roda de Samba with Regional Samaúma, a screening of the film Pelé (Ben Nichols & David Tryhorn, 2021) curated by Film at Lincoln Center, and silent disco by Béco Dranoff (Jul 9)
Mexican Institute of Sound & Meridian Brothers present Ruido Tovar featuring Eblis Álvarez and Camilo Lara for an exploration of Colombian and Mexican sounds (Jul 30)
Tabou Combo features the global ambassadors of konpa, Haiti’s national dance music (Jun 24)
globalFEST returns with Cape Verdean singer Elida Almeida, Sudanese-American rocker Sinkane, and Saha Gnawa bringing North African futurism by way of Brooklyn. (Aug 1)
Brooklyn DJ J. PERIOD presents The Block Party (Jun 27)
The Juilliard Summer Finale, showcasing the extraordinary talents of high school students from around the world living, studying, and performing at Juilliard each July through Juilliard Summer Music (Jul 24)
KIDS & FAMILY
Storytimes in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts in the David Geffen Hall Lobby: Antonio Truyols kicks off the Festival with a Music Storytime (Jun 10); a Dance Storytime with Dinita “Queen Di” Clark (Jun 17); a Theater Storytime with AJ Freeman and Maria Caputo (Jul 8); a Theater Storytime With Grace Chang as part of Chinese Arts Week (Jul 22); a Music Storytime with Divinity Roxx (Aug 5) and more
Our celebrated Big Umbrella Festival returns this summer as a free day-long campus takeover for Big Umbrella Day, welcoming neurodivergent audiences and their families. This summer’s offerings include the Paraorchestra, a collective of disabled and non-disabled musicians; The Naughty Penguin, an interactive puppet performance; and numerous relaxed spaces along with multi-sensory experiences, performances, installations, and workshops. (Jun 13)
A ballet workshop with the School of American Ballet (Jul 11)
Create-athon with Cibo Matto’s Miho Hatori (Jul 10), and an event designed by Kid Koala (Jul 19)
SUMMER AT THE ATRIUM
Stand-up comedy nights with curation by NYLaughs, Marcus Russell Price, Jungle Cat Comedy, and The Squeaky Wheel
Shows curated by Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning author Suzan-Lori Parks and Lincoln Center’s Poet-in-Residence Mahogany L. Browne
A jazz series presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center featuring a birthday concert celebration for Louis Armstrong and the 250th anniversary of America, a tribute to Art Blakey, Sean Mason Trio, Jason Marsalis Quartet, Orrin Evans, Nicole Glover, and more.
A 3-part series curated by disabled multi-disciplinary artist Jerron Herman
