Reopen NYC: Annual SummerStage Jubilee goes virtual amid coronavirus pandemic

SummerStage Jubilee in NYC is a free benefit concert

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Friday, September 18, 2020

SummerStage Jubilee goes virtual amid COVID pandemic

Sandy Kenyon has more on this year's SummerStage Jubilee which is going virtual.

NEW YORK (WABC) -- The annual SummerStage Jubilee went virtual amid the coronavirus pandemic, with a full lineup of entertainers who performed via live stream Thursday night.

The City Parks Foundation hosted the free benefit concert supporting programs in parks, with the hour-long digital event featuring exclusive musical performances by Sting, Norah Jones, Trey Anastasio, Rufus Wainwright, Leslie Odom Jr., Rosanne Cash, Emily King and PJ Morton.

Sting, Norah Jones, Trey Anastasio, Rufus Wainwright, Leslie Odom Jr., Rosanne Cash, Emily King and PJ Morton are all set to perform at the annual SummerStage Jubilee, which is going virtual amid the coronavirus pandemic.

The event highlighted the various City Parks Foundation programs and also showcases notable advocates for the foundation's work, including sports icon and champion of equality Billie Jean King, television and radio host Ryan Seacrest, musical artist H.E.R., comedian Lewis Black and performer and Late Show bandleader Paul Shaffer.

Watch here:

The digital benefit streamed across all SummerStage social platforms (SummerStage Instagram, SummerStage YouTube, and Facebook page), as well as through the following partners: Bowery Presents, Brooklyn Bowl, The Capitol Theatre, FANS.com, iHeart Media's Q104.3, Live Nation, Live for Live Music, Relix, Time Out New York, and WFUV.

New York City and tri-state area residents can watch an encore presentation of the SummerStage Jubilee on Sunday, September 20, at 2 p.m. on WABC-TV Channel 7

Through its Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage Festival, City Parks Foundation is the largest presenter of free arts and cultural programs in New York City parks and serves 300,000 New Yorkers each year through arts, education, sports and community building initiatives.

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The organization is dedicated to offering diverse programming to encourage residents to use and care for their local parks and green spaces, to bring these public spaces to life and make them accessible for all.

At a time when public programs have been upended by the COVID-19 pandemic, city parks have remained open as some of the only public assets available to all.

City Parks Foundation's programs have not stopped and have been available both in-person and online during this time.

The 2020 SummerStage Jubilee Benefit Concert helps support these free parks' programs and ensure they can continue, from free tennis and golf instruction to experiential, science-based lessons, to buying tools and bulbs for volunteers to beautify local parks and providing training, micro-grants and coaching to facilitate their local advocacy.

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Donations will also help ensure SummerStage, New York City's largest free music festival, and SummerStage Anywhere, its virtual festival, will remain free and available to all New Yorkers.

"Our city's parks are our most democratic spaces, our backyards and our living rooms, places where communities gather and enjoy, and never have they been more essential," City Parks Foundation Executive Director Heather Lubov said. "City Parks Foundation exists to encourage New Yorkers to use their parks, so we are excited to welcome such notable performers and to be part of our benefit concert to help support our work. We are grateful for their commitment to parks and to the New York City community."

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