JanArtsNYC Returns for 2022

Multiple Performances and Industry Events Assembled for Month-Long Celebration of Live Entertainment in NYC, Beginning January 7

 

NEW YORK - The Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME) is proud to support the return of JanArtsNYC, the annual collection of world-class public performances and innovative industry gatherings taking place throughout the month of January at various NYC venues. The 9th-annual edition of JanArtsNYC, kicking off on January 7 and returning to a live format, positions NYC as the world's most comprehensive location for celebrating and experiencing the newest work in theater, dance, opera, music and performance.

"We are thrilled that JanArtsNYC is back for in-person events in 2022, providing an exciting and diverse line-up of live performance experiences for New Yorkers of all ages to enjoy throughout the month of January," said the Commissioner of the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, Anne del Castillo. "This annual showcase of cultural events happening in NYC, which for the first time includes both live and virtual programming, attracts thousands of performing arts professionals from all over the world."

MOME, together with event partners, including the annual APAP|NYC+ Conference, the largest international performing arts marketplace in the world, welcome back audiences to a live experience in 2022 including:

PROTOTYPE: Opera | Theatre | Now, January 7-16, returns for its 10th anniversary season with 5 World Premieres, 1 U.S. Premiere, and several digital offerings featuring over 615 extraordinary and multidisciplinary artists.

International Society for the Performing Arts's (ISPA) "Opportunity of Now Congress," January 11-13, is a hybrid event featuring live and digital programming, where arts leaders from over 50 regions will convene to stop, think, and discuss where we are and what is the work of now given the past 24 months. Issues of equity, access, wellbeing, and power have never been more present but what does this really mean in this moment of opportunity and challenge for our community?

Joyce Theater's 6th Annual American Dance Platform, January 11-16, will feature some of the best dance from across the country dedicated to the memory of Theodore S. Bartwink of The Harkness Foundation for Dance. Curated by Renae Williams Niles, the Chief Content and Engagement Officer at the Los Angeles Philharmonic, this year's program features performances by Cleo Parker Robinson Dance, Collage Dance Collective, Robert Moses' KIN, COMPLEXIONS Contemporary Ballet, The TL Collective, and DIAVOLO.

The Public Theater's Under the Radar Festival, January 12-30, returns to The Public fully live and in-person. This year's festival offers views into the future, revisited masterworks from the past, music with a twist, and stories that are immediate yet timeless. The pandemic has forced the theater field to question how it imagines a post-COVID theater; it has also led to leaps of innovation and reimagination. UTR22 will be a meeting ground to explore all of those questions and embrace new possibilities.

18th Annual NYC Winter Jazzfest, January 13-22, has cemented a reputation as a hotbed of cultural discovery, supporting the rich growth and continued vitality of the jazz community. In its 18th year, we are roaring back in a spirit of hope and renewal, with 10 nights of extraordinary programming, including major world premieres, from artist-in-residence Angel Bat Dawid, Pino Palladino & Blake Mills, Ben LaMar Gay, Jaimie Branch, Fay Victor, and Kate Gentile; a Summer of Soul screening/convo and "The Feel Good" Party with Questlove and guests.

APAP|NYC+ Conference, January 14-17, is the world's premier gathering of the performing arts presenting, booking and touring industry and the annual members conference of the Association of Performing Arts Professionals. Every January, performing arts professionals from across North America and around the world gather to explore issues critical to the field, to engage in networking and to conduct business, and to showcase the best and newest of dance, music, and theater performance. APAP|NYC+ 2022 marks APAP's return to an in-person conference in New York City, as well as to an online conference accessible to attendees across the globe.

National Sawdust's Ferus Festival, January 15-16, 19, 21-23, draws its inspiration from the Latin word Ferus meaning untamed, wild. The 2022 edition kicks off with an immersive spatial sound album listening experience featuring drummer/producer/music director Pauli the PSM and continues with 32 Sounds (work-in-progress), a cinematic meditation on the power of sound to bend time, cross borders, and shape our perception designed by Sam Green with original live music by JD Samson. Soprano Karen Slack performs Of Thee I Sing featuring music of justice, love, and healing. French Gypsy jazz guitarist Stephane Wremble closes with a Django Reinhardt program.

Tiny Desk Meets globalFEST, January 16, is a festival like no other – a celebration more than anything – which for almost two decades has presented artists from over 100 countries and nations. Year-round programs create platforms for artists to connect to industry professionals, music lovers and the press, and gives the public opportunities to expand their curiosity through great music from around the world from feminist Afropop to Mexican punk and from DC Go-Go to Cuban Son, and a lot in between.

The Drama League's DirectorFest, January 19-February 5, is a multi-week festival focusing on the art of contemporary stage directing -- the only one of its kind in the United States. Highlighting the work of The Drama League's 2021 Directing Fellows, the 2022 festival includes four fully-staged productions (one musical and three plays), a reading of a reimagined classic (presented in collaboration with Red Bull Theatre), and a conversation with acclaimed director, writer and showrunner Tony Phelan ("Grey's Anatomy").

Wavelengths Global Music Conference, January 27, is one of the largest gatherings of world music professionals in North America. This year's annual Wavelengths: Global Music Conference will take place virtually over Zoom. The event will highlight important conversations on urgent issues facing the international music ecosystem from agents/managers to presenters to artists to media. We're reconnecting with intention, moving away from the hypothetical and into the real and practical. During this grim period of isolation, we're working hard to create a compelling and engaging event that allows for a sense of community and conversation, as the conference is known for.

To add to the experience, audiences and professionals will be invited to join the online "6th Boro," a virtual place for industry people to gather for social time in between performances, panels, and events, hosted on the Nowhere platform. For more information please visit www.urnowhere.com.

"APAP is thrilled to be in New York City again after the challenges we have all faced over the last two years," said President and CEO, Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP), Lisa Richards Toney. "Welcoming more than 1,000 of our members to the city for APAP|NYC signals the return of the performing arts, and we are ready!"

"This edition of the Under the Radar Festival will celebrate the vibrancy, tenacity, and power of new theater from around the U.S. and the world. It will embrace a newfound perspective on the place of performance in our lives," said Under the Radar Festival Director, Mark Russell. "Under the Radar was online in 2021 and the innovations of our artists, live and recorded, reached a record audience. This year it is unmediated, in person, and very alive."

"We are thrilled DirectorFest will return to live and in-person performances after so long," said Executive Director of The Drama League, Bevin Ross. "As the only festival of its kind that focuses on the art of contemporary stage directing, we are proud to showcase directors who are the future leaders in the industry."

"Prototype is thrilled to be supporting our innovative artists in the creation of dynamic new opera and music-theatre work," said Artistic Director of HERE Arts Center, Kristin Marting. "For our 10th anniversary festival, we have curated a range of performance experiences - outdoor, online and in-person - at free and affordable prices - to ensure that all audiences feel welcomed and included. We look forward to sharing it with NYC!"

"Jan Arts' custom NOWHERE environment The 6th Boro was the virtual backstage lounge for their 2021 event, allowing anyone from anywhere a chance to drop into the buzz and excitement of the festival, well before all the recent hype of the metaverse," said Nowhere CEO, Jon Morris. "It returns for Jan Arts 2022 better than ever, bringing face to face networking around the shows and experiences from the fest, all from the comfort of your own home."