Anne McNulty and Laurie Tisch. (Douglas Baz)

New York City - On June 8, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (LC), one of the leading performing arts centers in the world, will officially unveil the newest jewel in its cultural crown, the Elinor Bunin Monroe Film Center. The $1.2 billion mission to prepare Lincoln Center for future generations, The Bravo Campaign, will be 95 percent complete. Campus, by the way, is the word used to describe the 16.3 urban acres that includes all the buildings and plazas of the Lincoln Center complex.

A few weeks earlier, for the official opening ceremonies of the grass lawn that tops the raked roof of Lincoln, Jonathan Benno's new $20 million, Italian-themed restaurant, they wrangled the horse stars from the cast of "War Horse," the hit play in the Vivian Beaumont Theater. In the future, you won't see horses or cows on the turf, but you can expect to see visitors chatting, reading, sunbathing or picnicking.

The Monroe Film Center has local appeal. The new addition to the Film Society of Lincoln Center, includes two state-of-the-art theaters, the 90-seat Howard Gilman Theater, named for the man who donated a major photography collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and whose White Oak plantation was the first home of Baryshnikov's dance project and the 150-seat Francesca Beale Theater named after the entertainment lawyer who is a Water Mill resident.

Joan Steinberg and Mary Wallach. (Douglas Baz)

Last month, with so much to celebrate, 460 friends of JP Morgan and major LC donors filled Avery Fisher Hall for cocktails and dinner at the annual Spring Benefit. Chaired by Katherine Farley, the evening raised a stunning $2.4 million. The Benefit was a love letter to JP Morgan, which was honored with the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts Laureate Award. Since the Center's founding some 55 years ago, JP Morgan has been a major corporate sponsor. CEO of JP Morgan Asset Management Mary Callahan Erdoes, on crutches from an accident, accepted the Award. She said that they give more to Lincoln Center than any other institution. "Philanthropy is the rent you pay for the space you occupy while here on earth."

Underwriters for the evening included the two construction companies that were responsible for the work, RC Dolner and Turner Construction. They received a special tribute. As Reynold Levy, President of Lincoln Center, said the construction was not only completed under budget, but just as importantly, and he looked around at the dinners with a sly grin and asked, "How many businessmen here are still friends with their contractors."


Initial plans to revive the then almost 50-year old campus were unveiled in 2004. The goal was to restore and renovate Lincoln Center and to build a larger institutional endowment that would help offset increased operating expenses at the same time strengthening the long-term financial position. The architectural firm of Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) was retained to oversee the physical/architectural redevelopment.

In addition to the new Alice Tully Hall and the refurbished New York State Theater, renamed after its new benefactor David H. Koch, visitors to the main campus (63rd and Broadway) will have to study to see the many subtle changes that result in a friendlier, more welcoming hub.

Mats and Lydia Carlston. (Douglas Baz)

Some of the visible signs include direct access to parking from Broadway, the aforementioned Lincoln restaurant, a new fountain with summertime, dancing waters in the middle of the plaza between Avery Fisher Hall, the Metropolitan Opera House and the David H. Koch Theater. There is the new Paul Milstein Plaza and Terrace in front of the Lincoln Center Theater complex, including the raked grass lawn that sits on top of the Lincoln. The bridge that spanned 65th Street linking The Julliard School and Avery Fisher Hall is gone. Soon to be replaced by a footbridge.

After dinner, guests had a choice of what entertainment they wanted to enjoy. The list included a performance of the impossible-to-get tickets "War Horse" at the Beaumont, Alan Cummings in "Cabaret" in the Penthouse, New York City Ballet performing Balanchine's "Black & White" at the David Koch Theater, Metropolitan Opera's Orfeo ed Euridice, a New York Philharmonic Concert featuring violinist Lisa Batiashvili or "I Got it Bad," a new Duke Ellington review at Jazz at Lincoln Center, a few blocks south in Rose Hall in the Time Warner building.

What many of us don't consciously realize unless it's called to our attention is: Lincoln Center is more than the buildings on campus - or the arts organizations housed within them - one of which, the financially struggling New York City Opera, announced plans to vacate its home in Lincoln Center.


The Center is also the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, the School of American Ballet and The Julliard School. A lesser known arm of the Center is The Lincoln Center Institute for Arts in Education, a national program designed for teachers to help them help their students develop skills of observation, imagination, and creativity.

Lincoln Center is also a producing entity. It presents Great Performers, Mostly Mozart and on PBS Live from Lincoln Center. Then there's the Lincoln Center Festival, which brings dance, music and theater companies from across the globe to perform at the main campus and at the New York Armory. In the summer, LC also offers free Opera on the plaza and Midsummer Nights Swing, dancing on the plaza under he stars to live music.