Presented by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC)
June 10–27, 2021
Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) presents the River To River Festival, Downtown New York City’s leading free summer arts festival, on June 10–27.
From its origins in the aftermath of 9/11 to the present context of the global pandemic, River To River has long highlighted the fundamental role that creativity in all its forms plays in processes of recovery, resilience and renewal. Curated by Lili Chopra and Nanette Nelms, the 20th edition of the festival opens on June 10 at The Clemente with an homage to legendary jazz musician Wayne Shorter, featuring the world premiere of WS, a longer super nova—a short film directed by renowned visual artist Arthur Jafa. The film depicts Shorter in conversation with esperanza spalding and provides a rare stream-of-consciousness glimpse into the genius minds of two jazz masters. The June 10 event also features a live evening performance with spalding, Terri Lyne Carrington and Leo Genovese honoring Shorter in concert. Throughout the Festival, WS, a longer super nova will be streamed on select dates on LMCC’s website.
spalding also brings her Songwrights Apothecary Lab to River To River, continuing her exploration over the past years of how musicians might meaningfully incorporate therapeutic practices and knowledge into their work. This in-person version is a live installation where spalding and her fellow songwrights, researchers and mentors will be creating original music, which will be open to visitors during the Festival.
Concurrently, Kamau Ware of Black Gotham Experience and architect Rodney Léon, designer of the African Burial Ground Memorial, lead audiences on walking tours through Lower Manhattan, exploring significant spiritual sites of the African Diaspora through their project As Above So Below. Installed in windows across the Seaport District, Womxn in Windows is a multi-part video installation that challenges, both in content and in context, society’s definition of femininity, what it means to be a “womxn in a window.”
Movement and dance are also highlighted throughout the Festival. In Nehanda, nora chipaumire investigates the myth of the titular spirit venerated by the Shona people of Zimbabwe and central Mozambique, channeled through the medium Charwe Nyakasikana—a heroic revolutionary leader who orchestrated the first uprisings of Zimbabwe’s liberation struggle. Maria Hassabi presents TOGETHER (2019), a meditation on togetherness and the ways in which we affect and are affected by one another. And in a new 2021 version of her Futurity, Mariana Valencia transmits the queer stories of elders in NYC’s Village from the 1960s to the present. The public is also invited to witness or join a series of participatory processions in the open air spaces of Battery Park City led by The Illustrious Blacks, Miguel Gutierrez and Okwui Okpokwasili, presented in partnership with Movement Research and Battery Park City Authority. All are welcome to participate—no prior experience or skill level required.
Finally, A Day at The Arts Center at Governors Island invites audiences to attend day-long events and activations at LMCC’s Arts Center at Governors Island. On June 12, visitors can experience large, site-specific exhibitions by Meg Webster and Onyedika Chuke, a participatory sculpture by Muna Malik, Open Studios with LMCC artists-in-residence and ongoing screenings of Damon Davis’ film, The Stranger, depicting the journey of a being that descends from the sky in search of an unknown, earthbound homeland.
Visit LMCC.net/R2R for a full schedule of events. RSVPs open online June 1.
River To River is free and open to all.
