Madison Square Park Conservancy Announces Upcoming Programming

Madison Square Park Conservancy today announced the schedule of summer 2016 Mad. Sq. Park Public Programs. Mad. Sq. Park's public programs connect visitors in engaging ways to the Park's art exhibitions, gardens, green spaces, pathways, sculptures, and history. Through lively art talks and horticulture walks, entertaining performances, concerts and festivals, hands-on activities, and unexpected moments, visitors may find that there is more to Mad. Sq. Park than meets the eye.

Mad. Sq. Art programming and performances are designed to accompany Martin Puryear's Big Bling, which opens on May 16. Visitors can join lively discussions around Big Bling and public art with guest artists and art thinkers at Art Talks. Art Talks will be held on Tuesday June 7 with Arlene Shechet, July 5 with Billie Tsien, August 2 with Brooke Kamin Rapaport, September 6 with Andrew Russeth, and October 18 with Kimberly Drew. Art Talks take place at 6 pm on the Oval Lawn near Big Bling. On Wednesdays from 12pm to 12:30pm, explore Big Bling up close at an Art Tour with a dedicated Mad. Sq. Art Docent, beginning June 8 through August 24.

Around the Park @Lunch series takes place weekly on Wednesdays around Farragut Monument. The series begins on June 8 with It's Showtime NYC, a dance celebration of New York City street culture. On June 15, the Park welcomes The Chris Pattishall Trio as they bring the Sing for Hope piano to life and on June 29 James Brandon Lewis Trio performs. On July 6, spoken words artists and DJs from the Nuyorican Poets Café perform slam poetry about urban life, public art, and green space. The series concludes July 13 with a pop up mobile street studio Found Sound Nation.

Around the Park @Nite series takes place park wide weekly beginning on June 16 with harpist Brandee Younger. On July 7, composer/ electroacoustic violist Martha Mooke performs and on July 21 Akim Funk Buddha brings a cross-cultural music and dance party to the Park. On Friday, August 5 Ronald K. Brown/Evidence hosts a public choreography workshop followed by a collective dance performance. Composer Phyllis Chen performs on the toy piano on August 18 and the series concludes in the Fall with David Thomson's immersive performance installation, The Voyeurs, September 15, 16, and 18 at 6pm.

From June 9 - 19 Mad. Sq. Park is home to a Sing for Hope Piano. A piano will be placed in the Northwest corner wall near 25th Street for all to play. The Park also participates in Make Music New York on June 21. At 12:30 pm, the trio Triangulus bring handmade string instruments to the Park and to perform. At 3:30 pm composer and drummer Brian Chase (Yeah Yeah Yeahs) conducts Shimmer, a Mass Appeal composition for a communal orchestra of 20 cymbals and at 6:30 pm Chase joins electronic harpist and improviser Zeena Parkins for a contemporary duet performance.

Mad. Sq. Hort joins with the Municipal Art Society to celebrate the legacy of urban activist Jane Jacobs. Take a Jane's Walk in the Park-or all seven, and learn about Mad. Sq. Park through the lens of Jacobs on Sundays beginning in May. A kick-off celebration will take place on Jane's Walk Weekend, Friday May 6 with two walks. Mad. Sq. Hort will also host Hort Talks on Tuesdays at noon with our Director of Horticulture and park gardeners. The talks will explore seasonal blooms in the Park. On June 25 Madison Square Park celebrates Hydrangea Hurrah, a family friendly Mad. Sq. Hort day with guest speakers, park tours, floral demos, a kids' zone with games, and musical entertainment.

Thanks to Mad. Sq. Public Programming sponsors: New York Life, Con Edison, Credit Suisse Foundation, Lego, Ace Hotel New York, Park South Hotel, Time Out New York, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, and New York City Department of Parks and Recreation.

Full lineups of @Lunchtime, @Nite, Jane's Walks in the Park, Horticulture Talks

Around the Park @Lunch

The Lineup:

June 8, 12:30 pm - It's Showtime NYC (dance)

June 15, 12:30 pm - The Chris Pattishall Trio (music)

June 29, 12:30 pm - James Brandon Lewis Trio (music)

July 6, 12:30 pm - Nuyorican Poets Cafe (spoken word)

July 13, 12:30 pm - Found Sound Nation - Street Studio (music)

Around the Park @Nite

The Lineup:

June 16, 7:00 pm - Brandee Younger (music)

July 7, 7:00 pm - Martha Mooke (music)

July 21, 7:00 pm - Akim Funk Buddha (dance)

August 5, 6:00 pm - Ronald K. Brown/Evidence workshop at 6 pm, collective performance at 7pm (dance)

August 18, 7:00 pm - Phyllis Chen (music)

Sept 15, 16 at 6:00 pm, and 18, 2:00 pm - David Thomson - The Voyeurs (performance)

Jane's Walk in the Park

The Lineup:

May 6, 1:00 pm - Kick Off Weekend - Preservation and Stewardship of Historic Madison Square Park, led by Executive Director, Keats Myer

May 6, 3:00 pm - Kick Off Weekend - All about the Garden: Examining the Horticulture of Madison Square Park,

led by Director of Horticulture and Park Operations, Stephanie Lucas.

May 8, 3:00 pm - Kick Off Weekend Excavating the Ordinary: An Artist Perspective of Madison Square Park, led by visual artist Neil Goldberg

June 19, 3:00 pm - Madison Square Park in the Time of Edith Wharton--and Today, led by architectural historian Francis Morrone

July 17, 3:00 pm - The History of Madison Square Park: Baseball, Barnum and The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing, led by Levy NY's Mark Levy

August 28, 3:00 pm - Vibrancy by Design - Madison Square Park as a Thriving Public Space, led by Urban Planner Moses Gates

September 18, 3:00 pm - Madison Sq. Park and the Urban Forest, led by Trees New York's Sam Bishop

Hort Talks

The Lineup:

May 10 - Spring Bulbs

June 21 - Hydrangeas

July 19 - Summer Annuals

August 16 - Texas Plants @ Worth Square

September 20 - Perennials

October 18 - Trees