NYC Lincoln Center Summer For the City Featured Events, Performances, Activities For Kids, Families From Across Five Boroughs
See the video below to learn more about the programs, performances, and workshops at Lincoln Center during their annual Summer for the City celebration. We’ve covered their programs in the past, and they recently unveiled one of the first phases in the redevelopment of their entrances to make them more visitor friendly.
Ruidosa Fest, the female-led festival celebrating Latin music, is coming back to Lincoln Center, July 12.
We just released the full schedule for the day and have added some great conversations and workshops in addition to performances by Lila Downs, Pabllo Vittar, Francisca Valenzuela, Elsa y Elmar, duendita, Rubio and more.
ABOUT RUIDOSA FEST NYC 2026
Ruidosa Fest, the acclaimed female-led music festival and cultural platform founded by singer-songwriter Francisca Valenzuela, returns to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on Sunday, July 12, 2026, for its third consecutive year as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City.
Free and open to the public, the all-day celebration brings together artists, activists, authors, producers, and cultural leaders from across the Americas for a dynamic program of live music, conversations, workshops, and community engagement. Rooted in Ruidosa’s mission to amplify the voices of women and gender-diverse creatives, this year’s festival further expands its cultural programming while showcasing some of the most exciting and influential artists working today.
The 2026 music lineup features GRAMMY Award-winning icon Lila Downs; CLUB VITTAR, the electrifying dance-floor experience led by global superstar Pabllo Vittar; celebrated singer-songwriter and Ruidosa founder Francisca Valenzuela; Colombian synth-pop favorite Elsa y Elmar; GRAMMY-nominated Chilean artist Rubio; acclaimed vocalist, composer, and producer duendita; and Mexican singer-songwriter Edna Vazquez. The evening’s CLUB VITTAR programming will also include sets from Dominga & Volvox and Armana Khan.
Beyond the stage, Ruidosa Fest continues to expand as a platform for dialogue, learning, and collective action. This year’s community programming includes How to Be a Guerrilla Girl y Hacer Ruido, a conversation featuring the legendary feminist art collective Guerrilla Girls alongside artist and writer Coco Fusco; From Cultural Memory to Sound, a masterclass led by Latin GRAMMY-winning producer and songwriter Ella Bric; and a literary gathering presented in collaboration with the National Book Foundation and Café Con Libros, celebrating storytelling, literature, and diverse voices.
“Ruidosa was created to build community, amplify voices, and imagine new possibilities through culture,” said Francisca Valenzuela, founder of Ruidosa. “We’re honored to return to Lincoln Center with a program that celebrates artistic excellence while creating meaningful spaces for connection, learning, and collective empowerment.”
This July, Lincoln Center shined a spotlight on the rich cultural artistry of China with a week-long showcase of programs highlighting the depth and diversity of Chinese culture from July 22-26. As a part of their Summer for the City festival, Chinese Arts Week showcases the country’s creative excellence. Highlights of the week include:
- Pulitzer Prize winner Du Yun reimagines ancient oral traditions of the Jino people at the North American premiere of her new work, The Ocean Etched in the Forest (刻在森林的海), commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Beijing Music Festival.
- Shen Wei Dance Arts celebrates the 30th anniversary of their first Lincoln Center shows in a joint performance with the influential Guangdong Modern Dance Company
- Everything Everywhere All at Once soundtrack composer Ian Chang makes his Lincoln Center headlining debut with selections from his earlier solo work and new projects in process.
- Electronics duo Taiga make their Lincoln Center headlining debut on the Dance Floor
- Artist Qi Yu, a guzheng (Chinese zither) performer originally from Inner Mongolia, China, makes her Lincoln Center debut
- A live music performance and dance workshop by the electronic group Shanghai Restoration Project (SRP) and South African rapper Tebza Majaivane aka Tebza Diphehlo
The week will also offer a Silent Disco, spotlighting contemporary Mandopop and Cantopop hits with international DJ sets, as well as family-friendly workshops, a Storytime with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, local Chinese food vendors, and much more to discover.
CHINESE ARTS WEEK PROGRAMMING
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 at 11:00 am and 1:00 pm
Theater Storytime With Grace Chang
Karen and Richard LeFrak Lobby, David Geffen Hall
FREE
Presented in collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Acclaimed author and performer Grace Chang offers a children’s Storytime reading of her book Jin Jin the Dragon, illustrated by Chong Chang. Brought to life with puppetry and magic, the story follows Jin Jin, a newly hatched dragon on a quest to discover what kind of creature he is. This charming parable of self-discovery is suitable for children wondering about their own identities and origins.
July 22, 23 and 25 at 6:00 pm, July 24 at 7:00 pm
Shen Wei Dance Arts | Guangdong Modern Dance Company: MindScape
Hearst Plaza
FREE
Part of the Pasculano Collaborative for Contemporary Dance
As part of Chinese Arts Week and Dance Encounters, a new cross-cultural, cross-national, and cross-temporal work MindScape from choreographer Shen Wei features Shen Wei Dance Arts and Guangdong Modern Dance Company, co-commissioned by Lincoln Center and American Dance Festival. Combining contemporary dance with poetry, abstract calligraphy, and painting, the work explores the spiritual pursuit of inner harmony and transcendence, and how this ancient concept may be used in pursuit of a future “spiritual landscape,” creating profound unity between humanity and nature.
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 at 7:00 pm
Awakening Lion + Yingge Dance 南国醒狮 x 英歌
The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza
FREE
As part of the opening day’s festivities for Lincoln Center’s Chinese Arts Week, we present a performance of the millennia-old south China theater procession known as Xing Shi or the Awakening Lion (南国醒狮). The charismatic Awakening Lion hails originally from Guangdong, which is also the home of Yingge dance (英歌), a highly stylized and energetic folk dance that merges Chinese opera acrobatics, costuming and make-up with characters from classical novels such as White Snake and Water Margin. Both of these traditional arts will leap to life on The Dance Floor with the Awakening Lion Dance presented by Zhao Family Lion Dance Company, a UNESCO-recognized cultural heritage carrier, accompanied by the gravity-defying Fumei Youth Yingge Team from the town of Puning in Guangdong.
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 at 7:30 pm
David Rubenstein Atrium
FREE
Ian Chang is a virtuosic, genre-agnostic percussionist, composer, and producer who manipulates sound samples into a seamless synthesis of raw intensity and sophisticated sound design. Since joining eclectic trio Son Lux in 2014 and supporting artists such as Moses Sumney, Matthew Dear, and CHVRCHES, Chang’s debut 2020 full-length record, 属 Belonging, offered deeper insight into his unique and ever-evolving vision. Chang is an in-demand soundtrack artist who scored the 2022 Best Picture Oscar winner Everything Everywhere All at Once with Son Lux, for which the band was nominated for two Academy Awards and a BAFTA. Performing as part of both Chinese Arts Week and Nadia Sirota’s Living Music program, Chang’s Lincoln Center debut headlining set will feature selections from his earlier solo work and new projects in process.
Wednesday, July 22, 2026 at 8:30 pm
The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza
FREE
Summer for the City’s Chinese Arts Week kicks off with a Chinatown Records (華埠錄音) block party, presented by special guest DJs yiuyiu (瑶瑶) and Alice Liu (劉凱儀). Chinatown Records is a homegrown collective and living archive of inherited music collections founded by mixmaster historian yiuyiu. Get ready to party with an explosive set of classic Cantopop and Mandopop hits and rarities, Chinatown style!
Thursday, July 23, 2026 at 6:30 pm
Shanghai Restoration Project and Tebza Majaivane
Finding Bakoena in a SoJo Cloud
The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza
FREE
Take a step on The Dance Floor for a one-night-only event featuring a live music performance and dance workshop by the electronic group Shanghai Restoration Project (SRP) and South African rapper Tebza Majaivane aka Tebza Diphehlo, national champion of Red Bull Dance Your Style. Blending field recordings of Chinese ethnic minority musicians in Yunnan with the South African electronic music style of amapiano, “Finding Baokena in a SoJo Cloud” is a cross-cultural magnet for electronic dance music lovers around the world. Come find your rhythm on The Dance Floor during Chinese Arts Week as you learn new steps to the beat of this thrilling collaboration.
Thursday, July 23, 2026 at 7:30 pm
About Face: Disrupting Ballet Film Screening
David Rubenstein Atrium
FREE
Presented as part of Lincoln Center’s Chinese Arts Week and China Institute’s centennial celebration, About Face: Disrupting Ballet, a new feature-length documentary, spotlights the efforts of former New York City Ballet soloist Georgina Pazcoguin and author, producer, and choreographer Phil Chan as they launch their global Final Bow for Yellowface movement and challenge the dance world to rid ballet of long-standing Asian stereotypes. This vivid account of the growing pains of creative evolution reveals the tension and risks artists endure as they push classical artforms to more authentically reflect audiences today. After the screening, join us for a talk-back with the film’s subjects and China Institute of America’s Director of Programs, Susan Yuqing Feng. For a century, China Institute of America has been dedicated to deepening the world’s understanding of China.
Friday, July 24, 2026 at 2:00 and 7:00 pm
The Ocean Etched in the Forest
Alice Tully Hall
CHOOSE-WHAT-YOU-PAY
Lincoln Center presents a major work from the Pulitzer Prize-winning composer and performer Du Yun. Born in China and currently based in New York City, Du Yun’s insatiable curiosity finds new voice in The Ocean Etched in the Forest (刻在森林的海). Over the past several years, Du Yun and her collaborator Julian Crouch have worked closely with Jino artists from Yunnan province, including He Guiying, the national inheritor of his people’s unique heritage. Living almost entirely isolated from urban society until 1979, the Jino people have maintained their distinct culture and ecologically grounded mindset amid rampant modernization. In collaboration with Du Yun and Crouch, Guiying has been recording Jino children from Bapiao Village as they perform nearly forgotten local folk songs. These recordings, merged with music from Du Yun’s band OK MISS and live theatrical elements, form Ocean’s original musical tapestry for a concert that transcends time and geography. Join us for a work that highlights the intersections of ancient tradition and modern methodology, folk tales and contemporary storytelling, and generations living and gone.
This performance is commissioned by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and the Beijing Music Festival. The world premiere of Ocean Etched in the Forest took place at the Beijing Music Festival, followed by the North American Premiere as part of the Lincoln Center Presents Summer for the City 2026.
Friday, July 24, 2026 at 6:00 pm
The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza
FREE
From the moment popping, locking, and breaking entered into the world culture vocabulary, Hip-Hop dance and kung fu have been in a mutually respectful conversation. Both require years of training to perfect; and both place a high value on acrobatics, grace, and style. For this live performance as part of Lincoln Center’s Chinese Arts Week, China-based dance squads versed in the vernacular language of both b-boy swag and martial arts rigor meet for a costumed dance showcase with performers dressed in both traditional Chinese cultural apparel and contemporary style. It’s a Hip-Hop battle and a high intensity sparring session; crews and lead dancers will be announced shortly.
Friday, July 24, 2026 at 8:00 pm
Chinatown Records Time Machine
The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza
FREE
Chinese Arts Week keeps on going with the Chinatown Records Time Machine silent disco! Join local collective and archive Chinatown Records 華埠錄音for a sonic ride across the decades of Canto/Mandopop hits. To celebrate season 5 of Chinatown Block Party 夏日傾情, Chinatown Records brings together their all-star team of resident DJs yiuyiu 瑶瑶, Buckley Yung 翁百里, and Hao 浩然 to time travel across The Dance Floor from 1960s nightclubs and 1980s discos, to 2000s raves and their all-time favorite karaoke bars in Chinatown.
Saturday, July 25, 2026 at 12:00 pm
Chinatown Records & Dance with Red Silk Dancers
David Rubenstein Atrium
FREE
Experience the arts and culture of China during Summer for the City’s Chinese Arts Week! This day of music and dance at the Atrium features the Red Silk Dancers—a long-running NYC-based Chinese dance company—who perform to selections from yiuyiu 瑤瑤, founder of local collective and archive Chinatown Records 華埠錄音. Before their performance, join the Red Silk Dancers’ founder Margaret Yuen for an all-ages lesson on traditional and contemporary Chinese movement with a twist (and with silks, of course). From folk and classical dance, to modern takes on tradition, this afternoon of family programming is all about culture, creation, and connectivity.
Saturday, July 25, 2026 at 7:00 pm
The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza
FREE
As part of our Chinese Arts Week, Lincoln Center welcomes Hanggai, an eight-member Inner Mongolian folk ensemble that mixes the ancient traditional art of Khoomei throat singing with contemporary punk, emo, and metal rock styles. By combining Indigenous instruments such as the two-stringed taobushuur lute and the horse-head fiddle with Western instrumentation like drum kits and electric guitar, Hanggai has crafted a sound that both remains true to Khoomei’s UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage roots and feels freshly modern. Over the past 15 years, the band has toured on six continents and released seven albums, including their debut Introducing Hanggai, which Pitchfork called “transcendently powerful,” and their most recent LP, 2024’s Wheel of Fortune (時來運轉). This versatile group has also collaborated with The Shanghai Symphony Orchestra and starred in the Chinese TV talent competition Sing My Song. This concert marks their first return to Lincoln Center since 2013.
Saturday, July 25, 2026 at 9:00 pm
The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza
FREE
Connect on The Dance Floor for two sets by Chinese electronic duo TAIGA. Hailing from Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang, multi-instrumentalists Xi Leilei and Husile meld traditional ethnic sounds, instruments, and techniques—including Khoomei throat singing, the horse-head fiddle, and Tuvan doshpuluur lute—with a range of Western influences and contemporary production techniques to form their own psychedelic nomad soundtrack. For their Lincoln Center debut, TAIGA presents an hour-long amplified concert, followed by an hour-long Silent Disco.
Sunday, July 26, 2026 at 6:00 pm
David Rubenstein Atrium
FREE
Presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center
As part of Chinese Arts Week, we welcome Washington, D.C- based artist Qi Yu, a guzheng (Chinese zither) performer originally from Inner Mongolia, China. Deeply rooted in traditional Chinese melodies and rhythmic frameworks, Qi Yu’s music reimagines the ancient guzheng through the improvisational energy and rhythmic drive of jazz. Curated by Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Ambassador to JALC Shanghai, Walter Blanding, Qi Yu and her ensemble, featuring piano, bass, and drums, create a vibrant sonic landscape that highlights the rich intersections where Eastern tradition meets Western innovation, weaving together storytelling, improvisation, and cross-cultural dialogue. In her Lincoln Center debut, Qi Yu will present a dynamic program featuring ancient Chinese folk songs, original works, and reimagined classics, offering an innovative performance steeped in multicultural tradition.
Lincoln Center Names Wynton Marsalis
2026-2027 Visionary Artist
Groundbreaking Trumpeter, Composer, and Jazz at Lincoln Center Founder Honored in His Final Year Leading the Organization, with Programs Spanning Musical Traditions
NEW YORK, NY (May 20, 2026) – Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LCPA) today announces award-winning trumpeter, composer, and educator Wynton Marsalis as the 2026-2027 Lincoln Center Visionary Artist. Free concerts, performances from Marsalis, talks and panels, and more celebrate his storied musical journey as his tenure leading Jazz at Lincoln Center, which he co-founded in 1987, comes to a close.
Marsalis is one of the most internationally acclaimed and consequential figures in American music and culture and has shaped Lincoln Center in ways that few artists in any field ever change an institution. After nearly 40 years as the founder and driving force of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and founder and Music Director of the remarkable Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, the 2026-2027 season will be his last as Artistic Director.
“Wynton Marsalis embodies the cultural excellence that the Visionary Artist distinction was created to celebrate. His works have defined modern jazz and shaped how we think about education, community, and nurturing the next generation of artists from around the world,” said Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “We are so proud to honor him in his final year leading Jazz at Lincoln Center and celebrate all he has contributed to the Lincoln Center campus and the American music canon.”
“Lincoln Center would not be what it is today without Wynton Marsalis,” said Mariko Silver, President and CEO of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “With his strong vision for what jazz could achieve, he built the genre a home on the Lincoln Center campus and brought the joy of jazz to millions of people here in New York City, and in communities across the country and the world. We are grateful to have the opportunity to recognize his incredible legacy, which will endure for generations to come.”
“Few artists have shaped the cultural landscape as profoundly as Wynton Marsalis,” said Clarence Otis, Board Chair of Jazz at Lincoln Center. “Through his extraordinary artistry, visionary leadership, and unwavering commitment to performance, education, and advocacy through jazz, he has inspired generations of artists and audiences around the world. As the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts community honors Wynton’s remarkable achievements through these organization-wide celebrations, we welcome the broader arts community in recognizing the legacy of our visionary founder.”
The 2026-2027 Visionary Artist celebration – running from June 14, 2026 to October 27, 2027 – offers a comprehensive look at Marsalis’ body of work, beginning this summer with six free concerts in the David Rubenstein Atrium. Part of Summer for the City, these concerts trace the musical traditions and relationships that have shaped Marsalis’ artistic life. The Festival Orchestra of Lincoln Center performs Still Singing, Marsalis’ second string quartet that combines multiple American music sounds, from jazz and blues, to classical and funk. Concerts presented in collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center see both beloved and up-and-coming artists perform, including Jason Marsalis, Orrin Evans, Nicole Glover, Xavier Anderson, Ben Wolfe and more. As the finale to their Summer Evenings concert series, Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center takes on Marsalis’ Selections from At the Octoroon Balls in Alice Tully Hall. Later in the year, two formidable ensembles from The Juilliard School perform Marsalis’ Symphony No. 4, “The Jungle,” inspired by New York City; and Lincoln Center Theater will host an intimate salon-style evening, celebrating musical storytelling at the intersection of jazz and Broadway.
Also, part of Jazz at Lincoln Center’s own 2026-2027 season Wynton: Come Home, audiences can experience a rich cross-section of Marsalis’ music, from big band settings to rare, intimate performances with his Quintet and Septet, in Rose Theater at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Highlights include:
- The Ever Fonky Lowdown with Award-winning actor Wendell Pierce;
- New works honoring Mark Twain and Benjamin Franklin;
- Selections from Ochas and Afro!;
- The lively animal ballet Spaces;
- Marsalis and the Masters featuring his big band arrangements of Thelonious Monk, Louis Armstrong, and John Coltrane, with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra;
- The World in Swing celebrating jazz as a dynamic bridge across cultures, with masters of flamenco, Brazilian, and Arab classical traditions;
- Call and Response where members of the Orchestra perform their own bold interpretations of Marsalis’ most beloved compositions, and many more.
Audiences have multiple opportunities to hear directly from Marsalis himself. In a keynote, entitled An Evening with Wynton Marsalis: The Future of Jazz and Democracy at Alice Tully Hall, Marsalis discusses the intersectionality of the arts and civics for up-and-coming American artists and future generations of creatives. In collaboration with The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Marsalis speaks with the Metropolitan Opera General Manager Peter Gelb in the panel The Universal Language of Jazz: Utilizing America’s Pioneer Artform Across Disciplines, with archival items from the library’s collection aiding their discussion. Future programming to be announced includes collaborations with Film at Lincoln Center, and additional moments to celebrate Wynton Marsalis’ legacy.
Each year, Lincoln Center’s Visionary Artist distinction honors an extraordinary creative whose impact and vision resonate across the many disciplines represented on the Lincoln Center campus. Celebrated in collaboration with Lincoln Center’s resident arts organizations, previous Visionary Artist honorees are Terence Blanchard (2023-2024), Rubén Blades (2024-2025), and Jeanine Tesori (2025-2026), whose celebratory season recently concluded.
Marsalis is the founder of Jazz at Lincoln Center, one of the campus’ 11 resident arts organizations, which he has led as managing and artistic director for almost 40 years. His vision and advocacy for the art of jazz brought to life this permanent home for the genre on the Lincoln Center campus in 1996, growing from a small jazz concert series, to a Lincoln Center department, into a full-fledged organization in just a few short years. He also simultaneously built one of the most substantial catalogues in American music. Marsalis is a nine-time GRAMMY Award winner. His jazz oratorio Blood on the Fields was the first jazz composition to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. His compositions include more than 600 original works, including 13 suites, five symphonies, 11 dance scores, and concertos for violin, tuba, trumpet, orchestra, and cello; he has performed more than 5,300 concerts in 70 countries. Marsalis is the Founding Director of Jazz Studies at The Juilliard School and President of the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation. He has long championed music education, including through Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Jazz for Young People concerts and the internationally acclaimed Essentially Ellington High School Jazz Band Competition & Festival, which will publish eight unreleased scores by Marsalis this year, distributed free to schools worldwide. Additionally, Jazz at Lincoln Center’s Swing U will present a series of classes on various aspects of Marsalis’ career as band leader and composer throughout the 2027 season.
Several ticketing options are available for Lincoln Center’s Visionary Artist series with Wynton Marsalis. Concerts in the David Rubenstein Atrium, part of Summer for the City, are free, first-come, first-served.
Banner Image: Wynton Marsalis as the 2026-2027 Lincoln Center Visionary Artist. Image Credit – Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center
In 2019, new leadership at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts set a strategic direction for our work with a renewed focus on equity and service to all of New York City. In the spring of 2020, we committed to hold ourselves accountable in ways we believe will help us be part of positive change in our community. These commitments remain at the forefront of our work every day. As tectonic societal shifts around social justice continue, our progress in this area is the most important measurement of our contributions to the well-being of all New Yorkers.
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