John Zorn's Iconic Venue The Stone Moves to The New School

John Zorn and Executive Dean Richard Kessler announced today that The Stone, the landmark non-profit performance space founded in 2005 by John Zorn and dedicated to the experimental and avant-garde, will move to The Glass Box Theater at Arnhold Hall on 55 West 13th Street, in the heart of New York's Greenwich Village.

Arnhold Hall is the performing arts hub for The New School, housing the three performing arts schools of The College of Performing Arts: Mannes School of Music, The New School for Drama, and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.

Building upon the past five years of success of "The Stone Workshops at The New School, curated by John Zorn," where Zorn and Kessler joined forces to present monthly, half-day educational residencies by artists being presented at The Stone, John Zorn and The New School took the partnership to the next natural level and constructed an agreement to move The Stone to The College of Performing Arts (CoPA).

Beginning in March 2018, The Stone at The New School will operate five nights a week, presenting one show a night in The Glass Box Theater, a ground level performing arts space surrounded by windows to the street and Arnhold Hall lobby and designed as part of the gut renovation of much of Arnhold Hall, led by the architectural firm Deborah Berke Partners.

Starting this June, in anticipation of the formal move to The New School, The Stone at The New School will present two shows a week on Friday and Saturday evenings (schedule attached).

For its devoted global audience base and performer network, most of what The Stone has become known for will remain unchanged, albeit in brand new facilities. John Zorn will continue to serve as artistic director, overseeing all of the programming. The devoted network of volunteers who help to run The Stone will remain in place, supplemented by support from The New School staff and students. The Glass Box Theater will provide for the exact same number of seats as the present venue for The Stone, preserving its intimate, affordable, no nonsense, music first ethos.

The partnership will expand the role and nature of The Stone and its connection to The New School, including enhanced opportunities for students to attend performances, open rehearsals, provide production support, as well as joint performances by Stone artists and student, and commissions of works by Stone artists.

Commenting about the future of The Stone, John Zorn said: "I am really excited about this next phase of The Stone. Dean Kessler, Provost Marshall, their team, and I put together a framework for The Stone to continue serving as an artist-centric home and community for experimental and avant-garde artists, where they can perform what they want without any interference. We will continue all of the traditions of The Stone, moving it to greatly improved space, and opening up significant opportunity to draw energy from the students at Mannes, The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, The New School for Drama, and the entire New School."

Executive Dean Richard Kessler is eager to start: "I think that what John Zorn has created in The Stone is a real deal miracle. The value of providing a sort of temple to serious music making for serious audiences, in an intimate environment without any interference as to what is performed is perfectly aligned with the long-term values at The New School. What is more, the broad range of artists of the very highest quality, who also happen to be masters of experiment and improvisation, is a perfect fit for the three schools of the College of Performing Arts. I have been a friend and fan of Zorn's for many years and I am extraordinarily grateful to him for making The Stone at The New School possible."

The Stone was founded in 2005 by the composer-performer John Zorn, who also serves as artistic director. Soon after opening, The Stone quickly established a reputation as a hub for performances by a wide range of experimental musicians - artists that defy conventional categorization. A no-frills and no-nonsense space, The Stone was designed intentionally to focus attention on the artists and their music. Many have come to see The Stone as a sort of temple of music, with none of the distractions of food being sold or the hustle and bustle of servers brings drinks and checks to the table in the middle of performances. In a small and intimate environment, artists are free to perform whatever they choose and receive 100% of the ticket revenue for each and every show.

Over the years The Stone has presented a literal who's who of experimental music, including many who received some of their first bookings before other venues would consider them, as well as those you would not ordinarily be able to witness in such an intimate environment through any other venue. Over 7,000 performances have been presented by The Stone since its opening in 2005.

At the heart of The Stone is John Zorn, who has established a venue almost unimaginable in today's world of music presenting, one that is run exclusively through a network of volunteers. John Zorn, composer, performer, modern day impresario, and community builder, is admired by many for his knowledge of and ability to think and work across an extraordinarily wide range of styles and genres. Zorn's programming for The Stone draws heavily on his own orbit of fellow artists. From Laurie Anderson, Cyro Baptista, Uri Caine, Steve Coleman, Sylvie Courvosier, Kris Davis Dave Douglas, Bill Frisell, Milford Graves, Mary Halvorson, Susie Ibarra, Vijay Iyer, The Jack Quartet, Bill Laswell, Pauline Oliveros, William Parker, Ikue Mori, Marina Rosenfeld, Matthew Shipp, Caroline Shaw, Wadada Leo Smith, Jen Shyu, Tyshawn Sorey, Craig Taborn, Okkyung Lee and countless others across the past 12 years, The Stone at The New School will continue to be the same venue it always has, where artist and audiences gather together to create a community around serious music making.

For more information about The Stone, visit www.thestonenyc.com.

The New School's College of Performing Arts (CoPA), formed in the fall of 2015, brings together Mannes School of Music, the iconic 100-year-old conservatory; the legendary New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the innovative and ground-breaking School of Drama. With each school contributing its unique culture of excellence, the College of Performing Arts creates opportunities for cross-disciplinary collaboration, innovative education, and world-class performances. As part of the formation of The College, Mannes has moved into the newly renovated Arnhold Hall in Greenwich Village, a state-of-the-art facility designed especially for the performing arts. Also housed in Arnhold Hall are The School of Jazz and the School of Drama's BFA program. As a part of The New School, students and faculty across the College of Performing Arts experience a supportive and rigorous environment with enhanced opportunities to collaborate with colleagues in a wide array of disciplines, from the visual arts and fashion design, to the social sciences, to public policy and advocacy, and more. CoPA has over 900 degree and diploma seeking students, including a variety of programs at the undergraduate and graduate level, as well as Mannes Prep, a pre-college program with 400 students.

For more information about the College of Performing Arts, visit www.newschool.edu/performingarts.

Imagine a university where scholars, artists, and designers find the support they need to challenge convention and fearlessly create positive change in the world. Imagine a community where walls between disciplines are dissolved, so journalists collaborate with designers, architects with social researchers, media specialists with activists, poets with musicians. Imagine an intellectual and creative haven that never has and never will settle for status quo. In 1919, a few great minds imagined a school that would rethink the purpose of higher learning. The New School was the result. Today, it is the only comprehensive university housing a world-famous design school, a premier liberal arts college, a renowned performing arts college, a legendary social research school, and many more schools and programs designed for students of every age and stage of life. No other university offers a more creatively inspired, rigorously relevant education. Their academic centers in New York City, Paris, Shanghai, and Mumbai offer more than 10,000 students more than 135 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

For more information about The New School, go to www.newschool.edu.

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THE STONE AT THE NEW SCHOOL
WEEKEND RESIDENCIES JUNE 2017-FEBRUARY 2018

2017

JUNE 2-3 IMPROV BENEFITS

JUNE 9-10 MARK FELDMAN-SYLVIE COURVOISIER

JUNE 16-17 BRANDon Ross

JUNE 23-24 WADADA Leo SmitH

JUNE 30-JULY 1 DAVE DOUGLAS

JULY 7-8 BILL LASWELL

JULY 14-15 Steve Coleman

JULY 21-22 TRIGGER

JULY 28-29 KEN VANDERMARK

AUGUST 4-5 JOHN MEDESKI MATT HOLLENBERG Kenny GROHOWSKI-SIMULACRUM

AUGUST 11-12 Kris Davis

AUGUST 18-19 SYLVIE COURVOISIER

AUGUST 25-26 URI GURVICH

SEPT 1-2 IMPROV BENEFITS

SEPT 8-9 Steven Bernstein

SEPT 15-16 URI CAINE

SEPT 22-23 NED ROTHENBERG

SEPT 29-30 MARY HALVORSON

OCT 6-7 Cyro Baptista

OCT 13-14 JOE LOVANO

OCT 20-21 ERIK FRIEDLANDER

OCT 27-28 JEN SHYU

NOV 3-4 NICOLE MITCHELL

NOV 10-11 JIM BLACK

NOV 17-18 JENNIFER CHOI

NOV 24-25 CLOSED

DEC 1-2 Laurie Anderson

DEC 8- 9 Peter Evans

DEC 15-16 IKUE MORI

DEC 22-23 CLOSED

DEC 29-30 CLOSED

2018

JAN 5- 6 Dan Weiss

JAN 12-13 OKKYUNG LEE

JAN 19-20 JON IRABAGON

JAN 26-27 RYUICHI SAKAMOTO

FEB 2-3 Linda May HAN OH

FEB 9-10 CRAIG TABORN

FEB 16-17 Marc Ribot, TREVOR DUNN, TYSHAWN SOREY - ASMODEUS

March 1: The Stone at The New School, begins full time.