Times Square Arts, the public art program of the Times Square Alliance, is the largest public platform for innovative contemporary performance and visual arts. With 400,000 daily visitors to New York City’s Times Square, it is one of the highest profile public arts programs and since its inception, Times Square Arts has featured works by a diverse group of more than five dozen prominent and emerging artists.
Working as a cultural hub in partnership with cultural institutions, festivals and district stakeholders, the program realizes ambitious collaborations that make use of the district’s distinctive assets—the electronic billboards, the outdoor plazas and its quirky and eclectic indoor venues and passageways. As the success of a great public space is the design, management and program, Times Square Arts makes a commitment to offering public programming throughout the year that engages our local and international visitors with the creativity, energy and edge that has made Times Square an icon for over one hundred years.
We invite the institutions, collections and festivals that make New York City the cultural leader it is. Together, we activate and reinterpret our unique assets through a number of ways
Live Art Gallery– performance and temporary installations across our outdoor ‘bowtie’ has a backdrop, collaborators and audience like no other through
Digital Art Gallery – video art on the iconic electronic billboards. Collaborating with Times Square Advertising Coalition, we have created Midnight Moment, a nightly digital art installation across fifteen signs showcasing established and emerging artists
After-Hours –music, performance and installation in collaboration with indoor district venues
The future developments include residencies and greater discourse through talks, screenings and publication. We will share how Times Square has been a historic gathering place and an experimental ground for design for over a hundred years.
Times Square is the heart of New York City and the heart of our experimental nature. Here, everyone pushes the envelope or gathers for something unexpected. We endeavor to be a great test platform for any city that values the role of their creative community and its ability to engage and stimulate our lives.
Since 2008, the Times Square Alliance has supported more than 60 temporary art events that include digital art, performace, temporary installations, murals, sculptures, dance, music and participatory artworks. Past projects and collaborations include Theatre For One, Creative Time's Key to the City, UrbanRemix, Liz Magic Laser's Flight, Shen Wei Dance Arts, Performa09 and 11, Bel Borba and Crossing the Line Festival, Art Production Fund's The Last Lot and individual artists such as Robert Wilson, Yoko Ono, Björk and Tracey Emin.
The Times Square Public Art Program is made possible in part by the NYC Cultural Innovation Fund of the Rockefeller Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs.