Lincoln center will get a new leader

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 8:15am

Henry Timms is leaving.  I’m happy because he turned the place into a zoo.  I hope they restore Lincoln Center as an elegant place for classical music. 

[sinister teashop]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 8:52am

My, my, that was a short tenure. I suppose there are limits to “New Power” on the Upper West Side.

But in all seriousness, diversity, inclusion and the historical memory of racial and economic injustice aren’t brands to put up like stickers all over an arts campus. These are long term infrastructural problems that die hard and that take long term strategy to be worked on behind the scenes. Perhaps Timms was doing that but it seemed like it was more like a public performance or advertisement for a strategy.

I liked the turning of the summer Lincoln Center into a memorial of the bulldozed “San Juan Hill”. I didn’t like that that memory of displacement was then being used to sell a costly renovation. Still, Timmons’ tenure felt very post-#BLM. I have trepidation to see his post-Gaza replacement.

Updated On: 2/8/24 at 08:52 AM

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 9:58am

Being president of Lincoln Center is a tough gig. You have to deal with screaming constituent organizations, it's mostly a management role, LC does very little producing in their own right (outside of the new Summer in the City festival which appears to have been a rousing success), and they don't exclusively program any venues.

He's done a great job of laying the groundwork for a more equitable Lincoln Center that appeals to more than the dying, blue-haired Upper West Siders, and I hope they do move forward with a facelift of the west side of the campus.

Updated On: 2/8/24 at 09:58 AM

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 11:23am

I really hated the summer in the city. The big disco ball over the fountain was tacky.  I hope whoever comes in brings the people in by not running away from what Lincoln center is about.  I hope they get a president who has actually worked in the arts and can have a positive impact on the programming at LC. 

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 11:49am

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' mission is TO SUSTAIN, ENCOURAGE, AND PROMOTE THE PERFORMING ARTS AND TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC WITH RELATION THERETO.

That's what it is and was always "about."

That's what the Summer in the City Festival was about. It's a vehicle for bringing people onto the campus –– especially those who haven't been there before –– and offering public events that give back to the community. That's what a major nonprofit landlord should be doing.

If people want to hear classical music written before they were born, there are still hundreds of offerings on that campus every year to satiate them. Focusing almost exclusively on classical and instrumental music is a great way for an organization to die, and those who have a problem with such evolutions within arts institutions tend to sound like MAGA extremists.

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 12:39pm

What does a dance party have to do with the programming at LC?  I doubt summer in the city brought new people in. Probably people who either go to Lincoln center, or people who have never seen anything there and just wanted to dance.  It was tacky and I hope they don’t do it again. 

[matty159]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 12:47pm

Broadway Flash said: "What does a dance party have to do with the programming at LC? I doubt summer in the city brought new people in. Probably people who either go to Lincoln center, or people who have never seen anything there and just wanted to dance. It was tacky and I hope they don’t do it again."

You contradicted yourself here.  You doubt it brought new people in and then say it might have brought new people who have never seen anything then  and wanted to dance.  I thought it was kinda cool and it did likely bring in new people.  Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

[Dancingthrulife2]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 1:04pm

Just to be clear, this is about Lincoln Center, not Lincoln Center Theater right?

[ErmengardeStopSniveling]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 1:10pm

Dancingthrulife2 said: "Just to be clear, this is about Lincoln Center, not Lincoln Center Theater right?"

Correct. This is about Henry Timms, head of the Lincoln Center parent organization, and it has little bearing on LCT's activities.

Andre Bishop's successor at Lincoln Center Theater has not yet been named (though I speculated on another thread that Kwame Kwei-Armah, who's leaving the Old Vic, could be a good candidate).

[Broadway Flash]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 1:46pm

Yeah I’m sure new people went to the disco. How many of them purchased a ticket to the ny Phil afterwards?

[matty159]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 3:23pm

Broadway Flash said: "Yeah I’m sure new people went to the disco. How many of them purchased a ticket to the ny Phil afterwards?"

I mean, that is a good question.  Assuming the summer events were ticketed (free or not), LC (should have) captured patron information to add to mailing lists and email blasts.  With more modern programming at the Met, movies with a live orchestra, and programming at Jazz at LC, they may have been able to capture some new audiences.  Only they would know this data, but it is possible.  As someone who works in hospitality, I sent many people to their events last summer and got excellent feedback, so if nothing else, it brought an awareness of LC to people who had never been.  Which was rather the part of the point in the long run.

[Kad]

Posted: 2/8/24 at 3:33pm

Lincoln Center is expansive enough to have summertime disco parties - which, frankly, brought a lot more sharing of Lincoln Center to my social media feeds than the Philharmonic ever does- and also appeal to classical music lovers while not focusing on one to the detriment of the other.