Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at New York City Center

New York City Center has played a defining role in the cultutal life of the city since 1943 when it was founded by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia with the mission to make the best in the performing arts accessible to all. The distinctive neo-Moorish theater welcomes 300,000 visitors annually to experience internationally acclaimed artists on the same stage where legends like George Balanchine, Leonard Bernstein, and Barbara Cook made their mark. Its landmark 75th Anniversary Season (2018 – 2019) paid tribute to this rich history while celebrating the institution’s singular role in the arts today. For more than 25 years, the treasured, Tony-honored Encores! series has given new life to the American musical theater canon, complemented in recent years by the Encores! Off-Center series, which brings today’s innovative artists into contact with groundbreaking musicals from the more recent past. Dance continues to be an integral part of the institution’s mission through programs like the annual Fall for Dance Festival, which exposes a new audience to an international array of artists by offering subsidized tickets for the price of a movie ticket.