Create Fearlessly
WATERWORKS
Signature Commissioning Series
Dance, Music, Performance Art, and Theater
What’s Coming! Check out upcoming new works!
At Harlem Stage, we commission artists at every stage of her, their, or his creative journey through WATERWORKS—a visionary commissioning program rooted in the legacy of our reimagined home, The Gatehouse. Once part of New York City’s Old Croton Aqueduct system, The Gatehouse brought life-sustaining water to millions. Today, it channels something just as vital: bold, truth-telling stories.
WATERWORKS is our commitment to placing performing artists in dance, music, theater, film, and performance art—equipped with the resources they need: investments, space, time, and steadfast support. These artists stand on the frontlines, setting untold stories free—stories that have the power to challenge, transform, and liberate us all.
As MacArthur “Genius” Fellow and WaterWorks artist Vijay Iyer so powerfully said:
“It is shockingly rare that artists of color are invited to become full participants in the national conversation, to respond to today’s world, and to offer a glimpse of tomorrow. Harlem Stage stands out as one of the only presenters in the U.S. that makes this their goal.”
Impact
Harlem Stage’s WATERWORKS Signature Series has commissioned over 150 artists of color and premiered over 150 original works—groundbreaking work in dance, theater, music, film, and performance art that has reached audiences around the world.
Harlem Stage’s WATERWORKS Signature Series has worked with philanthropic partners, including Thompson Family Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Jerome Foundation, Heart Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and Ford Foundation, to invest over $12 Million to support new works by artists of color.
Harlem Stage’s WATERWORKS Signature Series has reached close to 40,000 New Yorkers and tens of thousands more audience members across the world.
WATERWORKS Fellows
To Be Announced.