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The Center at West Park, Inc. is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Donations made to The Center at West Park, Inc. are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

HOST COMMITTEE

Peg Breen
Hon. Gale A. Brewer
Jennifer Rogers & Robert Carlock
Mary Crawford & Calvin Mew
Christabel Gough
Idith Korman
Lorna & Mitchell Schamroth
Arlene & Bruce Simon
Susan E. Sullivan & Ron Wilcox
Marian M. Warden
Anthony C. Wood

(List in formation as of Oct 25)

WE GRATEFULLY ACKNOWLEDGE

BENEFACTORS

Christabel Gough, Susan E. Sullivan & Ron Wilcox,

SUPPORTERS

Beryl Abrams & Lance Silverman, Bruce C. Bennet & Veronica deBernardine, Asya & Theodore S. Berger, Laurel Durst, Olive Freud, Michael Herz, Calvin Mew & Mary Crawford, Howard B. Presant, Lorna & Mitchell Schamroth, Arlene & Bruce Simon in memory of Lori Zabar, Eugenie M. Sullivan, Thomas & Lani Tyrrell, Marian M. Warden,

PATRONS

Aileen Atkins, Miranda R. Barry, Edward H. Beneson & Lisa Quattrocchi, Gale A. Brewer, Kirk Cheyfitz & Ellen Jacob, Gail Chesler & Carl Nissan, Andrea S. Finkelstein & Robert C. Greenberg, Jeanne & David Martowski, Nina Musinsky, Alec Roman, Jennifer Rogers & Robert Carlock, Joan Shigekawa, R. Caitlin Wilcox & Robert Smith

FRIENDS

Susan Bodnar, Stuart Bondell & Sheryl Fengel, Peg Breen, Reneé Cherow-O'Leary, Bill Connington, Mary P. Denci, Anne Dennin, Dianne Duckler, Douglas Esposito, Rosalind Fink, Joan D. Firestone, Michelle Gewitz, Paul R. Gottsegen, Ronald Guttman, Samuel Johnson & Vanessa Howe-Jones, Natasha Katerinopoulos, Justin & Mary Klein, Katherine Kurs & John Hudson, Beverly Donny Lee, Troy & Wilma Messenger, Dian & Bob Smith, David Westphal & Geneva Overholser, Debra Peltz, Rosalind Petchesky, Erika Petersen, Penelope Raphaely, Janet Walton

as of November 13, 2022

ROBERTA BRANDES GRATZ

An award-winning journalist and urbanist, Roberta Brandes Gratz has been observing and writing about cities – how they grow, fall apart, recover – for more than 40 years. NYC born and raised, Roberta started her journalism career as a reporter for the New York Post under Dorothy Schiff. She left when Rupert Murdoch bought the paper and went on to write six books on urban change. Her last one, It’s a Helluva Town: Joan K. Davidson and J.M. Kaplan Fund, and the Fight for a Better New York draws on her observations, understanding and involvement in the critical issues of the city.

The book before that was: We’re Still Here Ya Bastards: How the People of New Orleans Rebuilt Their City.

Earlier books were: The Battle For Gotham: New York in the Shadow of Robert Moses and Jane Jacobs; The Living City: Thinking Small in a Big Way; Cities Back From the Edge: New Life For Downtown, and A Frog, A Wooden House, A Stream and A Trail: Ten years of Community Revitalization in Central Europe. She was interviewed on radio stations across the country after each book.

Gratz’s writings have also appeared in the Nation, New York Magazine, The New York Times Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Review, Common Edge and various online publications. She has brought her in-depth research and expertise to appointments, consultancies, and speaking engagements around the world.

From 2003 to 2011, she served on the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, where, appointed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, she helped preserve New York City’s significant buildings and neighborhoods for seven years and the Sustainability Advisory Board for NYC under Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

In 2004, Roberta, with author/urbanist Jane Jacobs, founded The Center For the Living City centerforthelivingcity.org to build on Jacobs’ ground-breaking work.

Gratz was a member of the New York Governor’s and Mayor’s Task Force on Planning Manhattan’s West Side Waterfront after the defeat of Westway under Mayor Ed Koch and served on the Sustainability Advisory Board of NYC under Michael Bloomberg.

Gratz was a founder and leader in 1986 of the award-winning restoration of the historic 1887 Eldridge Street Synagogue, now the Eldridge Street Museum.

Hamlet Isn't Dead is NYC's 114th-best theatre company, dedicated to performing the entire canon of William Shakespeare in chronological order. They've produced twenty-six with only twelve to go, all while solidifying their singular style of live incorporated music, joyful celebration, and fourth wall-shattering fun! Along with a Resident Acting Company of professional HIDiots, Hamlet Isn't Dead is Shakespeare for everyone!

Inspire: A Choir for Unity is a New York City based chamber choir dedicated to cultivating compassion and action for diverse social issues through the power of song. In partnership with organizations seeking positive social change, we encourage individual and collective action on socially pressing issues. We seek to inspire a spirit of unity among our artists, audiences, and wider community. To learn more about our next concert and partner organization, visit choirforunity.org.

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The Center at West Park is a not-for-profit community performing arts center based in the historic West Park Presbyterian Church, a New York City landmark on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

We recognize that this land where we are privileged to be is the unceded territory and ancestral home of the Munsee Lenape. Today, members of the Lenape and many other indigenous sovereign nations continue to live, work, and create in New York City.

For over 30 years in the mid-19th century, this land was home to Seneca Village, the first free Black community in New York City. In 1857, the city used eminent domain to forcibly remove the residents and demolish their homes, schools, and churches to make room for the construction of Central Park.

Since its construction in 1889, this building has been home to countless artists and activists:

In 1978, West Park led the way in openly welcoming LGBTQ+ members as part of the More Light Movement.

From 1980 to 1985, West Park was home to The Shakespeare Center and the renowned Riverside Shakespeare Company.

From 1987 to 1991, God’s Love We Deliver worked out of West Park’s kitchen to serve up to 250 meals per day to people living with AIDS during the height of the crisis.

The West Park Presbyterian Church building was named a New York City Landmark in 2010. In 2016, The Center at West Park was founded by a coalition of community members to preserve and revitalize West Park as a community resource and home for arts and culture.

We are deeply inspired by the legacy of those who have called this land and this building home before us. We hope to honor them in all our work today and in the future.