City Center and Carnegie Hall to Form Partnership

Carnegie Hall and New York City Center have signed a memorandum of understanding that will lead to a partnership between the two revered institutions, which will nonetheless remain separate entities. The goal of the partnership is to allow both organizations to expand their artistic and educational programs.

The first major initiative of the partnership will be a $150 million capital campaign to renovate City Center. The project will include turning the mainstage venue into a 2,200-seat, state-of-the-art performance hall for dance and theater. Under the current plan, renovations would begin at the end of the 2006-2007 season and the grand re-opening would occur in Fall 2008. (City Center is also home to Manhattan Theatre Club’s Stage I and II spaces.)

Both organizations will retain their own boards of trustees, separate 501(c)(3) status, and the use of their current endowments. However, a new 25-person Partnership Board of Trustees will be formed, which will include 14 members of the Carnegie Hall board, eight members of the New York City Center board, and three outside directors. Sanford I. Weill, Carnegie Hall’s current board chairman, will serve as chairman of the partnership; Raymond A. Lamontagne, City Center’s current board chairman, will serve as the Partnership’s vice president; Clive Gillenson, executive/artistic director of Carnegie Hall, will be president of the Partnership; and Arlene Shuler, president and CEO of City Center, will be the Partnership’s executive vice president.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg stated, “The proposed partnership between Carnegie Hall and New York City Center is extremely exciting. These two world-class organizations have coexisted across the street from one another for decades. Now, the combination of their extraordinary strengths will further enliven their neighborhood as it advances the city’s cultural preeminence.”