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| 19th Street Project | |
|---|---|
| Name | 19th Street Project |
| Formation | 2000s |
| Headquarters | New York City |
| Type | Arts education collective |
19th Street Project The 19th Street Project is an arts education initiative based in New York City that produced experimental theater, interdisciplinary workshops, and youth mentorship programs. It operated at the intersection of community arts, nonprofit programming, and cultural festivals, engaging collaborators from institutions such as Lincoln Center, Museum of Modern Art, Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and New York University. The project attracted participants linked to organizations including Harlem Stage, Juilliard School, Ford Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and The New School.
The initiative functioned as a collective and production company drawing on networks in Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx, and Staten Island while partnering with venues like Public Theater, The Kitchen, Avery Fisher Hall, Sundance Film Festival, and BAMcafe. Leadership comprised artists associated with institutions such as Columbia University, Pratt Institute, Cooper Union, Yale School of Drama, and Brown University, with advisory links to funders including Rockefeller Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, NEA Jazz Masters, and Guggenheim Fellows.
Founded in the early 2000s amid a resurgence of grassroots arts in New York City, the organization emerged contemporaneously with collectives around SoHo, Chelsea, Greenwich Village, East Village, and Lower East Side. Early projects aligned with programming at Lincoln Center Out of Doors, SummerStage, Ars Nova, and 826NYC, and drew on models from historical groups like Living Theatre, Wooster Group, Theatre of the Oppressed, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and Bread and Puppet Theater. Fundraising rounds involved partnerships with Anonymous Was A Woman, Kresge Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and local arts councils tied to Mayor of New York City initiatives.
Educational programming combined techniques from practitioners linked to Jerzy Grotowski, Vsevolod Meyerhold, Suzuki Company of Toga, Anne Bogart, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Augusto Boal, integrating acting, writing, and design labs that echoed conservatory models at Juilliard School, London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Workshops referenced methodologies developed at Tisch School of the Arts, Royal Court Theatre, National Theatre, and School of Visual Arts, and included guest residencies from artists affiliated with Stefan Sagmeister, Pina Bausch, Merce Cunningham, and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company.
The collective collaborated with cultural organizations including Museum of Contemporary Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Institute of Contemporary Art, New Museum, and Frick Collection, while commissioning work with theater companies such as Roundabout Theatre Company, Atlantic Theater Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Classic Stage Company. Cross-disciplinary projects connected to festivals like Fringe Festival, New York Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, and Moscow International Film Festival, and academic partners at Barnard College, City University of New York, Fordham University, and Princeton University.
Critical reception in outlets like The New York Times, The Village Voice, Time Out New York, New Yorker, and Variety highlighted experimental productions and community engagement, with reviewers comparing work to pieces staged at Public Theater, La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club, Under the Radar Festival, and Spoleto Festival USA. Grants and awards cited relationships with Obie Awards, Pulitzer Prize for Drama winners, Tony Award nominees, and fellowships from MacArthur Fellows Program and Whiting Foundation.
Contributors included artists, playwrights, directors, and designers connected to Tony Kushner, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Sarah Ruhl, Edward Albee, Toni Morrison, August Wilson, Edward Norton, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Viola Davis, Jeff Daniels, Anna Deavere Smith, Paule Marshall, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, St. Ann's Warehouse, Stefan Brecht, Sonia Sanchez, Amiri Baraka, Laurie Anderson, and Eric Bogosian either through collaboration, mentorship, or shared programming.
The project influenced subsequent arts education models adopted by institutions such as Teachers College, Columbia University, New York Foundation for the Arts, Creative Time, Local Arts Service Organizations, and municipal programs spearheaded by the Department of Cultural Affairs (New York City). Its alumni network fed into professional pipelines at National Theatre Conservatory, American Conservatory Theater, The Royal Shakespeare Company, and international residencies at Sorbonne University, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, and Humboldt University of Berlin.
Category:Arts organizations based in New York City