Downtown New York City’s summer arts festival is back, with events from July to September in Lower Manhattan and on Governor’s Island. Now in its 25th year, River to River Festival celebrates artistic and creative diversity across disciplines, with live performances and exhibitions.
The 2026 festival features events from July to September on Governors Island and in Lower Manhattan. Highlights of the 2026 festival include a world premiere exhibit from landscape artist Leslie Wayne, a concert of new work from Grammy Winner esperanza spalding, and the world premiere of a commissioned piece from choreographer Bill T. Jones. Plus performances from downtown artist favorites Okwui Okpakwasili and CATCH!
River To River was created in the aftermath of 9/11 to heal and celebrate New Yorkers’ resiliency through the power of art. Since 2002, hundreds of thousands of attendees have experienced the work of hundreds of artists and performers. River to River is a celebration of what is possible when artistic creativity, cultural institutions, civic bodies and corporate entities come together in mutual support.
my tongue is a blade
Sweat Variant:
Okwui Okpokwasili and Peter Born
What are the limits of our attention, and how do those limits test the strength of our bonds? my tongue is a blade is a three-hour movement performance-practice rooted in relation, memory, and reflection. Four performers commit to remembering one another, holding one another, bearing one another, and sustaining the world that contains them. A rich visual and sonic landscape invites the audience to witness this shared practice and to resonate within it.
June 19 and 20 | 6:00 pm
Colonels Row, Governors Island
Presented in partnership with The Trust for Governors Island
CATCH 5th of July Weekend Spectacular!
The Obie Award–winning, itinerant, rough-and-ready series of performance parties, CATCH comes to Governors Island with a 5th of July Weekend Spectacular!
Satisfying the promise of New York City since 2003, CATCH gives stage to an ever-expanding universe of emerging artists and downtown luminaries — pouring equal portions of community, love, and beer.
The day-long party will be hosted by Obie Award-winning performer Carmelita Tropicana!
July 5 | Time TBA
The Arts Center at Governors Island
Free Admission | RSVP Requested
More information coming soon. Sign up here to be the first to learn when tickets are live.
The Unintended Blues
Leslie Wayne
Leslie Wayne's new exhibition, The Unintended Blues documents rising sea levels through aerial landscape paintings of vulnerable US shorelines and melting icebergs in the Arctic Circle. Additional multi-media pieces will engage viewers with issues around present day climate science. In these works, Wayne captures the beauty of our natural environment and renders with graphic clarity one of our greatest existential threats.
Friday, July 24 - Sunday, September 27
Fridays - Sundays | 12:00 pm - 5:00 pm
The Arts Center at Governors Island
Free Admission | RSVP
esperanza spalding: In Concert
From uplifting serenades to haunting at-times chilling ballads, esperanza spalding’s latest offering showcases embodied classical jazz training through the long-standing rite of improvisation. Mixing mediums (or genres) Hybridizing modalities from the ancient to the innovative—esperanza will debut never-before-heard works and will be joined by dancers, some of her best-known collaborators, and jazz’s brightest stars.
August 8 | 7:00 pm
Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park (20 Battery Place)
Free Admission | RSVP
Presented in partnership with Battery Park City Authority
More information coming soon. Sign up here to be the first to learn when reservations are open.
Untitled Bill T. Jones Project
Bill T. Jones with music by Samora Pinderhughes
A world premiere commissioned by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC). Visionary artist Bill T. Jones responds to a collaboration between himself and LMCC, originally scheduled to premiere on September 12, 2001, on the plaza between the Twin Towers.
Commemorating the 25th anniversary of that suspended moment—and all that has unfolded since—this premiere brings dance back to Lower Manhattan, shaped by resilience and the passage of time.
September 10, 12, 13 | 7:00pm
Robert F. Wagner Jr. Park (20 Battery Place)
Free Admission | Drop-In
Commissioned by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) and presented in partnership with New York Live Arts and Battery Park City Authority.
More information coming soon. Sign up here to be the first to learn when reservations are open.
Sponsors
Funding for the River to River Festival is provided by The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, Howard Gilman Foundation, Lily Auchincloss Foundation, The Robert Lehman Foundation, and Morgan Stanley Blue Rider Group. River to River is made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. Additional funding for Leslie Wayne: The Unintended Blues is provided by The Deborah Buck Foundation. Additional funding for esperanza spalding: In Concert is provided by Battery Park City Authority. Additional funding for the Bill T. Jones project is provided by Battery Park City Authority, The National Endowment for the Arts, and Harkness Foundation for Dance.