THEATER FOR THE NEW CITY
Executive Director, Crystal Field, with
The LES Committee, Presents:
The 29TH Annual LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS
FREE!!!
Memorial Day Weekend. MAY 24, 25, 26 2024 – Friday, Saturday, Sunday
Theater for the New City
155 First Avenue. (btw E 9th and E 10th Street)
New York, NY 10003
212-254-1109
Theater for the New City has currently scheduled over 200 performing arts organizations, independent artists, poets, puppeteers and film makers for its 29th annual Lower East Side Festival of the Arts.
Admission is free but donations will be gratefully accepted.
Indoor performances will take stage from 6:00 PM to midnight each day, utilizing two of TNC’s four theaters. From 10:00 AM to 6:00 PM Saturday, vendors and food sellers, including booths from nearby restaurants, will set up in the closed-off block of East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues.
ARTISTS IN THE LES FESTIVAL OF THE ARTS EXHIBIT – CHECK OUT THE GALLERY GUIDE HERE: DEMOCRACY: USE IT OR LOSE IT
BACKGROUND
The first festival, presented June 14 to 16, 1996, was a three-day, indoor and outdoor multi-arts festival, organized by TNC and a coalition of civic, cultural and business leaders. The aim was to demonstrate the creative explosion of the Lower East Side and the area’s importance to culture and tourism for New York City. It employed two theater spaces at TNC plus the block of East Tenth Street between First and Second Avenues, featured over 100 attractions, drew favorable press and attracted crowds from all around the City. Its success prompted TNC to continue the festival annually on Memorial Day Weekend. For 28 years it has been presented free each year to an average attendance of 4,000. (In 2020 it was held online due to pandemic concerns).
The concept of the festival was developed by Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director of TNC and Esther Cartegena (d. 2006), President of Loisaida, Inc., to portray the Lower East Side (LES) as a haven for artists and artistic creation. The region is a unique multi-ethnic community with an unusually high level of artistic vitality. Large populations with differing languages and cultures coexist there successfully and a large artistic population helps glue the neighborhood together. Its theaters are also an unprecedented source of tourism. Sam Shepard’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play, “Buried Child,” was commissioned and first produced by TNC. The committee envisioned an event that would demonstrate the region’s cultural fervor, its large artistic population and its multiplicity of ethnic influences to contradict the neighborhood’s stereotype as a dangerous refuge for drug dealers and criminal activity.
Disciplines presented have always included theater, music, dance, poetry, puppetry, cabaret, visual art, film and children’s programming.
SPECIAL CREDITS
Festival Director is Crystal Field. Assistant Directors are Sammy Ferber, Sarah Iles and Dianne Ramirez.
The LES Committee for 2024 is: Crystal Field, JC Augustin, Joe John Battista, Alex Bartenieff, Walter Corwin, Eva Dorrepaal, Myrna Duarte, Carol Dudgeon, Alberto Ferraras, Andrea Fulton, Robert Gonzales Jr., Melanie Goodreaux, Robert Greer, Philip Hackett, Alan Hanna, Barbara Kahn, Anne Lucas, Lissa Moira, Stephan Morrow, Emily Pezzella, Richard Ploetz, Michael Scott Price, Carolyn Ratcliffe, Ramiro Sandoval, Jonathan Slaff, David F. Slone Esq., Mary Tierney, Jenne Vath, Jimmy Walker, Jonathan Weber, John David West, Richard West, Roman Primitivo, Miguel Loyola and Lewis Widoff. Press Representative is Jonathan Slaff.
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PHOTOS ARE AVAILABLE at https://photos.app.goo.gl/jBxNqitcV4zg8nHX9