LMCC presented the 23rd annual River To River Festival, Downtown New York City’s leading free summer arts festival, from June 7-23, 2024!
This year’s River To River Festival aligned with LMCC’s 50th anniversary celebrations. In honor of this milestone, the 2024 festival featured LMCC residency and grants alumni from the Extended Life program working across disciplines, with a captivating array of dance, music, video, installation, and exhibitions that reflected the interdisciplinary, diverse ethos of LMCC.
Featuring 13 projects of live art, performances, and participatory events in public spaces throughout Downtown New York, the 2024 River To River Festival explored themes of resonance, reconsideration, and resistance.
River To River 2024 Artists included: mayfield brooks, Jesi Cook, Leslie Cuyjet, Miguel Gutierrez, Kayla Hamilton and Kate Speer, John P. Hastings, NIC Kay, jaamil olawale kosoko, Samita Sinha, Elisabeth Smolarz, Nattie Trogdon + Hollis Bartlett, Stories from the Stoop & Billion Oyster Project, and LMCC’s Workspace 2023-24 Artists-in-Residence: Francheska Alcántara, Blanka Amezkua, Lucas Baisch, Elvira Clayton, Francisco Donoso, SaraNoa Mark, Miriam Simun, Corinne Spencer, Alex Strada, Cici Wu, and Jessica Lagunas (On-Site Assistant, Workspace '22-23).
All events were free and open to all!
Download the 2024 press release here. Join our mailing list to stay updated on LMCC's upcoming public programs!
Participatory Performance
THE POWER OF THE BOUNCE
Miguel Gutierrez
June 7, 5pm
28 Liberty
Rain Date: June 8, 1pm
Participants learned Miguel Gutierrez’s famous “Aerobicon” dance, in an interactive, high-energy dance performance complete with group choreography, aerobics, and costumes.
Exhibition & Performance Activation
The (chrysalis) Archives
jaamil olawale kosoko
Installation Activation
June 9, 6pm
Exhibition
June 7-9, 12-5pm
June 14 & 16, 12-5pm
June 15, 2-7pm
June 21-23, 12-5pm
The Arts Center at Governors Island, Lower Gallery
Multidisciplinary artist jaamil olawale kosoko presented an exhibition with video, installation, imagery, and performance as part of their evolving practice that combined Black and queer theoretical, literary, and spiritual lineages with biographical and bodily knowledge.
Performance
Whole body in my ear
Jesi Cook
June 8, 1pm & 4pm
The Arts Center at Governors Island, Upper Gallery
By using an auditory fantasy that pushed toward dissonance, Whole body in my ear was a performance in which sound and body emerged as one fluid and dynamic textural form, using it as a means to explore and amplify otherness.
Performance & Workshop
Fallacies
Nattie Trogdon + Hollis Bartlett
Performance
June 8-9, 7pm
Workshop
June 9, 5pm
Rockefeller Park
Fallacies blurred the lines between original source and personal interpretation, constructing dance from a dancer’s perspective.
Performance
lil BLK
NIC Kay
June 13, 7pm
The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center
June 14, 7:30pm
The Monster Bar
lil BLK, a live experimental solo performance, invited you into a deeply personal exploration of Black and queer identity through the lens of NIC Kay’s lived experiences.
Installation & Activation
PlaceHolder
Kayla Hamilton and Kate Speer
Installation
June 15, 2-7pm & June 16, 21-23, 12-5pm
Installation Activation
June 14, 4pm
The Arts Center at Governors Island, Cafe
Kayla Hamilton and Kate Speer shared an installation in dialogue with their performance project PlaceHolder–a collaboratively made experience that exposed how perception actualizes and strips identities.
Open Studios
LMCC's Workspace Open Studios
June 15 & 16, 12-5pm
101 Greenwich Street [Entrance on 2 Rector Street]
Open Studios offered a glimpse into the creative process and artistic development of LMCC’s Workspace artists-in-residence.
Current Workspace 2023-24 Artists-in-Residence: Francheska Alcántara, Blanka Amezkua, Lucas Baisch, Elvira Clayton, Francisco Donoso, SaraNoa Mark, Miriam Simun, Corinne Spencer, Alex Strada, Cici Wu, and Jessica Lagunas (On-Site Assistant, Workspace '22-23).
Storytelling
Love for New York’s Waterways: Stories from the Stoop
Organized in partnership with Billion Oyster Project
June 15, 5:30-7pm
Nolan Park, Governors Island
Rain location: The Arts Center at Governors Island, Studio A4
Inspired by the often overlooked experiences of African-American maritime workers - Love for NY’s Waterways: Stories from the Stoop is a Moth-style storytelling and open mic event that celebrates the legacy of the African-American water stewards of New York.
Music Performance
South Cove Song (overlay)
John P. Hastings
June 16, 4pm & 6pm
South Cove, Battery Park City
South Cove Song was a site-specific music performance, featuring a brass ensemble, centered on the past(s), present(s), and future(s) of Lower Manhattan.
Installation & Activation
whale fall reckoning
mayfield brooks
Installation Activation
June 15, 7pm
Installation
June 15, 2-9pm
June 16, 21 & 23, 12-5pm
June 22, 12-9pm
The Arts Center at Governors Island, Upper Gallery
Using found objects, sound, light, movement and projection, mayfield brooks conjured an abyssal underwater world that transformed the formerly munitions storage warehouse into an imagined site of the decomposed whale.
Performance
whale fall abyss
mayfield brooks
June 19-22, 7pm
Tall Ship Wavertree
at the South Street Seaport Museum
Choreographer mayfield brooks presented whale fall abyss in the cargo hold of the Tall Ship Wavertree, calling up ghosts and ancestors from the intersecting histories of whalers and slave ships.
Performance
Tremor
Samita Sinha
June 20, 8pm
Federal Hall
In this special iteration of Tremor, presented in the resonant space of Federal Hall, Samita Sinha and Cecilia Vicuña infused their vibrations and lineages into the dense history and monumentality of the site.
Installation
THICK WAKE
Leslie Cuyjet
June 20-22, 8-10:30pm
BGX Gallery (Black Gotham Experience)
192 Front Street
Leslie Cuyjet presented a new video installation considering systemic barriers for Black access to swimming and her own upbringing with swim lessons and competitions.
Party
Party as Participation
Hosted by Elisabeth Smolarz
June 22, 1-3pm
The Arts Center at Governors Island, Cafe
To celebrate LMCC’s 50th anniversary, Elisabeth Smolarz presented ice cream flavors inspired by her experiences during her 2012 artist residency at Governors Island.
Accessibility
TRANSPORTATION: Site-specific accessibility information is noted on individual event webpages and will be included in all Festival communications. For any questions or concerns regarding accessibility needs, or to let us know how we can provide a welcoming experience, please email info@lmcc.net using the subject line “R2R Accessibility”.
For all events taking place on Governors Island, please note: All ferries going to and from Governors Island, as well as the grounds of the island itself, are accessible for all. All ferries are wheelchair-accessible. For complete ferry schedules, directions to ferry terminals, and transportation details to Governors Island, visit the Trust for Governors Island website.
For programs taking place at The Arts Center, please note: The Arts Center is accessible by ferries to Governors Island departing to and from Lower Manhattan. The Arts Center is wheelchair accessible. Further accessibility and health & safety information can be found here.
ASL INTERPRETATION: ASL interpretation will be provided at the following events: Love for New York's Waterways: Stories from the Stoop; The chrysalis (Archives); and PlaceHolder. LMCC's official LMCC sponsor is SignNexus.
Health & Safety
The health of our artists, audiences, and staff is important to LMCC. Masks are recommended for indoor events and may be required at certain venues. We ask that if you are feeling unwell on the day of the event, to please stay home.
Changes due to Weather
In case of inclement weather, LMCC will inform audience members 4 hours in advance via email, social media and LMCC.net. Please note the pre-arranged rain dates and locations listed for several Festival events.