Famed UWS Arts Center To Reimagine Amsterdam Side Of Campus

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — Lincoln Center is launching an initiative to make the Amsterdam Avenue side of its Upper West Side campus "more welcoming."

The initiative will look to "break down barriers, physical and otherwise," between Lincoln Center and the local community and audiences by making the Amsterdam Avenue side of the campus more accessible, welcoming, and inclusive.

The arts center campus stretches from around West 62nd to 65th streets on the Amsterdam Avenue side.

“We’re enormously proud of the work we’ve done on the East side of our campus, including our project to reimagine David Geffen Hall,” said Henry Timms, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, said in a news release. “Now is the time to apply the same level of thoughtfulness and rigor to our West, which needs to be reimagined to better welcome our neighbors."

Lincoln Center aims to deploy a "robust" participatory planning and public engagement process that will include broad input from the public and local community to create greater access up and down the Amsterdam Avenue side of the campus.

That outreach will include neighbors, nearby NYCHA residents, elected officials, advocates, community groups, nearby educational institutions, and more.

Here are a collection of the initiatives key goals.

• Better serve close neighbors, including residents of New York City Housing Authority campuses at Amsterdam Houses and Addition, and students of LaGuardia High School of Music and Performing Arts and the six high schools at the Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational Complex.
• Create an improved performance park to meet artistic and community goals.
• Commemorate the history and public memory of San Juan Hill and historic Lincoln Square.
• Collaborate closely with neighbors, partners, and constituents to ensure a broad array of stakeholders have a voice in the process, allowing for a lasting, positive impact.

The Lincoln Center campus was originally developed in a 1950s project that razed the nearby San Juan Hill Community. The new initiative will prioritize ensuring that the history of that neighborhood has a lasting and positive impact.

“I’ve lived in NYCHA housing most of my life—both at Amsterdam Houses and Addition," said Patricia Ryan, Vice President of the Tenant Association of Amsterdam Addition, in a news release. "I raised my two children in NYCHA housing and I continue to be an active advocate for the children and senior citizens in our Amsterdam community."

“Speaking for my fellow residents and neighbors, we welcome and support Lincoln Center’s initiative to be more accessible and inclusive to our local community," she added.

You can find out more about the new initiative and give feedback yourself — HERE.