The Library for the Performing Arts Celebrates Its 60th Anniversary with a Special Tony Honor and a Week of Programming at Lincoln Center

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. Photo by Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Since 1965, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts has provided an unparalleled amount of resources and archives on arts history for artists, writers, researchers, and fans

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts is excited to announce the celebration of its 60th anniversary with programming, exhibitions, and initiatives starting in July all around Lincoln Center. The celebration centers around a week-long slate of programming as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City, entitled “Living Library: Celebrating 60 Years,” a series of events for all ages, including film screenings, storytimes, reading parties, dance recitals, exclusive tours of the Library’s treasures, participatory workshops, play readings, pop-up shops, concerts, silent discos, and more. 

In honor of the 60th Anniversary and their service to the field, The Library for the Performing Arts also received a Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre in the Tony Awards ceremony on June 8, 2025.

The Library for the Performing Arts first opened its doors in 1965, through a partnership between The New York Public Library and the then newly established Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, embodying the partnership that is at the heart of New York City’s library systems. The Library was envisioned as a first-of-its-kind hybrid museum and library, a living organism that provides access to world-class performing arts archives, as well as a venue for free public exhibitions and performances. Today, it stands as the premier public venue for performing arts research worldwide, and continues to serve the community as a hub and source of inspiration for artists, researchers, performing arts fans, and students.

“As much as the Library for the Performing Arts is committed to archiving performing arts history, we are equally dedicated to shaping its future. Our 60th anniversary celebrations honor the artists, audiences, and milestones that have defined us, while doubling down on our focus on community, creativity, and access,” said Roberta Pereira, Barbara G. and Lawrence A. Fleischman Executive Director of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. “We aim to deepen our engagement with the public, expand and diversify our collections, and enhance the patron experience—ensuring that the Library remains a vibrant, welcoming home for the performing arts for generations to come.”

To honor this amazing legacy, the Library is commemorating our milestone anniversary year with an exciting array of special initiatives and events that will open our archives and celebrate the extraordinary creators who have shaped the performing arts in New York City, including: 

• A pair of thrilling exhibitions showcasing the Library’s extraordinary collections, including one blockbuster survey of 200 years of Black musical theater; 
• A one-night only, after-hours “open house,” with food and drinks, performances, activities, and special access throughout the entire building;
• Living Library: Celebrating 60 Years, a dedicated Library week as part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the Cityprogramming series, featuring free storytimes, dance classes, exhibition tours, film screenings, and live performances for all ages; 
• And a newly designed first floor space that serves as a free and open space for the community to work, read, and hang out.

“The Library for the Performing Arts is such an incredible gift to the city—inspiring so many New Yorkers with its unique and invaluable resources,” said Shanta Thake, Ehrenkranz Chief Artistic Officer of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. “The Library has been a longtime collaborator during our summer seasons with Storytimes and the Outdoor Reading Room, and we are proud to expand that collaboration in such a meaningful way to help celebrate this milestone as part of Summer for the City.”

More information on that dedicated Library week, entitled “Living Library: Celebrating 60 Years,” presented in collaboration with Lincoln Center, are found below.

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Reading of the Unproduced Musical Stranger by Michael Friedman
Wednesday, Jul 23 at 4 PM 
Bruno Walter Auditorium

In addition to published and well-known plays and musicals, the Library for the Performing Arts archive contains unproduced and rarely produced works from generations of theater artists. In this reading event directed by Trip Cullman, Lindsay Mendez, Andrew Barth Feldman, Analise Scarpaci, and other actors read one such unpublished musical by composer Michael Freidman, Stranger.

Mambo Social Dance With Sekou McMiller
Wednesday, July 23 at 6 PM
The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza

Learn how to mambo like they used to in New York’s legendary Palladium nightclub, where the social dance movement was born! Sekou McMiller and friends host an intergenerational Palladium mambo social dance party and lesson featuring elders, who danced in Palladium’s nightclub scene, with a live music performance by the Palladium Mambo Band. The event is inspired and builds upon McMiller’s residency at the Library for the Performing Arts where he archived stories and movements around the mambo community for the Jerome Robbins Dance Division archive.

Library Silent Disco: Decades Party 1965-2025
Wednesday, July 23 at 8 PM
The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza

In 1965, the Library for the Performing Arts opened its doors to a vast archive and treasure trove of performing arts history, spanning dance, theater, music, and even film. We celebrate the Library’s 60th anniversary with a Silent Disco party, DJed by Bill Coleman, that highlights music from the Library’s archive from each decade of its existence.

Dance Theater Workshop Exhibition Guided Tours
Thursday, July 24 at 11 AM
Saturday, July 26 at 11 AM
The Library for the Performing Arts

In the 1960s, much like today, artists in New York struggled with limited access to resources and space—key elements to make new work. Dancers and choreographers, who need space to move and experiment, felt these limitations perhaps the most. Thinking about how to support artists in a new way, Jeff Duncan, who had worked with Anna Sokolow and Dorothy Humphrey during his early career, opened his living space to other artists to create, rehearse, and present their work. This became the Dance Theater Workshop, a legendary downtown space that helped to launch the careers of countless dance artists including Bebe Miller, Bill T. Jones, Donald Byrd and Ron K. Brown. As artists continue to face challenges of funding, space, and professional support, the history of Dance Theater Workshop deserves a closer examination to help provide insights into the past, and a way forward to a more equitable artistic ecosystem. 

The Library for the Performing Arts highlights this history in its exhibition, Room to Move: Dance Theater Workshop and Alternative Histories of Downtown Dance. Explore the history with a free guided tour led by Library staff.

Kids Theater Classes
Thursday, July 24 at 11 AM and 1 PM
The Library for the Performing Arts

The Library for the Performing Arts serves as a crucial arts education hub for young artists and learners. The Library hosts the Main Street Theatre & Dance Alliance, who will present two one-hour children’s theater classes where children ages 4-6 and 7 and up learn new ways to express themselves and understand the theater-making craft. 

Creative Drama (Ages 4-6)—11 AM

Children develop creative abilities in a fun, non-competitive environment with pantomime, improvisation and imaginative play, and story building.

Theater for Young Actors (ages 7 and up)—1 PM

In this class, students will study the fundamentals of improvisation using exercises that help develop strong ensemble and character work. With a focus on stage presence, young actors will develop patience, self confidence, good communication skills, and a respect for other performers and their creativity.

Students in both will cultivate and demonstrate a panoply of skills that go beyond the world of theater and improvisation.

Reading Rhythms Public Reading Party
Thursday, July 24 at 5:30 PM
The Library for the Performing Arts

The Library for the Performing Arts brings Reading Rhythms Public to Lincoln Center! In the middle of the most iconic performing arts campus in the world, indulge in a unique reading party, fuelled by literature and connection. Bring your favorite book, play, musical score—or borrow one that was especially curated by one of the librarians at the Library for the Performing Arts. Plus, enjoy a one-night only pop-up exhibition of some of the Library’s performing arts treasurers to celebrate our 60th Anniversary, while enjoying some curated tunes from our archive. This is a one-of-a-kind reading party you won’t want to miss.

Kids Music Class with Just Accessible Music
Friday, July 25 at 11 AM
The Library for the Performing Arts

Expose your children to music composition and performance at an early age, and provide the basis for song comprehension at this free children’s music workshop at the Library for the Performing Arts. Just Accessible Music hosts a workshop, perfect for children ages 5-7, that provides information about the structure of a song, rhythm, and basic instruments through the performance of some classic jazz and pop hits.

Silent Film Screenings With Live Musical Score Performance
Friday, July 25 at 7PM
David Rubenstein Atrium

Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Library for the Performing Arts, our librarians bring the magic of silent cinema to Lincoln Center’s David Rubenstein Atrium. The library will present two 16mm silent films from its collection, curated by Elena Rossi-Snook and Steve Massa, with live piano accompaniment by Ben Model, one of the classic film world’s leading silent film accompanists. Stay after the film screenings for a discussion and Q&A about the film with Ben Model and NYPL film specialist Rossi-Snook. We screen the film Love ‘Em and Leave ‘Em (1926), a comedy romance starring Evelyn Brent and Louise Brooks, and the comedy short Movie Night (1929). This is an opportunity to see a rare film, which has never been released on video or digitally—with very few copies in existence, The New York Public Library is the only public institution to have a print in its collection. 

The 50th Anniversary of A Chorus Line: Panel Discussion 
Bruno Walter Auditorium
Friday, July 25, 3-4PM 

Fifty years ago this year, A Chorus Line hit the stage and became a worldwide sensation—and the Library for the Performing Arts was there to capture it during its first days! The Theatre on Film and Tape Archive videotaped A Chorus Line in July 1975 during its original Off-Broadway run at the Public Theater, just days before the sold out success moved to Broadway for a record-breaking run.

Now, join us as we celebrate the history of this groundbreaking musical with a panel discussion featuring original 1975 cast members Kelly Bishop, Baayork Lee, Priscilla Lopez, and Donna McKechnie, performers who were all captured in our original recording. Moderated by Broadway producer and director Richard Jay-Alexander, the panel will talk about what led to their involvement and their experiences in the production, and working with Michael Bennett, the original director-choreographer.

Wax & Stacks: Brooklyn Flea Record Fair at the Library for the Performing Arts
Saturday, July 26 from 11AM-5PM
The Library for the Performing Arts

The Library for the Performing Arts hosts a smaller version of the Brooklyn Flea Record Fair, bringing together music fans and collectors within the Library walls. Come shop from 10 specially curated record vendors from around New York and New Jersey and while you browse for your next exciting find, enjoy DJ sets and unique demos from our Music and Recorded Sound Division all for free!

Movement Class for Families
Sunday, July 27 at 12PM
The Library for the Performing Arts

Join Brazilian tap dancer and choreographer Leonardo Sandoval for a family-friendly movement workshop with live music celebrating the Afro-diasporic roots of tap dance. While tap shoes are preferred, all shoes are welcome!

Palladium: The Music of Wayne Shorter in Collaboration with Jazz at Lincoln Center
Sunday, July 27, 6-7:45PM
The Underground at Jaffe Drive 

Celebrating the Library for the Performing Arts’ newest acquisition of the archive of jazz legend Wayne Shorter, we have curated an evening of music showcasing Shorter’s varied and extensive oeuvre in partnership with Jazz at Lincoln Center featuring Palladium: The Music of Wayne Shorter. Palladium is an official Wayne Shorter repertory group, personally blessed by Wayne, and founded by producer and Shorter family friend Jesse Markowitz who has worked since 2015 as Wayne’s messenger on social media.

Dance Performance of Hidden Forest by Elaine Summers
Sunday, July 27 at 8 PM
Hearst Plaza

Dancer, choreographer, and intermedia artist Elaine Summers was a major pioneer exploring the meeting of dance and film, melding the two into a seamless whole which she referred to as “intermedia.” The Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the Library for the Performing Arts preserves Summers’ archive. In honor of the Library’s 60th anniversary, we celebrate Summers during her centennial birth year with a recreation of her 2007 performance, Hidden Forest, which originally premiered at Lincoln Center. The centennial performance of Hidden Forest incorporates eight dancers with musicians, composers, visual artists, and visual projections, which come from another intermedia piece by Summers. Hidden Forest is inspired by Dante’s quote—“in the midst of the journey of life I came upon a dark forest, where the path was lost.”

This recreation of Hidden Forest, as well as other centennial celebrations of Summers, is directed by Frances Becker and assisted by the Artistic Estate of Elaine Summers.

About The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts was founded in 1965 at Lincoln Center, and is dedicated to enhancing access to its rich archives of dance, theater, music, and recorded sound—to amplify all voices and support the creative process. As one of The New York Public Library’s renowned research centers—and one of the world’s largest collections solely focused on the performing arts—the Library’s materials are available free of charge, along with a wide range of special programs, including exhibitions, seminars, film screenings and performances. The collection at the Library for the Performing Arts includes upwards of eight million items, notable for their extraordinary range and diversity—from 11th-century music, to 20th-century manuscripts, to contemporary hip-hop dance.