Carnegie Hall to Present The '60s: The Years That Changed America
By: Robert Diamond Nov. 17, 2017
From January 14-March 24, 2018, Carnegie Hall presents The '60s: The Years that Changed America, a citywide festival exploring the turbulent decade that was the 1960s through the lens of arts and culture, including music's role as a meaningful vehicle to inspire social change.
Carnegie Hall's largest festival to date includes more than 50 events taking place at Carnegie Hall and at over 35 leading cultural institutions across New York City, including music, dance, exhibitions, talks, films, and family programming as well as radio and digital offerings.
For the first time, Carnegie Hall has turned to a figure outside the music world-Pulitzer Prize-winning author and historian Robert A. Caro, famed biographer of Robert Moses and Lyndon B. Johnson-for inspiration in creating a festival. The expansive array of festival events will inevitably touch upon the upheavals of this defining decade: the quest for civil rights, equal rights, and social justice; the empowerment of a young and restive generation; the division wrought by a distant war; and the emergence of a radical new aesthetic in reaction to modernism.
"The 1960s were a watershed decade in American history, a decade in which the country was transformed. And it was a decade with profound implications for us today," said Robert Caro. "I am writing about the '60s now, and the deeper I get into the decade, the more I realize that so many of the great advances in social justice-civil rights, voting rights, Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, a rational immigration policy-which are being debated today were created, in hard-fought battles, during the 1960s, and that therefore understanding those battles (as well as the fight for women's rights, which exploded into a new intensity in that decade) will create new insight into what today's battles mean for America. And of course the decade ended in the cacophony and chaos of nationwide protest over a war in which more than half a million Americans were fighting in jungles on the far side of the world. And now, thanks to Carnegie Hall, there is an event-a perhaps unprecedented event, really; I cannot recall anything of its scale-an examination, citywide in its scope, in which thirty-five of the greatest cultural institutions of a great city-museums, libraries, universities, dance companies, theater companies- explore a defining decade in a nation's history, and what its battles mean for us half a century later."
"We have had a wonderful time working on developing this festival and we have been deeply grateful for Bob Caro's incredible insights all along the way," said Clive Gillinson, Carnegie Hall's Executive and Artistic Director. "In creating the '60s festival, we were interested in examining how arts and culture helped to shape discourse during this tumultuous period and how music, especially, played a vital role in bringing communities together in a time of change. We have had a wonderful response from partner institutions across the city who felt this decade was an important touch point for them in examining so many of the issues we face today. Through performances at Carnegie Hall and programming created across New York City, we are inviting festivalgoers to go on a musical and cultural journey designed to shed light on one of the defining eras in America's history."
At Carnegie Hall, the festival lineup includes two programs that explore the nexus of music, protest, and social change: one featuring Snarky Puppy-the eclectic Brooklyn-based band that spans genres from jazz, world music, and soul, to funk and pop. The three-time Grammy Award-winning group collaborates with legendary singer-songwriter and activist David Crosby and special guests, including mandolin virtuoso and singer Chris Thile, and vocalists Fatoumata Diawara and Laura Mvula (January 25) and a second led by acclaimed composer, music director, and producer Ray Chew with a lineup of prominent guest artists from the worlds of folk, rock, soul, and R&B, including Anthony Hamilton, Otis Redding III, Dionne Warwick, and Naturally 7 (February 5). The Hall's festival programming also features a performance by the Philip Glass Ensemble and new works premiered by the Kronos Quartet-one referencing Dr. Martin LUTHER King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech and the other based on the works of author and activist Studs Terkel. Pianist Matthew Shipp and the legendary Roscoe Mitchell-a proponent of the free jazz movement that flourished in the '60s-perform together for the first time. Additional concerts include performances by Icelandic psychedelic pop band múm, the socially and politically-minded singer-songwriter Bhi Bhiman, and an afternoon devoted to musical responses to the Vietnam War, featuring a performance by the Friction Quartet as well as a multimedia presentation.
The '60s festival begins on January 14 at the legendary Apollo Theater when the Apollo and WNYC present their annual Dr. Martin LUTHER King Jr. Day celebration, which is free to the public. The festival extends citywide with an extraordinary selection of events across the arts and culture spectrum, including music, dance, exhibitions, talks, films, and family programming as well as radio and digital offerings presented by leading cultural partners:
- Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater
- Anthology Film Archives
- Apollo Theater & WNYC
- The Art Students League of New York
- Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law
- City University of New York & CUNY Arts
- Columbia University
- Dance Theatre of Harlem
- El Museo del Barrio in partnership with The New School
- Film Forum
- Gerald Peters Gallery
- Harlem Stage
- IFC Center
- The Jewish Museum
- The Joyce Theater
- Keyes Art Projects
- Mark Borghi Fine Art
- Sundaram Tagore Gallery
- Westbeth Gallery
- The Museum of Modern Art
- Museum of the City of New York
- Museum of the Moving Image
- National Black Theatre, Inc.
- New-York Historical Society
- The New York Public Library
- The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
- New York University Libraries Special Collections
- The Paley Center for Media
- Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University
- Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at The New York Public Library
- Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
- Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
- The Studio Museum in Harlem
- Studs Terkel Radio Archive
- WFMT Radio Network
Among the festival partner concert highlights are: Soundtrack '63 at the Apollo Theater, a musical retrospective-from 1963 to today-performed by an 18-piece orchestra and special guest artists that tells the untold and under-told stories of the Black experience in America (February 24); and Mothers of Movements at Harlem Stage, celebrating the contributions of Black women PIONEERS from the Civil Rights and Black Arts movements (March 9).
Dance and theater highlights are: Shakespeare Redress: Joe Papp's Naked Hamlet 1968, an evening of reconstructed scenes, photos, rarely heard recordings, and recitations from Papp's personal papers at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts (January 8); Ronald K. Brown/EVIDENCE, A Dance Company, performing the duet "March" from Brown's work Lessons, inspired by the civil rights movement at The Joyce Theater (February 6-11); and The Black Woman: She Does Exist, a retrospective of influential texts written by Black women, at the National Black Theatre, Inc. (March 12).
Film highlights include: Coming Home, which follows the story of a Vietnam War captain's wife, produced by and starring Jane Fonda, at the New-York Historical Society (January 26); In the Intense Now at the Film Forum-a documentary essay directed by João Moreira Salles that explores three pivotal events of the 1960s: the May '68 uprisings in Paris, the Prague Spring and subsequent Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia, and Mao's Cultural Revolution (January 31-February 13); and The Avant-Garde Score-a film series celebrating the use of avant-garde and modern classical music in cinema-that includes the film work of Pierre Boulez, Daphne Oram, Arvö Part, Steve Reich, Toru Takemitsu, Edgard Varèse, and others at The Museum of Modern Art (March 14-20).
Talks include: An Evening with Ken Burns: THE VIETNAM WAR at the New-York Historical Society featuring filmmaker Ken Burns, in conversation with David M. Rubenstein (January 10); The Summer of Law and Disorder: Harlem Riot of 1964, a panel discussion at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (February 21); and New York designers Anna Sui and Andrea Aranow (Dakota Transit) discuss the impact of the 1960s cultural and social revolutions on their work with Parsons fashion scholar Hazel Clark at the Museum of the City of New York (March 14).
Exhibit highlights include: The Vietnam War: 1945-1975, a groundbreaking exhibit at The New-York Historical Society; Narrative and Counter-Narrative: (Re)Defining the 1960s, a collaborative exhibition at New York University's Bobst Library, focused on the 1960s at Washington Square that explores how Downtown New York became a convergence point for the activism, social upheaval, and creativity fomented during the decade. The story unfolds through artifacts and documents from the library's renowned special collections; You Say You Want a Revolution: Remembering the Sixties, which explores the counterculture of the 1960s and '70s at the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building of The New York Public Library; and Sing Out! The 1960s at Carnegie Hall in the Hall's Rose Museum, focusing on events tied to various social causes that sang out to be heard at the Hall throughout the decade.
Family events include: Martin LUTHER King Jr. and THE VIETNAM WAR (January 13) and The Kid Who Helped Leak the Pentagon Papers, a discussion with acclaimed children's author Steve Sheinkin and Robert Ellsberg who, at 13, helped his father leak the Pentagon Papers (February 3), both at the New-York Historical Society.
Interwoven into The '60s festival will be a citywide creative learning project presented by Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute (WMI) encouraging young people to harness music as a meaningful tool for social change. The project culminates with a concert entitled A Time Like This: Music for Change in Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, featuring young performers from WMI's broad range of education and social impact programs across New York City sharing the stage with celebrated artists (March 11). Hosted by poet Lemon Andersen, the program will include songs from the '60s alongside newly composed songs by New Yorkers of all ages.
The '60s festival will also reach national and international audiences through radio and digital offerings, including collaborations with the celebrated record label Smithsonian Folkways, which holds thousands of audio recordings and a host of educational materials related to the 1960s; the new Studs Terkel Radio Archive (from the Chicago History Museum and the WFMT Radio Network) will highlight excerpts from some of Terkel's conversations about the arts and protest; and the nationally-syndicated, daily classical music radio show, Exploring Music with Bill McGlaughlin, which will devote a week of February programming to the rich history of Carnegie Hall, highlighting key moments when the Hall captured the spirit of the country by welcoming artists and activists who challenged racial restrictions and the political status quo.
For the complete schedule of programming for The '60s: The Years that Changed America, visit carnegiehall.org/60s.
THE '60s: THE YEARS THAT CHANGED AMERICA FESTIVAL PROGRAMMING BY GENRE
(presented by Carnegie Hall unless otherwise noted)
CONCERTS
Apollo Uptown Hall
50 Years After MLK: A Dream Deferred
with WNYC's Brian Lehrer and Jami Floyd, Co-Hosts
Sunday, January 14 at 3 PM
Apollo Theater
253 West 125th Street | Manhattan
apollotheater.org
_______ Kronos Quartet
Friday, January 19 at 9 PM
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall In addition to pieces by three American mavericks-Terry Riley, John Cage, and Janis Joplin-written in the 1960s, the ever-adventurous Kronos Quartet performs a program that includes world premieres of two works commissioned by Carnegie Hall. Zachary J. Watkins's piece is inspired by the moment just before Dr. Martin LUTHER King Jr. delivered his "I Have a Dream" speech, while Stacy Garrop's work is rooted in the words and spirit of oral historian and activist Studs Terkel.
_______ Snarky Puppy with David Crosby and Special Guests
Thursday, January 25 at 8 PM
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall Snarky Puppy-the eclectic Brooklyn-based band-spans genres from jazz, world music, and soul, to funk and pop. The three-time Grammy Award-winning group collaborates with legendary singer-songwriter and social activist David Crosby and special guests, including Malian songstress Fatoumata Diawara, soulful vocalist and composer Laura Mvula, and mandolin virtuoso and singer Chris Thile for an evening of protest music from and inspired by the '60s.
_______ Matthew Shipp Trio
Roscoe Mitchell, Saxophone
Saturday, January 27 at 9 PM
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall Cutting-edge jazz pianist Matthew Shipp-joined by bassist Michael Bisio and drummer Newman Taylor Baker- collaborates with Roscoe Mitchell, one of the founding fathers of free jazz, for an evening of radically unfettered improvisation in the spirit of the trailblazing Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, formed in 1965.
_______ Sounds of Change
Monday, February 5 at 8 PM
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall Take a journey to the crossroads of music, justice, and social change in the 1960s-the struggles, celebration, and reconciliation-with living legends and rising artists from the worlds of folk, rock, soul, and R&B. Led by Music Director Ray Chew, the concert lineup includes Anthony Hamilton, Otis Redding III, Dionne Warwick, and Naturally 7, singing the anthems that defined an era.
_______ múm
Saturday, February 10 at 10 PM
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall Echoes of 1960s psychedelia, Sigur Rós, and Björk resonate throughout múm's music. These Icelandic pop experimentalists use electronic effects, innovative sampling, delicate vocals, and traditional and unconventional instruments to create unique, otherworldly soundscapes. Whether they are collaborating with the Kronos Quartet or crafting the music for an art installation, múm's neo-psychedelic music mesmerizes.
_______Philip Glass Ensemble: Music with Changing Parts
Friday, February 16 at 8 PM
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie HallPhilip Glass and the Philip Glass Ensemble, led by Michael Riesman, return to Carnegie Hall after more than a decade's absence to perform one of the composer's early masterpieces, the groundbreaking Music with Changing Parts. They will be joined by San Francisco Girls Chorus, led by Valérie Sainte-Agathe, and students from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
_______ Soundtrack '63
Saturday, February 24 at 8 PM
Apollo Theater
253 West 125th Street | Manhattan
apollotheater.org From the painful conditions that ignited the Civil Rights Movement to today's Black Lives Matter struggle, music has always strengthened outcries for justice. Performed by an 18-piece orchestra and special guest artists, this concert tells the untold and under-told stories of the Black experience in America. This musical retrospective from 1963 to the present day includes jazz, hip-hop, soul, and poetry with a captivating video installation of archival footage and animation along with commentary by Dr. Cornel West, and renowned poets Sonia Sanchez and Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets. A Soul Science Lab Production with Creative Direction by Chen Lo and Music Direction by Asanté Amin. Presented by the Apollo Theater.
_______ Mothers of the Movements
Friday, March 9 at 7:30 PM
Harlem Stage Gatehouse
150 Convent Avenue | Manhattan
harlemstage.orgHarlem Stage and the National Black Theatre celebrate the contributions of Black women PIONEERS from the Civil Rights and Black Arts movements with Mothers of the Movements. This two-part series pays tribute to iconic women, including Dr. Barbara Ann Teer, Abbey Lincoln, and Ella Baker. At Harlem Stage, longtime Lincoln collaborator Marc Cary reimagines the seminal Freedom Now Suite album, We Insist!, featuring Terri Lyne Carrington, Reggie Workman, Sameer Gupta, Edmar Colón, and surprise guests. Presented by Harlem Stage.
_______ Bhi Bhiman
Saturday, March 10 at 10 PM
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall The son of Sri Lankan immigrants, American singer-songwriter Bhi Bhiman has drawn comparisons to 1960s icons Nina Simone, Curtis Mayfield, and Woody Guthrie. With a unique and haunting voice that's been called "as earthy as it is ethereal [and] as puckish as it is wise" (The Washington Post), Bhiman writes soulful pop-folk songs that artfully combine the personal and the political through stories of the human condition.
_______ A Time Like This: Music for Change
Sunday, March 11 at 3 PM
Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage at Carnegie Hall In the '60s, young people started movements focused on equal rights, economic empowerment, peace, and their own place in the world. Today, the next generation continues to use music to bring people together and fight for change. In this concert, young performers from Carnegie Hall's Weill Music Institute programs share the stage with celebrated artists of our time to share music that empowers, encourages, and inspires. The program will include songs from the '60s alongside new works by New Yorkers of all ages. Poet Lemon Andersen will host the concert, and Kenny Seymour is Music Supervisor.
_______ The Vietnam War: At Home and Abroad
Saturday, March 24 at 2 PM
Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall Explore aspects of and reactions to THE VIETNAM WAR in this program that features live performances of pop and folk music from the 1960s-from Pete Seeger to Woodstock-coupled with extraordinary photographs and film footage. Narrated by John Monsky, the creator of this multimedia presentation and others like it at the New-York Historical Society, this event captures the war's intense emotions on the battlefield and at home. The afternoon begins with the Friction Quartet performing George Crumb's amplified string quartet Black Angels, a searing response to the Vietnam War.DANCE AND THEATER Revelations
November 29-December 31
New York City Center
131 West 55th Street | Manhattan
alvinailey.org As a prelude to The '60s festival, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater presents a five-week season at New York City Center, where most performances will conclude with Mr. Ailey's beloved Revelations. Originally created in 1960-and rooted in the faith, music, and complexity of African American culture-this seminal work's timeless story of struggle and SALVATION continues to inspire audiences of all ages and backgrounds. Presented by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
_______ Shakespeare Redress: Joe Papp's Naked Hamlet 1968
Monday, January 8 at 6 PM
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
40 Lincoln Center Plaza | Manhattan
nypl.org/lpa/events Fifty years ago, Joe Papp-the restless, young champion of free Shakespeare for all-responded to the angst of the nation with a radical reinvention of Hamlet. All actors were, in fact, fully clothed, but the traditions and pretentions of past generations were stripped off. The Shakespeare Society excavates Naked Hamlet from the archives, with an evening of reconstructed scenes, photos, rarely heard recordings, and recitations from Papp's personal papers. This event is free. Presented by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
_______ March
February 6 - 11
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Avenue | Manhattan
joyce.orgRonald K. Brown / EVIDENCE, A Dance Company, performs the duet "March," from the 1995 work Lessons choreographed by Ronald K. Brown, as part of the company's mixed-bill program at The Joyce Theater. Inspired by the Civil Rights Movement-and set to a speech by Dr. Martin LUTHER King Jr. that speaks to the value of a man, with music by Bobby McFerrin-the work embodies a physical story of perseverance, dignity, collective strength, and care-taking. Presented by The Joyce Theater.
_______ Forces of Rhythm
Sunday, February 11 at 3 PM
Dance Theatre of Harlem
Everett Center for the Performing Arts
466 West 152nd Street | Manhattan
dancetheatreofharlem.org Dance Theatre of Harlem celebrates its 49th anniversary with a program that features selections from choreographer Louis Johnson's iconic Forces of Rhythm. For many years a company staple, Forces-with its eclectic blending of works by Donny Hathaway, Aretha Franklin, and Tchaikovsky-was a powerful reflection of the turmoil and transformation signified by the ballet company in Harlem founded by Arthur Mitchell and Karel Shook. Presented by Dance Theatre of Harlem.
_______ The Black Woman: She Does Exist
Monday, March 12 at 7:30 PM
National Black Theatre, Inc.
2031 Fifth Avenue | Manhattan
nationalblacktheatre.org The National Black Theatre presents a retrospective of influential texts written by Black women, including the article written by Dr. Barbara Ann Teer featured in The New York Times (1967) titled "The Black Woman: She Does Exist." The performance is accompanied by a panel discussion and audience talkback as part of the Mothers of the Movements series, presented in partnership with Harlem Stage. Presented by the National Black Theatre, Inc.FILM '60s Verité
January 19-February 6
Film Forum
209 West Houston Street | Manhattan
filmforum.org Rejecting narrators, talking heads, and interviewers of conventional documentaries, Direct Cinema PIONEERS chronicled the 1960s: JFK, the Civil Rights Movement, Vietnam, drug culture, the rock and folk scenes, hippie counterculture, as well as the seemingly mundane. '60s Verité features more than 50 modern classics, including Robert Drew's Primary and D. A. Pennebaker's Dont Look Back, that changed the recording of social history and revolutionized filmmaking itself. Presented by Film Forum.
_______ Coming Home
Friday, January 26 at 7 PM
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West | Manhattan
nyhistory.org The Bernard and Irene Schwartz Classic Film Series presents Coming Home (1978), which follows the story of a Vietnam War captain's wife, produced by and starring Jane Fonda. Opening remarks will be given by filmmaker Susan Lacy, producer and director of an upcoming HBO documentary about Fonda. This event is free with museum admission. Presented by the New-York Historical Society.
_______ In the Intense Now
January 31-February 13
Film Forum
209 West Houston Street | Manhattan
filmforum.org Directed by João Moreira Salles, In the Intense Now is a documentary essay that explores three pivotal events of the 1960s: the May '68 uprisings in Paris, the Prague Spring and subsequent Soviet takeover of Czechoslovakia, and Mao's Cultural Revolution-all from a personal perspective that uses home movies and a bounty of archival footage. It's a brilliant, moving film-political, intimate, poetically charged, and provocative. Presented by Film Forum.
_______ 1968/Television
Sunday, March 4, 11, and 18 at 12:15 PM
The Paley Center for Media
25 West 52nd Street | Manhattan
paleycenter.org Screenings of 1968 television programs look at how the medium reported the news and how it adapted to the changing national mood, including the historic special report from Vietnam by Walter Cronkite and an episode of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour with Pete Seeger (March 4); Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant and a segment on Glenn Gould from Public Broadcasting Laboratory (March 11); and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In (March 18). These events are free. Presented by The Paley Center for Media.
_______ The Avant-Garde Score
March 14-20
The Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd Street | Manhattan
moma.org The Museum of Modern Art celebrates the use of avant-garde and modern classical music in cinema, including landmark works from the 1960s. Organized by MoMA curator Joshua Siegel, the series includes the film work of Pierre Boulez, Daphne Oram, Arvö Part, Steve Reich, Toru Takemitsu, Edgard Varèse, and others. Presented by The Museum of Modern Art.
_______ Third World Newsreel 50th Anniversary Celebration
Thursday, April 5 at 6 PM
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers
40 Lincoln Center Plaza | Manhattan
nypl.org/lpa/events Third World Newsreel (TWN), an alternative media center that started as the radical film collective Newsreel in New York, celebrates 50 years in the trenches of activist media with some of its historic classics. This event is free. Presented by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.
_______ Troublemakers: Resistance through Filmmaking
Thursday, June 7 at 6 PM
The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
The Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers
40 Lincoln Center Plaza | Manhattan
nypl.org/lpa/events Watch screenings of historical works from the Library's 16mm film collection, which document and embody the counterculture movement of the 1960s. This event is free. Presented by The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. ADDITIONAL FILM PARTNERS Anthology Film Archives
32 Second Avenue | Manhattan
anthologyfilmarchives.org IFC Center
323 Sixth Avenue | Manhattan
ifccenter.com Museum of the Moving Image
36-01 35th Avenue | Queens
movingimage.usTALKS An Evening with Ken Burns: The Vietnam War
Wednesday, January 10 at 6:30 PM
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West | Manhattan
nyhistory.org As part of its History with David M. Rubenstein series, filmmaker Ken Burns, in conversation with David M. Rubenstein, discusses THE VIETNAM WAR and the chaotic epoch it encompassed, following the recent release of Burns's documentary series THE VIETNAM WAR and the opening of New-York Historical Society's exhibition The Vietnam War: 1945-1975. Presented by the New-York Historical Society.
_______ The Sixties UNDERGROUND Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America
Tuesday, January 23 at 6 PM
Butler Library, Columbia University
535 West 114th Street | Manhattan
library.columbia.edu/rbml Georgia State University Associate Professor John McMillian leads a discussion based on his book Smoking Typewriters: THE SIXTIES UNDERGROUND Press and the Rise of Alternative Media in America. McMillian also authored Beatles vs. Stones and is co-editor of The Sixties: A Journal of History, Politics, and Culture. This event is free; registration required. Presented by the Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.
_______ "Black is Beautiful": Fashion and Consciousness
Tuesday, February 6 at 6:30 PM
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue | Manhattan
mcny.org/mod Documentary photographer Kwame Brathwaite and his son Kwame S. Brathwaite join historian Tanisha Ford to reflect on the impact of Brathwaite's pioneering "Black Is Beautiful" photographs. In the late 1950s and early '60s, Brathwaite helped to popularize an Afrocentric vision of female beauty. Inspired by the writings of Marcus Garvey, Brathwaite's "natural" portraits of the Grandassa Models serve as a testament to the lasting power of photography as a cultural and political tool. Presented by the Museum of the City of New York.
_______ 1960s: The Crucible of the Postmodern
Thursday, February 15 at 6:30 PM
The Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue | Manhattan
thejewishmuseum.org Whether challenged by the limits of traditional media or excited by the aesthetic potential of new technology, artists of the 1960s felt the imperative to calibrate their work more closely to real experience and to engage the spectator as never before. New York University Associate Professor Julia Robinson explores how this break with past traditions paved the way for contemporary art today. Included with museum admission; RSVP recommended. Presented by The Jewish Museum.
_______ The Summer of Law and Disorder: Harlem Riot of 1964
Wednesday, February 21 at 6:30 PM
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Boulevard | Manhattan
schomburgcenter.org The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture presents a panel discussion about the Harlem Riot of 1964 in the aftermath of the police shooting of ninth-grader James Powell and the "law-and-order" policies championed by presidential contenders on the campaign trail. The Harlem Riot solicited a variety of responses from community stakeholders and precipitated a summer of urban unrest around the country. This event is free; registration required. Presented by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at The New York Public Library.
_______ The Great Society: Then and Now
Tuesday, March 6 at 6 PM
New York University Law School
Vanderbilt Hall
40 Washington Square South | Manhattan
brennancenter.org/events Led by Lyndon B. Johnson, the Great Society of the 1960s is still woven deeply into American life. At its heart was a guarantee of healthcare for the old and the poor, which is now the subject of attacks in Congress, on editorial pages, and in presidential tweets. Hear from policy experts and journalists involved in the battle then and now as they discuss the role we can play in protecting these ambitious government programs that have made tangible differences in the lives of Americans. This event is free. Presented by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
_______ The '60s From Both Sides Now: An Evening with Judy Collins
Tuesday, March 13 at 6:30 PM
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West | Manhattan
nyhistory.org Part of the Bernard and Irene Schwartz Distinguished Speakers Series, Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and activist Judy Collins-in conversation with historian Harold Holzer-looks back at the roiling decade that launched, inspired, and tested her. Presented by the New-York Historical Society.
_______ '60s Fashion: The Youthquake and Its Aftershocks
Wednesday, March 14 at 6:30 PM
Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue | Manhattan
mcny.org/mod Fashion in the 1960s underwent a radical transformation from the styles of the straight-laced '50s to clothing inspired by the cultural and social revolutions that convulsed the new decade. Downtown young designers, many self-taught, invented new looks, paving the way for trends of the '70s onward. Join New York designers Anna Sui and Andrea Aranow (Dakota Transit) as they discuss the impact of the '60s on their work with Parsons fashion scholar Hazel Clark. Presented by the Museum of the City of New York.
_______ The 1960s: Voting Rights Then and Now
Tuesday, March 20 at 6 PM
New York University Law School
Vanderbilt Hall, Greenberg Lounge
40 Washington Square South | Manhattan
brennancenter.org/events Fifty years after the Voting Rights Act guaranteed the franchise to all Americans, access to this fundamental right is once again under siege. In conversation with veterans of the Civil Rights Movement and experts of the field, we look back to this legislation to inform our present battles. This event is free. Presented by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
_______ 1969: El Museo del Barrio
March - date to be announced
The New School
66 West 12th Street | Manhattan
elmuseo.org Join us for an insightful exchange between Patrick Charpenel, El Museo del Barrio's current director, and founder Raphael Montañez Ortiz as they discuss El Museo's origins in 1969, its significance in the Latin American and Caribbean arts community, and its current place as a cultural institution in New York City. This event is free. Presented by El Museo del Barrio in partnership with The New School.
_______ 50 Years After the Revolution: New Perspectives on 1968
April 27-28
Faculty House, Columbia University
64 Morningside Drive | Manhattan
library.columbia.edu/rbml This two-day conference features panel discussions and a film screening as scholars, activists, and students consider the legacies of 1968 for politics and society today. This event is free; registration required. Presented by Columbia University.EXHIBITS Countdown to Eternity: Photographs of Dr. Martin LUTHER King Jr. in the 1960s
Permanent Exhibition
LaGuardia Gallery of Fine Arts at LaGuardia Community College
31-10 Thomson Avenue | Queens
http://www1.cuny.edu/sites/cuny-arts Documenting the last year of the life of the late civil rights leader, this exhibition of photos by Benedict J. Fernandez includes the recent addition of accompanying text by Dr. Stephen Weinstein, under the direction of Dr. Richard K. Lieberman of the LaGuardia and Wagner Archives, in conjunction with the photographer and LaGuardia Humanities Department Professor Hugo Fernandez. A special event in March will mark the 50th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination. This event is free. Presented by the City University of New York & CUNY Arts.
_______ Power In Print
Through February
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Boulevard | Manhattan
schomburgcenter.org The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture extends viewing of its Power in Print exhibition, exploring the art of the Black Power poster movement, showcasing a variety of aesthetics, styles, and messaging strategies. This collection-based exhibition pulls together dozens of posters from the Schomburg's Art and Artifacts Division. This event is free. Presented by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture at The New York Public Library.
_______ The Vietnam War: 1945-1975
Through April 22
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West | Manhattan
nyhistory.org This groundbreaking exhibit explores the Vietnam War's causes, conduct, and consequences, both on the battlefront and the US home front. The exhibition recounts the heartrending events of the era and captures the perspectives and voices of its history makers-from political and military leaders, to journalists, service members, nurses, family members, and activists. This event is free with museum admission. Presented by the New-York Historical Society.
_______ Narrative and Counter-Narrative (Re)Defining the 1960s
Beginning January 3
Bobst Library, New York University
70 Washington Square South | Manhattan
library.nyu.edu/locations/elmer-holmes-bobst-library This collaborative exhibition focuses on the 1960s at Washington Square through selections from NYU Libraries Special Collections. From sanctuary to gallery, from the classroom to the streets, the exhibition explores the activism, issues, and creativity that unfolded during the decade and how Downtown New York became an influential convergence point. This event is free. Presented by New York University Libraries Special Collections.
_______ Sing Out! The 1960s at Carnegie Hall
January 14-March 24
Rose Museum at Carnegie Hall
154 West 57th Street, Second Floor | Manhattan
carnegiehall.org/museum At the laying of the cornerstone in 1890, Andrew Carnegie said that "all good causes may here find a platform." At no time during Carnegie Hall's history were those words better represented than in the 1960s. This exhibit focuses on 13 events that represent the social causes that sang out to be heard. This event is free.
_______ Harlem Postcards
Beginning January 14
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