Harlem Stage is a vibrant presence on the New York City arts scene, celebrating and supporting artists of color from Harlem and around the world.

By honoring Harlem's great creative traditions, we nurture the stunning new innovations of the many artists we support.

Our audiences—young and old—are welcomed into the creative process, creating community that loves and embraces the arts and understands its role as an agent for celebration, discovery and social change.

Click a tab below to learn more about What We Do

Music

Harlem Stage has an extraordinarily rich tradition of presenting a full range of musical styles, reflective of the Harlem community. We provide a venue for new talent, encourage new collaborations between artists of different eras and styles, and explore the history of music with special musical tributes, panel discussions and educational programs. Some of the world’s most revered artists have performed on our stages, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Tito Puente, Celia Cruz, Nancy Wilson, Abbey Lincoln, Max Roach, Harry Belafonte, Jesse Norman, Leontyne Price, Cassandra Wilson and Bette Carter, just to name a few.

Recent Programs include:
Craig Harris’ God’s Trombones
Jason Moran’s Moran on Monk
Deidre Murray’s The Voice Within
Harlem Quartet
In Search of the Lost Riddim: Jamaican Jazz Fusion -
Sacrifice: Meditation on the Vietnam Experience – Billy Bang and Yusef Komunyakaa

Harlem Stage presents music through the following programming initiatives:
WaterWorks
Harlem Stride
Harlem Stage Partners
Education Program

Dance

We have a rich history of commissioning, developing and presenting dance at Harlem Stage. We highlight the world’s cultures and contemporary dance by multicultural artists who represent various traditions and are creating new directions. Recently featured artists and companies include Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, Forces of Nature Dance Theatre, and This Woman’s Work.

Harlem Stage supports and presents dance through the following programming initiatives:
E-Moves
WaterWorks
Fund for New Work
Harlem Stage Partners
Education Program

Theater

For years, Harlem Stage has presented performances in traditional and non-traditional theater forms that speak to our Harlem community. From spoken word and performance artists exploring new forms to our Playwights in Performances series and the long-running reading series Sunday Work. Special presenations such as Avery Brooks in Robeson, and Voodoo Macbeth have also graced our stages. The opening of The Gatehouse in 2006 enabled us to expand our capacity to present theater through extended runs of plays. We partner with such organizaitons as the Classical Theatre of Harlem to continue and expand on this rich tradition.

Harlem Stage supports and presents theater through the following programming initiatives:
WaterWorks
Harlem Stage Partners
Fund for New Work
Readings on Harlem Stage (to launch in 2010)

Film

Since we began almost 30 years ago we have presented over 500 films in a variety of programs, reflecting the diversity of Harlem by creative independent filmmakers whose work deserves notice. Their films excite, engage, inform and communicate traditions, ideas, trends, and histories through stories that we all can relate to - across diverse cultures, multiple generations and various technological and geographic divides.

These films include:

Beah: A Black Woman Speaks - by LisaGay Hamilton
The Healing Passage – S. Pearl Sharp
La Lupe Queen of Latin Soul – y Ela Troyano
Gershwin, Norway, & The Artist’s Libido: A Dialogue with Anne Brown – by Nicole Franklin
Nothing But a Man by Michael Roemer
E Minha Cara (That’s My Face) by Thomas Allen Harris - 56min
Classified X – by Melvin Van Peebles

Harlem Stage presents film through the following programming initiatives:
Harlem Stage on Screen (formerly the Harlem Film Festival)

Education

One of the defining initiatives of our institution, our education programs have been on the forefront of the multicultural movement of the past 30 years and have served over half a million young people, their educators and families through presentations devoted to presenting works that “talk up” to young folks, integrate with their school curriculums and inspire them to think and act creatively and responsibly for themselves and their communities. Our in-school programs greatly enhance arts training and support creative thinking and investigation in all subjects, like literature, art, history and math. Young people visiting our theaters are inspired to embrace the arts throughout their lives. Many of the young people who now work for us attended our programs as young students in the neighborhood.

Harlem Stage supports education through the following programming initiatives:
Harlem Stage International Series (name change this year to Youth on Harlem Stage)
Harlem Stage in Schools
Harlem Stage Family Programs

Youth & Families

Committed to providing family audiences with high-quality performances and opportunities to participate in the creative process our Family Programs include workshops, community sings and hands on activities in addition to first-rate performances. All performances are either free or priced to allow access to all.

Recent Programs include:
Soweto Gospel Choir
McCullough Sons of Thunder and Hypnotic Brass Ensemble
Harlem Quartet

Harlem Stage serves youth and families through the following programming initiatives:
Harlem Stage International Series (name change this year to Youth on Harlem Stage)
Harlem Stage in Schools
Harlem Stage Family Programs
Harlem Stage Partners Program

Conversations

Always seeking to add depth and engagement to our presentations, most of our programs include residency activities, community dialogues, Q&A’s, workshops and other exciting activities designed to engage audiences in the creative process or enhance their knowledge and understanding of artistic, cultural and historic context and content of the work presented on our stages.

Harlem Stage presents Conversations through the following programming initiatives:
Conversations on Harlem Stage
WaterWorks
Harlem Stage Family Programs