Capital One City Parks Foundation SummerStage will continue its free digital series SummerStage Anywhere. The platform has an exciting schedule of one-of-a-kind digital arts content including upcoming Latin programming and performances that will feature La India, DJ Lobo, and more. This week Fab 5 Freddy and A$AP Ferg will perform.

Every day this summer, SummerStage Anywhere will highlight genres that were born in or deeply represent New York – Mondays: Contemporary Dance, Tuesdays: Global, Wednesdays: Indie Rock, Thursdays: Latin, Fridays: Hip Hop and Saturdays: Jazz.  Daily genre-driven content will be featured across multiple SummerStage social channels (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitch) and will vary between exclusive digital performances, in-depth conversations, one-on-one interviews, DJ sets, and arts engagement programs for youth and families. 

• SummerStage Anywhere Sessions –  exclusive digital performances with artists either live streamed or pre-recorded and then premiered on our digital channels.
• Culture Talks – in-depth and intimate conversations with artists focused on their connection to New York and how the city has influenced their work. 
• Soundcheck: Curator Conversations  – one-on-one interviews with industry curators and leaders on the behind-the-scenes work of the arts industry. Speakers include SummerStage curators, artists and arts professionals.
• Weekly Beat: DJ sessions – sets by DJs and artists playing music that inspires and motivates them and crate digging for their favorite finds. 
• SummerStage Studio: Digital –  arts engagement programs for kids and families including movement and percussion workshops.

In addition to the daily segments, SummerStage Anywhere will also present two unique weekly segments. Monday Meditations will take over the SummerStage Instagram channel live every Monday at 12:00PM EST for a 30 minute workshop focused on keeping your mind and body happy, healthy and active with guest host  Karine Plantadit, former Alvin Ailey and Broadway Tony Award nominated dancer (Come Fly Away, The Lion King), instructor, choreographer, certified yoga teacher and life coach.

Every Sunday at 2:00 PM EST, #PeopleSpeakSundays will take over SummerStage Instagram channel live with featured guest curators of diverse backgrounds and cultures from various arts organizations and communities who will amplify the SumerStage  channel as a social change platform. The series will showcase artists and highlight crowdsourced performers who submit #PeopleSpeakSundays entries on Instagram. SummerStage is inviting  audiences to share their own voices.  

“We are truly honored to bring the distinctly New York, curated lineup that our live NYC shows are known for to the rest of the world with our new SummerStage Anywhere digital series,” shares Erika Elliott, Executive Artistic Director of SummerStage. “Reimagining SummerStage digitally allows us to dive deeper through in-depth discussions with artists, arts engagement for families, and a look behind the scenes with curators and industry leaders, and of course, plenty of performances. We are truly going to be able to share the rich diversity of New York City with the rest of the world in ways we never thought possible.” 

On Wednesday, July 8th, SummerStage Anywhere will feature a live performance from electro-pop singer and songwriter Shura at 8:00PM EST on our SummerStage Instagram channel. A self-taught YouTube artist, she has collaborated with the likes of songwriter Joel Pott (of indie band Athlete) and Talib Kweli. Shura’s music is often described as “infectious but melancholy electropop” that blurs gender and sexuality. 

Salsa dance all-stars Ernesto and Denisse will host the first live SummerStage Studio: Digital dance class, teaching youth and families salsa moves  on Thursday, July 9th at 2:00PM EST available on both our SummerStage YouTube channel and SummerStage Facebook channel. With 20 years of experience dancing Salsa all around the world, Ernesto and Denisse became partners after moving to New York to dance for Yamulee Dance Company and compete with the four time salsa team World Champions, The New York Movement.

Two powerhouse hip-hop tastemakers will headline our Hip Hop Fridays on July 10th. Join our first Hip-Hop Culture Talk with Fab 5 Freddy and A$AP Ferg at 8:00PM EST available on both our SummerStage YouTube channel  or SummerStage Facebook channel.
Old school meets new school when these New York legends discuss their process in creating music that reflects and amplifies racial inequalities.  Fab 5 Freddy emerged in the downtown underground scene in the late 1970s and has since been regarded as a pioneer of hip hop. Freddy became the first host of the groundbreaking hip hop music video show Yo! MTV Raps.
A$AP Ferg emerged from Harlem with a captivating solo rap career in 2007, and is also a member of the hip hop collective A$AP Mob along with artists A$AP Rocky, A$AP Ant, Playboi Carti and others.
Following the talk, join Fab 5 Freddy for a live Q&A as he takes questions from the audience starting at 8:30PM EST on the SummerStage Facebook channel.

Rounding out the week is the Jazz Culture Talk with Sheila Jordan & Christian McBride on Saturday, July 11th at 8:00 PM EST available on both our SummerStage YouTube channel and SummerStage Facebook channel.  A contemporary and friend of Charlie Parker’s, Jordan is known for her bebop and scat jazz singing style with only an upright bass as her accompaniment.  McBride, a six-time Grammy Award winning jazz bassist, composer and arranger, has performed and recorded with Herbie Hancock, Diana Krall, Eddie Palmieri, as well as with pop, hip-hop, soul and classical musicians like Sting, Paul McCartney, Celine Dion, and James Brown.
These two established Jazz titans will come together to discuss the long lasting impact of Charlie Parker’s work around the celebration of his 100th birthday. 

The #PeopleSpeakSundays curator takeover will launch this week on July 12 at 2:00 PM EST with special guest curator VP Records, an independent reggae, dancehall and soca record label based in Queens.  This special collaboration will feature a beats workshop and a dub yoga session live on the SummerStage Instagram channel. 

Still to come this season, performances and conversations with salsa star La India, global singer and Grammy winner Angelique Kidjo, Afro-French Cuban musical duo Ibeyi, Brazilian rapper and MC Emicida, Dominican-Ecuadorian New York DJ Venus X, indie folk singer/songwriter Fenne Lily,  dance instructor and PHILADANCO! Founder Joan Myers Brown, and more.
For ongoing updates on SummerStage Anywhere visit summerstageanywhere.org