Lincoln Center Discontinues Summer Arts Festival

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Lincoln Center is pulling the plug on its namesake summer festival — the Lincoln Center Festival — after a run of more than 20 years in an attempt to consolidate its programming offerings, officials at the performing arts center announced.

The Lincoln Center Festival will be discontinued as Ehrenkranz Artistic Director Jane Moss assumes full control of programming the world-famous performing arts center, Lincoln Center officials said. Moss started her career at Lincoln Center 25 years ago and will now be tasked with summer programming as well as free programs hosted by the center's David Rubenstein Atrium.

"This programming consolidation offers a wonderful opportunity for Lincoln Center to fully take advantage of
its special assets and make a bold statement about the vibrancy, significance, and relevance of the
performing arts in today’s challenging world," Moss said in a statement.

During Moss' tenure as Lincoln Center's Ehrenkranz Artistic Director — which started in 2011 — the center expanded on its popular Mostly Mozart Festival and added successful new programs such as the White Light Festival. Those festivals are expected to expand in future seasons following the discontinuation of the Lincoln Center Festival.

In addition to those festivals the center hosts a events such as Great Performers, Midsummer Night Swing and Lincoln Center Out of Doors.

The decision to discontinue the Lincoln Center Festival was made weeks after the center announced it will reverse course on a planned $500 million renovation project for the David Geffen Hall. Lincoln Center and the New York Philharmonic said that "complexities" in the original design for the David Geffen Hall renovation "compelled the two organizations to perform additional due diligence on the vital project."

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