Lincoln Center: A Promise Realized, 1979-2006 - Hardcover

by Stephen Stamas (Author)

The Journey Continues for the World's Most Prestigious Cultural Association

This book chronicles the major milestones in the artistic, physical, and administrative history of Lincoln Center's last two-and-a-half decades. Filled with over sixty beautiful black-and-white photographs that highlight the Center's rich cultural history, it illuminates how Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts served and supported its constituent groups while producing its own innovative artistic programming and how, in the process, it became a role model for performing arts organizations throughout the world.

Front Jacket

John D. Rockefeller 3rd had a dream: to create a center for the arts, a place "built not just for today or tomorrow, but for generations to come," where "the arts are not for the privileged few, but for the many." That place became Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the first complex of its kind in the United States. By 1979, its twentieth anniversary, Lincoln Center had become an unofficial New York City landmark, a well-visited tourist destination, and, most especially, a place recognized throughout the world for the excellence of its artistic offerings.

But much remained to be done before Lincoln Center could fulfill Rockfeller's dream. In defining its purposes beyond that of real estatemanager, Lincoln Center had to overcome serious financial woes and the perception by outsiders that it lacked a true sense of community. Lincoln Center: A Promise Realized, 1979-2006 is the story of how Lincoln Center, the umbrella organization for its resident artistic companies, evolved to serve and support its "family" in their own remarkable artistic achievements while at the same time it broadened its own offerings, drawing new audiences to the campus and enlivening its public spaces.

Authors Stephen Stamas and Sharon Zane chronicle the major milestones in the artistic, physical, and administrative history of Lincoln Center's last two-and-a-half decades. Here, for example, is the story of Mostly Mozart and Great Performers, two of its most popular, long-running series. Here, too, is the story of the constituents that Lincoln Center helped bring into being, such as Jazz at Lincoln Center and the Film Society, and how, through its Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts, Lincoln Center became a household name. Here is a recounting of how and why, having expanded its campus in the 1980s, it recently embarked on a decade-long redevelopment project to revitalize and upgrade the campus for the twenty-first century.

Filled with over sixty beautiful black-and-white photographs that highlight the Center's rich cultural history, Lincoln Center: A Promise Realized, 1979-2006 illuminates how Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts served and supported its constituent groups while producing its own innovative artistic programming and how, in the process, it became a role model for performing arts organizations throughout the world.

Back Jacket

The journey continues for the world's most prestigious cultural association

"Lincoln Center's impact on the artistic world and landscape of New York City has been seminal. This book masterfully tells how it all happened: the origins of programming, the physical growth of the campus, and the governance of a great institution. As an artist, I am grateful for Lincoln Center and am impressed with its ambitious plan for the next generation of artists and audiences."
-- Emanuel Ax, pianist, graduate of the Juilliard School, and frequent Lincoln Center performer

"Lincoln Center: A Promise Realized, 1979-2006 reveals the behind-the-scenes stories audiences rarely get to see or hear. It tells of the artistic choices, programming decisions, leadership and fiscal challenges, and leading personalities that have shaped the last twenty-five years at the world's preeminent performing arts center."
-- Audra McDonald, four-time Tony Award-winning actress and singer, graduate of the Juilliard School, and frequent Lincoln Center performer

"Lincoln Center: A Promise Realized, 1979-2006 offers an insider's account of the leadership challenges that shaped Lincoln Center throughout its maturation to become what it is today: a civic and cultural treasure. The multifaceted management concerns in working with the world-class arts organizations are fascinatingly recounted. That legacy of talented and wise stewardship, combined with a current corps of determined and resourceful loyalists, will undoubtedly convert Lincoln Center's ambitious current plans into a sparkling reality."
-- Jerry Speyer, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Tishman Speyer Properties

Author Biography

STEPHEN STAMAS was vice chairman of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts from 1986 to 1996. He was also the president of the New York Philharmonic from 1984 to 1989, and then chairman from 1989 to 1996.

SHARON ZANE is an oral historian who has been associated with Lincoln Center since 1990. Her oral histories include projects for corporate and nonprofit institutions.