NEW YORK CARNEGIE HALL CITY CENTER? You know how Lincoln Center concentrates a whole lot of performing arts institutions just northwest of Columbus Circle? And you know how there's been talk about a cultural center down by Ground Zero? Well, just southeast of Columbus Circle it looks like Carnegie Hall and New York City Center are uniting with something similar in mind. Here's the press release:

CARNEGIE HALL AND NEW YORK CITY CENTER TO FORM PARTNERSHIP

New York, New York; December 2, 2005 — The Board of Directors of the Carnegie Hall Corporation and New York City Center today announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding on a partnership between the two organizations that will dramatically expand the scope and depth of their artistic and educational programs. It will also exponentially enhance the services both organizations offer to artists, audiences, students and children.

Extensive Opportunities for Combined Artistic and Education Programs
The partnership will link one of the world’s most venerable and respected institutions in the field of music and one of the country’s leading and historically important dance and musical theater venues. It will bring together under one umbrella music, dance and theater, with the means of developing imaginative artistic programming across genres and art forms. It will allow each institution to maintain its own distinct characteristics and programs while leveraging powerful artistic synergies across the organizations. It will also enhance the reach and scope of the institutions’ education programs to people throughout the New York metropolitan area and, through technology, across the U.S. and around the world.

Strengthening the City as the “Cultural Center of the World”
The Honorable Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said, “The proposed partnership between Carnegie Hall and New York City Center is extremely exciting. These two world-class organizations have coexisted across the street from one another for decades. Now, the combination of their extraordinary strengths will further enliven their neighborhood as it advances the City’s cultural preeminence. Deputy Mayor Patti Harris, Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Kate Levin and I applaud the dynamic, thoughtful leadership of both organizations and look forward to working with them through this transition and into the future.”

New York State Attorney General Elliot Spitzer said, "This new dynamic relationship between two of New York's important cultural institutions is great news for all who believe New York is the cultural epicenter of the universe."

Capital Campaign to Renovate the Landmark New York City Center Facilities
The first major initiative of the partnership will be a $150 million capital campaign to renovate the landmark New York City Center facilities. As part of the project, the main stage will undergo a major renovation to create a 2,200 seat state-of-the-art performance hall for dance and theater, complementary to Carnegie Hall. In addition, the facilities will provide expanded and renovated space for the educational programs of both New York City Center and Carnegie Hall. Funds will be raised from private and public sources, with construction targeted to begin following the 2006-2007 season, and an anticipated grand opening of the new New York City Center in Fall 2008.

Partnership Structure
Carnegie Hall and New York City Center will retain their own Boards of Trustees and separate 501(c)(3) status, and their endowments will continue to be used for the purposes originally designated. In addition, a new 25-person Partnership Board of Trustees will be formed, which will include 14 members of the Carnegie Hall Board, eight members of the New York City Center Board, and three outside directors, one of whom will be Fred Wilpon. Carnegie Hall’s Board Chairman, Sanford I. Weill, will serve as Chairman of the Partnership Board, and New York City Center’s Board Chairman, Raymond A. Lamontagne, will serve as Vice Chairman.

Clive Gillinson will become President of the Partnership organization and will continue to lead Carnegie Hall as Executive and Artistic Director. Arlene Shuler will become Executive Vice President of the Partnership organization, and will continue to lead New York City Center as its President and Chief Executive Officer.

Expanding the Vision
Mr. Weill said, “Carnegie Hall has earned its place among the world’s great centers for musical performance and education. This alliance enables us to work with another venerable New York institution to expand our common vision to a full range of performing arts, and develop groundbreaking programs encompassing the very best in music, dance and theater. The result will be an organization with greater relevance to the world cultural community, well positioned to continue to break new ground in both the performing arts and arts education. We thank Mayor Bloomberg, Deputy Mayor Patti Harris, Commissioner Kate Levin, Attorney General Elliot Spitzer, and their staffs for their support of this exciting new venture.”

A Partnership Born Out of the Strengths of Both Organizations
Mr. Lamontagne added “This partnership is born out of the strengths of both organizations and made possible by the many qualities our institutions share: respect for our communities, dedication to exceptional artistic performance and education programs, fiscal conservatism, and strong and active Boards who are supported by some of the finest artistic and managerial talent in the world. With the planned renovation of New York City Center and the partnership with Carnegie Hall, we are securing and augmenting New York City Center’s potential to fulfill our original mission as “the People’s Theater” of the City of New York for the future.”

A More Adventurous and Exciting Future for Both Organizations
“I am delighted that Carnegie Hall and New York City Center are going to join together in this creative partnership, which maintains the best of what we each do while creating boundless collaborative possibilities," said Clive Gillinson. "Imagine a thematic festival that can draw simultaneously on newly commissioned music, dance and theatre works, with performances by symphony orchestras, dance companies, poets, theater companies, chamber ensembles and recitalists, all in a coherently conceived festival with robust, complementary educational programs. I greatly look forward to working closely and collaborating with Arlene and her team to develop even more adventurous and exciting futures for our organizations, and to further enhancing New York City as a great center of culture."

New York City Center “Alive with Performance throughout the Year”
Arlene Shuler added: "All of us at New York City Center are proud of the theater's historic mission to make the finest of the performing arts accessible to the broadest possible audiences. New York City Center has recently made great strides to revitalize its mission and this partnership adds a wonderful new dimension to our ability to serve the public. It aligns our organization with our world-renowned neighbor, and will result in exciting collaborations with Clive and our colleagues at Carnegie Hall. In addition, the partnership will enable us to transform New York City Center into a state-of-the-art facility with improved sightlines, seating, patron amenities and backstage enhancements benefiting our existing resident companies and attracting new performers to the theater. Both the renovation and the partnership with Carnegie Hall will result in New York City Center being alive with performance throughout the year."

About Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall, hailed as “the concert hall of the century” by Musical America, features the world’s greatest soloists, ensembles, and orchestras in its renowned Isaac Stern Auditorium, intimate Weill Recital Hall, and technologically advanced Zankel Hall. The legendary concert venue presents over 190 events each year and produces such acclaimed series as Perspectives, Making Music, and Distinctive Debuts. The recent establishment of The Weill Music Institute at Carnegie Hall paves the way for expanded opportunities as Carnegie Hall moves forward as an international cultural center representing the very best in musical performance and arts education.

About New York City Center

New York City Center has long been known and beloved by New York audiences not only as one of the city's preeminent performing arts institutions but also as an accessible and welcoming venue for dance and theater. New York City Center produces the Tony honored Encores! musical theater series, and is the New York home to some of the country’s leading dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor Dance Company and Manhattan Theatre Club. In 2004, New York City Center launched the annual Fall for Dance Festival which, for $10 a ticket, not only celebrates the vitality and creativity of dance today, but continues to fulfill New York City Center's mission to make the arts accessible to the broadest possible audiences.