Queer highlights of Summer for the City
Lincoln Center’s second annual Summer for the City festival kicks off this June, just in time for the beginning of summer and to celebrate Pride Month with free music, dance, theater, comedy, silent discos, and much more.
On June 14, The Dance Floor at Josie Robertson Plaza officially opens with a spectacular free performance from 8 y Más Feat: Lucrecia for a night of salsa under the now iconic disco ball.
The Pride celebration begins on June 15 with You Are My Friend: A Concert Tribute to Sylvester. One of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Sylvester rose to the top of the charts in the late ‘70s with dancefloor classics like “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” and “Dance (Disco Heat).” Scoring 24 Top-40 hits over his career, Sylvester had an ethereal falsetto, gender-bending style, and a flamboyant fashion sense. One of the first openly gay artists in disco and R&B, Sylvester helped blaze a trail for out-of-the-closet LGBTQIA+ music superstars to follow. Featuring musical direction by acclaimed music scholar Jason King, this joyous tribute features musical guests like folk musician Anjimile; club/dance music icon Kevin Aviance; golden-voiced house and dance music hitmaker Inaya Day; Grammy-nominated recording artist and Broadway performer Mykal Kilgore; singer-songwriter Dawn Richard; and Chicago house music legend Byron Stingily.
Saturday, June 17, Bowen Yang (Saturday Night Live) and Matt Rogers (Fire Island, I Love That For You) bring their hit podcast (2023 podcast of the year, iHeartPodcast Awards) to Lincoln Center for the Las Culturistas Culture Awards. Join your hosts for an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. The Las Culturistas Culture Awards archly spotlight the previous year’s high and low points of pop culture with over one hundred unique winning categories commemorating the only people, places and things that truly mattered. Join a glittering assemblage of young comedians and celebrity award presenters as they acknowledge 2023’s biggest memes and memories, drama and trauma, fashion and fast food. Don’t miss the beloved event that Vulture called “what this year’s awards circuit has been building up to.” (This performance integrates ASL-interpretation and captioning.)
The month also includes the world premiere of Sydnie L. Mosley Dances’ PURPLE: A Ritual in Nine Spells, a commemoration of Juneteenth with the premiere of Carl Hancock Rux’s To a Garden Luxuriously Verdant (Enameled with Countless Flowerings), Venezuelan singer-songwriter Danny Ocean in concert, and much more.
A full list of events can be found at SummerfortheCity.org.
