THE MERCY VELVET PROJECT World Premier and More Set for Yale Schwarzman Center Summer 2026 Lineup

Yale Schwarzman Center has announced its summer 2026 programs, featuring a vibrant lineup of performances, convenings, and community-driven experiences that animate the Center over the next few months.

From world premieres and an operatic reading to dance, nightlife-inspired gatherings, and exhibitions, the summer season reflects the Center's continued commitment to artistic innovation and public access. 

Unless otherwise noted, all performances, events, and exhibitions are free and open to the public, underscoring the Schwarzman Center's mission to create an inclusive cultural commons where artists and audiences meet.

Jubilee: A Folk Opera (Concert Reading) – May 28 

The season opens with a concert reading of the opera Jubilee, presented as the culminating arts experience of the Yale Innovation Summit, bringing together audiences from across disciplines for a shared cultural moment. This work-in-process tells the semi-fictional story of Vyry Brown, a character inspired by Walker's great-grandmother, Margaret Duggans Ware Brown. Born into slavery, Vyry fights to protect her family as they move through Emancipation and Reconstruction, reaching for a freedom that remains contested across generations. Scored with blues, jazz, and gospel influences, the opera weaves Walker's poems from This Is My Century (set to music by Randy Klein) into a powerful narrative shaped by Joan Ross Sorkin's original arias and recitative.

Arts Administrators in Higher Education (AAHE) Annual Meeting – June 10-13

In June, the Center hosts the Arts Administrators in Higher Education (AAHE) Annual Meeting and Conference, welcoming national leaders in the field and featuring a keynote address by artist director of David Dorfman Dance and professor of dance at Connecticut College, David Dorfman, and work-in-process presentations of David Dorman's Front Line, and a work-in-process presentation of a new musical theater project by Aaron Jafferis and Dahlak Brathwaite, both co-commissioned by Yale Schwarzman Center. Paid registration required to participate. 

Hair, Home & Belonging (International Festival of Arts & Ideas) – June 17

Shortly after, the panel discussion Hair, Home & Belonging, co-presented with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, will bring together artists, scholars, stylists, and cultural thinkers for an intimate panel conversation exploring Black hair as a site of identity, memory, resistance, and community. Moderated by journalist and publicist Stacy Graham-Hunt, the discussion will feature hair practitioners, a historian, a celebrated author, and an Academy Award-winning Yale professor examining how Black hair has been policed, celebrated, reclaimed, and reimagined across generations.

The Mercy Velvet Project (World Premiere) – June 26-27 

Later in the month, the world premiere of The Mercy Velvet Project will take place in partnership with the International Festival of Arts & Ideas and kamrDANCE. The Mercy Velvet Project is a new work by kamrDANCE's Alexis Robbins that draws on the legacy of the Providence-based band Mercy Velvet. The Mercy Velvet Project brings the 1999 album Live in Vain to the stage for the first time, reimagined through music, dance, and storytelling. It is a rock concert, concert album, rock opera, and rock-n-roll show with multidisciplinary storytelling, blending tap as percussion, contemporary dance, live instrumentation, and text, the work expresses love, vulnerability, and the ways in which we find connection through one another. Tickets on sale now. 

EveryBody Dances with Pilobolus – Sundays, July 12-August 16 

Throughout the summer, the EveryBody Dances series invites the public into the studio for hands on movement experiences led by legendary company Pilobolus for six Sundays. Pilobolus is a rebellious dance company that, since 1971, has tested the limits of human physicality to explore the beauty and the power of connected bodies. They have brought this tradition to global audiences through post-disciplinary collaborations with some of the greatest influencers, thinkers, and creators in the world, creating and touring more than 120 pieces of repertory to more than 65 countries.

Summer @ The Well – June 11, July 9, & August 13 

Summer @ The Well will transform Yale's only bar into a hub for a range of live music and social gathering featuring New Haven-area artists. The June 11 kickoff will feature bassist Ross Wightman and Grammy-nominated vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and composer Amanda Ekery. July 9 will feature a takeover by New Haven based creative collective Seeing Sounds. August 13 will feature Yale Engineering Dean and jazz bassist Jeff Brock and friends.

Schwarzman Exhibitions 

Throughout the summer, visitors to the Yale Schwarzman Center can explore five dynamic exhibitions showcasing the work of 53 young artists from the New Haven community and Yale campus. Free and open to the public, the exhibitions highlight a wide range of creative practices from high school, undergraduate, and graduate student artists working across photography, sculpture, digital media, poetry, and beyond. Curated by Associate Director of Venues and Exhibitions Carlynne Robinson, the presentations span multiple gallery spaces and include interactive, photographic, and multimedia works that reflect diverse artistic backgrounds and celebrate the depth of creativity across New Haven and Yale.

“While summer brings a more mellow vibe to Yale's campus, the Schwarzman Center seizes the time to open our doors even wider to the community and sustain the Center's energy–inviting audiences to gather, linger, and experience our spaces in a more social way,” said Rachel Fine, executive director of Yale Schwarzman Center. “Whether you're here for a performance or a conversation, the summer season is designed to make the Center be a shared space for connection, artistic discovery, and community.”

“This summer season creates opportunities for audiences to encounter work at different stages in the creative journey—from intimate in-process presentations to fully produced world premieres,” said Jennifer Harrison Newman, associate artistic director of Yale Schwarzman Center. “The programs on offer invite audiences to experience art not only as something finished and concrete, but also as live works unfolding in real time—an approach that feels distinct to the Schwarzman Center's unique space and mission.” 

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Orchestrations - Top 3

1. Ethan Popp, The Rescues - The Lost Boys

21.4% of votes

2. Anders Eljas, Brian Usifer - Chess

20.3% of votes

3. William David Brohn - Ragtime

11.5% of votes

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