Melissa Mark-Viverito News

The former, and perhaps future, first couple visit the Broadway smash just hours after Hillary Clinton's Saturday morning meeting with the FBI.

?In the shadows of Yankee Stadium is Mullaly Pool, a place where hundreds of kids gather daily for sun, play and free summer meals.  Today, NY Yankees Manager Joe Girardi and City Council member Vanessa L. Gibson joined Department of Education officials and anti-hunger advocate organizations to kick off New York City's FREE summer meals program, promote summer meal site locations and reward children with Yankee game tickets for making healthy choices.

 Celebrating dance and the beauty of age, Dances For a Variable Population (DVP), will present three performances of The Phoenix Project, a citywide public dance project that empowers older adults and reevaluates the aesthetics of aging. This world premiere collaboration will take place in three boroughs-Bronx, Queens and Harlem-over three Todays, June 4, 11 and 13. The Phoenix Project will make its Bronx debut at the New York Botanical Garden's award-winning and picturesque Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden on June 4. In the subsequent weekends, the piece will move with excerpts of the full work to Queens at the Queensbridge Riis Senior Center on June 11, and close their performances as part of the Summer on the Hudson Festival at the West Harlem Piers Park on June 18 as part of a Family Day event.

NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FACIP, today joined AT&T's New York President Marissa Shorenstein, Bronx Borough President Rueben Diaz, Jr. and community members to announce a deal to extend free public AT&T Wi-Fi in the Parks for an additional five years. The free Wi-Fi is available, regardless of wireless carrier, to parkgoers at 27 locations in 21 parks across the five boroughs. The collaboration increases the number of free solar mobile charging stations to 34 units at 15 parks and beaches; and four new parks will receive the popular AT&T Street Charge units-Queens Flushing Meadows Park at David Dinkins Circle and Ederle Terrace, Brooklyn's Sunset Park and Prospect Park at the LeFrak Center and Joyce Kilmer Park in the Bronx, where the announcement was made.

NYC Parks Commissioner Mitchell J. Silver, FAICP, today joined Minerva Tantoco, Chief Technology Officer for the City of New York, Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Council Members Vanessa L. Gibson and James Vacca, and Soofa to announce the launch of a new pilot program that will install five solar powered benches in Highbridge Parks -Manhattan and Bronx. Designed by Cambridge-based Soofa, an MIT Media Lab spin-off, the benches provide free, solar-powered charging for mobile devices and also aid NYC Parks in understanding how many people visit Highbridge Park by counting Wi-Fi enabled devices as they pass. The announcement was made during the agency's PARKS WITHOUT BORDERS summit at The New School, a conference on the future of parks and urban spaces.

NYC Parks and the Randall's Island Park Alliance (RIPA) today announced the launch of the East Harlem Esplanade Project. In support of NYC Parks' Community Parks Initiative (CPI), through the East Harlem Esplanade Project, RIPA will facilitate the creation of a strategic plan to guide reconstruction advocacy, stewardship and programming best practices for an improved Esplanade along East Harlem, including a span from E. 96 to E. 125 streets. The East Harlem Esplanade Project is supported by New York City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, New York State Senator Jose M. Serrano, New York State Assembly Member Robert Rodriguez, and Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer.

 Celebrating dance and the beauty of age, Dances For a Variable Population (DVP), will present three performances of The Phoenix Project, a citywide public dance project that empowers older adults and reevaluates the aesthetics of aging. This world premiere collaboration will take place in three boroughs-Bronx, Queens and Harlem-over three Saturdays, June 4, 11 and 13. The Phoenix Project will make its Bronx debut at the New York Botanical Garden's award-winning and picturesque Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden on June 4. In the subsequent weekends, the piece will move with excerpts of the full work to Queens at the Queensbridge Riis Senior Center on June 11, and close their performances as part of the Summer on the Hudson Festival at the West Harlem Piers Park on June 18 as part of a Family Day event.

Check out Gibney Dance Company's upcoming events, during its 25th anniversary season!

 The New York City Council honored Lincoln Center Education (LCE) today with an official proclamation recognizing March as Lincoln Center Education Month. This special distinction recognizes Lincoln Center Education (LCE), the education cornerstone of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, for 40 years of outstanding and innovative work as a leader in arts education and advocacy. LCE's work has enriched the lives of educators and students of all ages through the arts.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 2015-16 season with Moscow Festival Ballet's double bill of one-act ballets, Romeo and Juliet and Carmen, tonight, March 5, 2016 at 8pm. Tickets are $36-45 and can be purchased at BrooklynCenter.org or by calling the box office at 718-951-4500 (Tue-Sat, 1pm-6pm).

The award-winning series MetroFocus premieres new episodes in the New York and tri-state region weeknights at 5 p.m. on WLIW21, 5:30 p.m. on NJTV and 6 p.m. on THIRTEEN. All episodes are available at metrofocus.org following the broadcast.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College continues its 2015-16 season with Moscow Festival Ballet's double bill of one-act ballets, Romeo and Juliet and Carmen, on Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 8pm. Tickets are $36-45 and can be purchased at BrooklynCenter.org or by calling the box office at 718-951-4500 (Tue-Sat, 1pm-6pm).

The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) today announced results of a survey examining the diversity of staff and leadership at City-funded nonprofit cultural organizations. The survey release marks a major milestone in the agency's initiative to promote and cultivate diversity in the cultural community, building on the de Blasio Administration's commitment to making New York City a more fair and equitable city for every resident. The survey found that while New York City's cultural sector is far more diverse than cultural organizations on the national level, it lags behind the demographic diversity of the city's population.

Mayor Bill de Blasio, Deputy Mayor Alicia Glen, and Media & Entertainment Commissioner Cynthia Lopez today announced that New York City's filmed entertainment industry now contributes $8.7 billion to the local economy, an increase of more than 1.5 billion, or 21 percent, since 2011. Full-time equivalent jobs in the city's industry have grown 10 percent, from 94,000 to 104,000 over the last four years, according to an independent study conducted by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) that details the growth and economic impact of New York City's media and entertainment industries. According to BCG's report, New York City is one of only three cities in the world with a filming community large enough to enable a production to be made without needing any roles to be brought in from other locations, including cast, crew members, and the creative team. Additionally, a rich real-life history, iconic locations, diverse storytellers and top talent are among the reasons productions choose to film in New York City.

The new St. Ann's Warehouse was unveiled in a ceremony this morning! The $31.6 million, 25,000 sf. theater, at the breathtaking site of the pre-Civil War Tobacco Warehouse under the Brooklyn Bridge, will make Brooklyn Bridge Park a home for culture for future generations.

HERE begins its 2015-2016 Producing Season with Genet Porno, by HERE Resident Artist Yvan Greenberg / Laboratory Theater.  This production, developed through the HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP), marks a premiere.  Genet Porno plays a limited engagement September 9 - 26 at HERE (145 Sixth Avenue, just below Spring Street).

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College is pleased to announce its 2015-16 jazz series, celebrating a truly American musical genre with an array of world-class artists that represent both classics from the past and today's more innovative and ever-changing sounds.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College is pleased to announce its 2015-16 World Dance series. Since the inception of the dance series in 1966, more than 175 regional, national and international companies have premiered new works as a part of this series.

On Saturday, July 25, 2015, NYC Parks joined Comptroller Scott Stringer, Manhattan Borough President Gale A. Brewer, City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, Councilmembers Ydanis Rodriguez, Mark Levine and Vanessa L. Gibson, Assemblywoman Latoya Joyner, State Senator Adriano Espaillat and community members to kick off the High Bridge Festival.