“From coastal resiliency and sustainable green practices to the preservation of affordable housing, world-class public art, and vibrant, year-round programming in award-winning public spaces, Battery Park City leads the way in many of the measures that makes cities livable."
Presented in partnership with Battery Park City Authority, Nattie Trogdon + Hollis Barnett’s Fallacies will take place on June 8-9 at Rockefeller Park, and John P. Hastings’ South Cove Song (overlay) on June 16 at South Cove. Aligning with LMCC’s 50th-anniversary celebrations, the free event series will feature 13 projects of live art, performances, and participatory events in public spaces throughout Downtown New York.
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) is pleased to announce the 23rd annual River To River Festival, taking place June 7-23, 2024. Celebrating local artists and honoring creative diversity across disciplines, the River To River Festival is Downtown New York City’s leading free summer arts festival.
Aligning with LMCC’s 50th-anniversary celebration, the 2024 festival keeps the celebrations rolling. The 2024 festival features LMCC residency and grants alumni working across disciplines, with a captivating array of dance, music, video, installation, and exhibitions that reflect the interdisciplinary, diverse ethos of LMCC and the site specificity of Lower Manhattan.
“For more than 20 years, the River To River Festival has enlivened downtown’s public spaces as part of LMCC’s broader work to champion independent artists and the cultural life force of Lower Manhattan,” said BPCA President & CEO Raju Mann. “This year we’re proud to provide the natural beauty and inspiration of Rockefeller Park and South Cove with the Festival artists, and delighted to have yet another unique way to connect people with the parks.”
Fallacies blurs the lines between original source and personal interpretation, constructing dance from a dancer’s perspective. Distorting referential choreography to reveal new patterns and physical possibilities, the piece materializes as a Rorschach test of dance. When the movement is stripped down, audience members are encouraged to question what they see and how Fallacies makes invisible embodied histories visible through the lens of its performers.
In addition to performances June 8 and 9, audiences are invited to join a workshop with choreographers Nattie Trogdon + Hollis Bartlett at 5pm on Sunday, June 9 to learn movement from Fallacies, gaining insight into the piece’s various original sources before seeing the performance that evening.
Choreography: Nattie Trogdon + Hollis Bartlett in collaboration with the performers Performed by: Katerina Belmatch, Sienna Blaw, Dwayne Brown, Brendan Drake, and Noa Rui-Piin Weiss Costumes by: Marlene Hamm Sound: “Dehors” and “Dedans” by Francisco Meirino and Bruno Duplant
John P. Hastings: South Cove Song (overlay) June 16, 2024 4PM + 6PM South Cove, Battery Park City Performers: John P. Hastings; Aaron Meicht, Music Director & Trumpet; 12-Piece Ensemble, TILT Brass
John P. Hastings’ South Cove Song (overlay) is a site-specific music performance, featuring a brass ensemble, centered on the past(s), present(s), and future(s) of Lower Manhattan. Human interaction with the natural landscape and the built environment is questioned, reframed, and reassembled through sonic interventions in South Cove Park, the site of artist Mary Miss’s project (created with Stanton Eckstut and Susan Child in 1987), The performance is partly an homage to the visionary artist’s work, while also drawing inspiration from the musical and textual accretion of materials, 17th century Dutch melodies, Romantic-era seafaring novels, and the contemporary resiliency plans for Lower Manhattan designed to mitigate against unstoppable natural forces.
Fallacies was developed in part through residences and support from Marble House Project, Coffey Street Studios, Amanda + James, 14th Street Y and Lower Manhattan Cultural Council’s Arts Center Residency program. Additionally this project was supported, in part, by a Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.
Fallacies and South Cove Song are presented by LMCC in partnership with Battery Park City Authority as part of the River To River Festival.
RIVER TO RIVER 2024 PARTNERS
Leadership Support Mellon Foundation Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels
Major Support Battery Park City Authority The Howard Hughes Corporation
Friends of The Festival New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Mertz Gilmore Foundation ConEdison New York State Council on the Arts The Howard Gilman Foundation Harkness Foundation for Dance Goldman Sachs
Presenting Partners 28 Liberty BGX Gallery (Black Gotham Experience) 101 Greenwich The Monster Bar South Street Seaport Museum The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
ABOUT RIVER TO RIVER FESTIVAL Created in the aftermath of 9/11 with the intention to heal and celebrate New Yorkers’ resiliency through the power of art, the River To River Festival is an opportunity for New Yorkers to engage with their local artistic community across disciplines. A champion of independent artmaking since 1973, and the driving force behind this unique festival for over 20 years, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council has been a proud proponent of the experimentation and exploration that the festival provides to the community. LMCC is marking five decades of championing independent artists and fostering vibrant cultural communities throughout New York City.Manhattan’s Arts Council, LMCC hasexpanded its work and reach beyond Lower Manhattan over the years and LMCC now serves the entirety of the borough, from Governors Island to Inwood. 50 years on, the organization stands as a pillar of strength, boasting renowned artist service programs and a rich and diverse alumni community. For 50 years, LMCC has sustained the city’s arts landscape, spearheading cultural revitalization efforts in the Financial District after 9/11 and securing essential resources for artist communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The annual River To River Festival presents live art and installation in exceptional public spaces throughout downtown New York. Free and open to the public, the River To River Festival celebrates artistic and creative diversity across disciplines, partnering with leading institutions in Lower Manhattan to celebrate the city as a site of human connection and creative exploration.
