Video, Audio, Photos & Rush Transcript: Governor Hochul Celebrates Groundbreaking of Transformative Lincoln Center West Initiative

Governor Kathy Hochul today celebrated the groundbreaking of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) Lincoln Center West Initiative, a transformative project that will redevelop Damrosch Park and reimagine the western side of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts campus into a more welcoming, accessible, and inclusive public space. Supported by $10 million in State capital funding, the project will deliver a new state-of-the-art outdoor performance venue, expanded green spaces, improved streetscapes along Amsterdam Avenue, and year-round community amenities. The redesigned campus is set to open in summer 2028.

VIDEO: The event is available to stream on YouTube here and TV quality video is available here (h.264, mp4).

AUDIO: The Governor's remarks are available in audio form here.

PHOTOS: The Governor's Flickr page will post photos of the event here.

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Just in time for the sun. Great timing right, everybody - you're welcome. I have a whole wonderful speech to deliver to you, but I just can't give it because my heart is filled with such emotion to be here at this moment in history with all of you. And to hear the voices of the community so full of hope, so believing in the people of this neighborhood and the possibility of great stories from the past. Thank you, Mr. Monk, for sharing your family history and to Harold Thomas and our younger - a little bit younger, Darell Strickland, thank you. You're a phenomenal young man. Let's give him another round of applause - the courage it takes to stand up here. It just reminds me why it is such a privilege to be the Governor in a state like this and have the connection to the people, the places, the visionaries, the innovators, the doers that no other city in the world can compare to. You heard Steven Swartz talk about the greatest city on Earth. That is as true a statement as I have ever heard and I want to thank you, Stephen, for your leadership and your outward philanthropy and charitable heart that has lifted up so many organizations, but particularly here.

So let's give another round of applause to Steven Swartz, our chair. Our president, Dr. Silver, I think I met you on your first day I was here. I said, "Do you know what you're getting yourself into?" But she brought such a breath of fresh air and a vitality to this institution that you can just see the manifestation here today. So thank you for being such an extraordinary leader as well.

And I remember coming here as a brand new Governor, kind of unexpectedly if you look up how it all happened. One of my first visits was to come here. I was invited to the board meeting, Katherine Farley invited me. You were trying to figure out what life after the pandemic was going to be like. The pandemic hit our culturals so hard, but people never come back and gather in person again to enjoy the sense of oneness - the bond that's created when people share an extraordinary performance of dance or music or live performances. It creates a bond where there may have never been one before, and it breaks down the barriers that seem to be so prevalent in our society today. We're defined by our politics more than anything. Then you come to a magical place like this Lincoln Center, and it all melts away, and you feel that we are all one one people and it's powerful.

So Katherine, I thank you for helping me fall in love - a girl whose parents started in a trailer park in Buffalo. To be able to ascend to this position and to look out at all the people, the neighbors, the community that give this place such life - the community activists, the people who are finally going to see a wall come down that severed a community for so many years. And I don't usually quote Ronald Reagan, but tear down that wall. In the spirit of quick bipartisanship. Katherine, thank you for helping me fall in love as well. And to all of you, those of you, the Barron family and the philanthropies and all those.

Judy, I was touched by the story about the little girl from the Bronx. Now, sitting here today making sure there's no little girl in the Bronx who cannot come here someday and enjoy this extraordinary experience. So thank you to the Barron family and all of the people who've been mentioned and all my friends in elective office, give them a round of applause - those are not the easiest jobs. Our borough president, former senator, worked closely with Brad Hoylman-Siegel, and also someone I've known since I first became an elected official. Gale Brewer, she was the borough president. Gale was everywhere all the time. And I remember saying, "Gale, the only difference between you and God, is that God is everywhere - you're everywhere but home." So you've had extraordinary leaders here.

But also, I want to give a special shout out to those who either came to this city, were raised here, built something special, or their grandparents or parents did, who are so generous. And I want you to know, as the Governor of the State of New York, I appreciate you.

I appreciate your generosity, your sense of community, and you have truly enriched cultural institutions like this magical place known as the Lincoln Center. So from the bottom of my heart, I want you to know what this means to me. I'm so proud to represent every single one of you. And indeed, when that wall comes down and people gather here on a beautiful summer night, know that this is the day we changed the course of history. We opened up something that was once forbidden for those who could not afford to come in and said, this is your home.

So thank you very much, everyone, for making this extraordinary vision come to life.