New Lincoln Center Pres Mariko Silver Is An UWS Local

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY – Lincoln Center, the complex of performance institutions that includes renowned organizations like the Metropolitan Opera, the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Lincoln Center Theater, and more, will have a new president in September: Mariko Silver.

Silver, who recently led Bennington College in Vermont, also happens to be an Upper West Side local, and grew up in the West 70s near West End Avenue.

A Real West Sider?

The bagel order is always a good place to start. What’s her usual?

”An everything bagel with nova, tomatoes, and cream cheese – obviously not too much,” Silver told Patch, in an interview. “Toasted.”

But not only is Silver familiar with the classics, she’s attuned to the contemporary, and is fond of the dan dan noodles at Szechuan Garden on 105th Street and Broadway.

Perhaps more importantly, it’s in the neighborhood that Silver developed an appreciation for Lincoln Center, as a child who attended regular performances with her parents, producer Joan Shigekawa and filmmaker Tony Silver.

“We would pop over to Lincoln Center to see all kinds of things,” Silver said. “I grew up going to as much as I could, and I would love for every kid who lives in New York or who comes through New York to have those opportunities, should they wish them.”

‘Greater Than The Sum Of Its Parts’

Lincoln Center’s constituent organizations are independent, as are the performances these institutions present.

“I won’t speak for the constituent organizations, but we share an umbrella, we share a foundation, we share a headline, and we share a brand, and I think that while the constituent organizations are remarkable each in their own right, Lincoln Center and everyone who uses Lincoln Center or plays at Lincoln Center values them being all together,” she said. “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”

Lincoln Center also presents its own programming, and may be best known for putting on Summer for the City, which replaced the long-running Mostly Mozart Festival, as well as Midsummer Night Swing and Lincoln Center Out of Doors.

Summer for the City, which concluded in August, features a remarkable array of largely pay-what-you-wish programming, and also involves the transformation of the area adjacent the plaza’s Revson Fountain into a dance floor under the glow of an enormous disco ball.

The relatively new arrangement reflects a change in tone, and a shift away from classical art alone to a broader variety of performance, such as Comedy Underground, which took place in a repurposed garage.

“Ideally, Lincoln Center as a whole shares a vision for bringing extraordinary acts of creative human endeavor to the community of New Yorkers and visitors who visit every year,” Silver said.

“That is our shared job, and the other piece of our shared job is to make sure that this extraordinary programming is available and accessible to everyone in our community, which in my view is everyone,” Silver emphasized.

Five Companies, One Stage

One example? The BAAND Together Dance Festival, part of Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City series. Featuring five of the city’s dance companies all on one stage – Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet Hispánico, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and New York City Ballet — BAAND Together, a choose-what-you-pay event, is exactly the kind of collaborative programming that Lincoln Center is so well poised to accomplish.

“I sat in between a couple speaking French and somebody coming from their outdoor construction job, hauling tools, literally,” Silver, who attended the event, recalled. “We had an amazing time together. Standing ovations, cheering excitement – very little beats that experience.”

When asked about the kind of events she might like to present, Silver was reserved, expressing an interest in projects “where there is a through line of programming that knits together and embraces the whole campus.”

“The range that Lincoln Center provides – and that every individual thing is at the pinnacle of excellence – that, to me, is the most exciting,” she added.

What about the sentiment that classical art is for some audiences, and not others? How does she aim to crack that open?

“There’s been a long term process underway, by all of the constituent organizations and by Lincoln Center as a whole, and that will continue,” she said “Some of that is about the financial barriers to entry, some of it is about how we talk about what we do, and some of it is about what we present. It’s a delicate balance to hit it right, we’ve been hitting it right a lot of the time, but there’s always more to do.”

Amsterdam Avenue

“More to do” includes an enormous project on Lincoln Center’s west side, where a formidable wall faces Amsterdam Avenue, a symbolic barrier between Lincoln Center, New York CIty Housing Authority’s Amsterdam Houses, and the last remnants of San Juan Hill, the multicultural neighborhood that was razed to make way for Lincoln Center in the 1950s.

Although work remains in its early stages, the “physical and conceptual wall” between Lincoln Center and Amsterdam Avenue will be removed, in a project that will include upgrades to Damrosch Park.

Eventually, it will be a “flow-through public space that everyone can love and enjoy,” Silver said.

“We are all committed to advancing the west project, or what it means to make Lincoln Center accessible from all sides,” she emphasized.

'A Dream'

Silver succeeds Henry Timms, who previously led the 92nd Street Y. Her first day on the job is Sept. 23.

It seems fair to say that Silver’s leadership marks a triumphant return to the neighborhood.

“What a dream for an Upper West Side kid,” she concluded.