Lincoln Center, seeking new audiences, plans to recreate the West Edge
Lincoln Center welcomes visitors at its main entrance overlooking Broadway with an elegant plaza, a majestic fountain, and an array of travertine concert halls and theaters.
But the view from the western edge of the center, along Amsterdam Avenue, is much less pleasant: an imposing wall stretches over several blocks and gives the feeling of a fortress.
Now Lincoln Center, in hopes of attracting new audiences and fostering closer ties with nearby public housing complexes, schools and community centers, is planning a major renovation of its west side, the organization’s leaders announced Tuesday. The project is likely to include tearing down parts of the wall, building an outdoor stage and renovating Damrosch Park, on the corner of Amsterdam and West 62nd Street.
“As hospitable as we are in the East, we should be in the West,” Henry Timms, Lincoln Center’s president and chief executive, said in an interview.
“In places it’s unclear what might be behind these walls,” he added of downtown’s west side. “The message is one from another world, and I think that’s a mistake.”
The renovation is the latest effort by Timms, whose tenure began in 2019, to shed Lincoln Center’s highbrow image and attract a more diverse crowd, especially the city’s black and Latino residents. The center has worked in recent years to diversify programming and expand campus access, including experimenting with a “choose-what-you-pay” model for some events.
The project is partly a response to the complicated history of Lincoln Center on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. A vibrant neighborhood known as San Juan Hill, home to many low-income black and Latino residents, was razed to make way for downtown construction, which began in 1959.
Citing that history, Lincoln Center leaders said it would be critical to get public input for the renovation by organizing workshops, walking tours and surveys. The center has partnered with NADAAA, a Boston architectural firm, and Hester Street, a non-profit organization specializing in urban planning and community development.
In a statement, Katherine G. Farley, the outgoing chairman of the Lincoln Center board of directors, said: “This process will encourage the community to envision how we can create a beautiful and architectural welcome for our neighbors to the west, and ensure that the campus invites everyone to come and enjoy our offer.”
Lincoln Center has not provided an estimated cost or timeline for the project. Timms said it was a major effort that would help define Lincoln Center’s modern legacy and was a natural next step after the recent $550 million renovation of David Geffen Hall, home of the New York Philharmonic, which was also aimed, in part, at deepening community ties and attracting new audiences.
“This is a very important priority of the institution,” he said. “If we can get the idea right, I’m confident we can work hard and get the necessary resources to create something great for New York City.”
The area around the western campus includes the Amsterdam Houses, a public housing complex that first opened in 1947 for World War II veterans. Across the street is LaGuardia High School, known for its music and performing arts programs, and the Martin Luther King Jr. Educational Complex, where six high schools are located.
Lincoln Center leaders said plans for the renovation depend on public input, but they identified several broad goals. The area surveyed includes the stretch of Amsterdam Avenue from West 62nd to West 65th Street, as well as Damrosch Park and the northwest corner of the campus, which now houses the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
Timms said the spirit of the project was in line with Lincoln Center’s original mission: to make art accessible to all.
“It’s not a new waking idea,” he said. “That was an idea at its founding — that Lincoln Center’s goal really wasn’t to be exclusive, it was to be inclusive.”
Local officials praised the project and said it was important for the city’s residents, especially those with ties to the former San Juan Hill neighborhood, to be heard. Lincoln Center installed one last year mural on Amsterdam Avenue tells the story of the neighborhood, including its rich Afro-diasporic musical heritage.
“Their stories and experiences are critical to building a strong foundation for a more inclusive future within the community spaces that serve this neighborhood,” Gale Brewer, a member of the New York City Council, said in a statement.
Maria Guzman, a public housing resident who lives south of Lincoln Center, said she hoped the renovation would allow more low-income residents to experience the arts.
“We called that wall the great divide because it felt like Lincoln Center just wanted to divide the neighborhood,” she said in an interview. “The fact that they are finally – hopefully – tearing down this wall is amazing to me. And I think the community will welcome it.”