For fifty consecutive summers, world-class artists and performers, Western New Yorkers, and visitors from across the globe have come together on the edge of Niagara Gorge to shape unforgettable encounters. These experiences could only happen at Artpark - a natural and cultural treasure unlike any other.

Artpark Administration
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Artpark Box Office
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The performing arts have been a part of Artpark’s identity from the very beginning. Opera, now under artistic direction of Gil Rose, drama, musical theater, ballet, modern dance, cirque, and more have captivated Artpark audiences for five decades: France's Plasticiens Volants, Art Move Concept and Galmae, Spain’s Fura dels Baus, Brasil’s Bale de Rua, Ukraine’s DakhaBrakha, Argentina’s JP Jofre, So Percussion, Third Coast Percussion, Cirque Barcode with Acting for Climate Change Montreal, Jon Lehrer Dance, among many in the more recent years.  Alvin Ailey,  Baryshnikov, Bolshoi Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Joffrey Ballet, , New York City Opera, New York Philharmonic, Paul Taylor Dance, Twyla Tharp, Pilobolus, Martha Graham, David Brubeck,  Ella Fitzgerald, Ethel Merman, Gladys Knight, Itzhak Perlman, Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Van Cliburn, New York Philharmonic, and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and many others have also performed at the Artpark Mainstage Theater.

When Artpark opened in 1974, the stage of the main theater was among the largest in the entire State of New York and by far the best equipped in Western New York to produce fully-staged theatrical productions. As early as 1975, the first full year of operation, musical theater began to play a prominent role at Artpark with the production of Man of La Mancha. Over 10,000 people attended the five performances of this musical and the glorious history of musicals at Artpark was off and running. Over the next 40 years, Artpark produced and presented 104 musicals at its Mainstage Theater before audiences ranging from 10,000 to 40,000. Over 2.5 million visitors have attended musical theater performances at Artpark. While Artpark has discontinued the presentation of more traditional staged musicals due to shifts in the regional entertainment landscape, it has continued to produce and premiere ambitious theatrical works..

Drama played a critical role, too: Joseph Papp, famed director of Shakespeare in Central Park and founder of The Public Theater in Lower Manhattan, brought his revival of Shakespeare’s Hamlet here in 1976. 

The conductor Christopher Keen left his mark on Artpark early on, serving as its first Music Director in 1974, and later serving as Executive Director from 1981-82, when he departed to become Music Director at the New York City Opera Company. Keen instilled a commitment to opera that lasts to this day, building a substantial opera program in partnership with the Buffalo Symphony Orchestra and Brooklyn Academy of Music featuring the North American premiere of Philip Glass’ “Satiagraha” in 1981 to the famed four-year staging of Wagner’s “Ring Cycle” in 1984-88 This commitment lives on in contemporary performances like the 2023’s spectacular production of Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, by the Barcelona theatrical group La Fura Dels Baus featuring Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus conducted by Gil Rose.

Since the arrival of Sonia Clark as President in 2015, Artpark has reconnected with these roots in opera and performance, with an ambitious program to reimagine the relationship of live arts experience with Artpark’s unique environment above the Niagara Gorge. This has included performances like The Odyssey by Todd Almond and Lear Debessonet, a massive undertaking involving more than 200 performers, from Broadway stars to local students and volunteers giving rise to now thriving program Artpark Bridges empowering and healing the numerous underserved groups and communities (Empower, People Inc., Buffalo Adult Education/ESL programs for refugees and the Buffalo Parkinson’s Foundation) under the leadership of Cynthia Pegado. 

Street theater, global programming and outdoor celebrations have been the focus of Sonia Clark’s artistic leadership, having brought numerous North American premieres to Artpark by international institutions like France’s Plasticiens Volants, Art Move Concept, and Cirque Inextremiste, Brazil’s Baile de Rua, and Spain’s La Fura dels Baus, often featured in the setting of outdoor interdisciplinary festivals like the Fairy House Festival and Strawberry Moon Festival.

Cutting-edge, experimental, and avant-garde musical performance continues to be a priority at Artpark, in a tradition that reaches back to Laurie Anderson’s performance of “Stereo Decoy,” a “duet” for piano and violin placed on opposite sides of the river dividing Canada from the U.S., that involved walkie-talkies, a bullhorn, and the natural acoustics of the gorge. This tradition continues with the New Music in the Park series, an eclectic snapshot of music performance, and collaboration happening now. What began as a quaint local chamber music series, now regularly features performances from groups including Alarm Will Sound, So Percussion, JP Jofre, Third Coast Percussion, or DakhaBrakha, with local composer collectives like Null Point or the Buffalo Jazz Composers Workshop. These occur in the informal settings of the outdoor Emerald Grove or Mainstage Theater Terrace, along the Gorge trail, and at other sites amid Artpark’s 150 acres, using the natural setting to provide for a playful experience, reimagine and challenge the relationship between performance and venue and between players and audience.

This reimagining of the relationship between art and audience proved critical to Artpark’s survival during the COVID-19 pandemic. While theater and performance venues across the country shuttered for a year or more, Artpark, as an outdoor venue with 150 acres of available space, doubled down on experimental performance and invited audiences to return and experience art in unconventional—and safe—settings. This period included outdoor, distanced “chamber” performances of John Luther Adams’ “One Thousand Birds” on the Mainstage Theater Terrace by Alarm Will Sound, or the “Art of Walking” - a promenade theater piece created to accommodate the social distancing, created in an international collaboration of Spain’s Itsaso Irribaren and German de la Riva with New York-based writer and director Carin Jean White; a number of creative residencies by Taylor Mac and the Holladay Brothers, the latter resulting in a innovative site-activated sonic experience designed by the Holladay Brothers and SoZo Artists with original sound tracks and stories provided by Rhyannon Giddens and Yo-Yo Ma, DJ Spooky, Kronos Quartet and local indigenous artists recorded by Michele-Elise Burnette. These digital walks delivered by a free app fused the natural and digital into a new way to experience the healing and sustaining nature. Further embracing the pandemic period’s need for adaptation, Artpark even converted several parking lots into temporary drive-in movie spaces, offering opportunities for all ages to safely gather and enjoy popular films. (Click here to download Artpark 2020: A Journal, for a firsthand account of Artpark during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, and Artpark 2021: A Journal, documenting Artpark's programming during the second year of the pandemic.)

And, of course, Artpark has played host to some of the most widely beloved bands and musicians of the past half century. Following the steep cuts to state funding, Artpark came close to a full stop in 1996. A new agreement between Artpark & Company and New York State Parks in 1997, combined with a reorientation toward the touring music industry, brought Artpark back from the brink. George Osborne filled a vacancy as its Executive Director and later President, inheriting mounting debts and an all-time low budget of $500,000. Within the space of a few seasons, he reimagined Artpark as a venue for beloved touring acts, and made a household name out of “Tuesdays in the Park,” a weekly summer music series that ran from 1999 to 2019. While Artpark has evolved again to reconnect with visual art and avant-garde performance, and expanded into entirely new areas, a commitment to the touring music industry that helped to save the institution remains. Some of the leading artists in the nation have performed at Artpark on both our stages – the outdoor Amphitheater (9,999 capacity) and indoor Mainstage Theater (4,000 capacity), including: Ringo Starr, Buddy Guy, Bonnie Raitt, Bob Dylan, Sting, Aretha Franklin, Hall & Oates, Billy Idol, Steven Tyler, Boy George & Culture Club, B-52s, Blondie, Melissa Etheridge, Chicago, Chick Corea, Flaming Lips, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Jack White, Goo Goo Dolls, Joan Baez, Jeff Beck, Doobie Brothers, Chris Isaak, ZZ Top, Deep Purple, Glass Animals, Herbie Hancock, Pixes, Tori Amos, Wilco, Alabama Shakes, Garbage, Arctic Monkeys, Goose, Trombone Shorty, Young the Giant, Lizzo, The Flaming Lips, among numerous others.

Joanne Bauer - Chairperson
Christopher Leardini - Vice Chair
Stephen Turner - Treasurer
Vincent Agnello - Secretary

Directors
Allison Appoloney
Dena Armstrong
Jamie Bannister
Anthony Bannon
Don Boswell
Jason Brydges
John Camp
Joseph Certo
Jonathan A. Dandes
Francine DelMonte
Michael J. Dowd, Esq.
Lyn Dyster
Michael Hickey
Christopher E. Kay
Omar Khan
Michael McInerney
Mark Mistretta
Daniel Montante
Marcy Newman
Edward Perlman, Esq.
Pamela Priest
Duncan Smith
Michael Vitch
Jeffrey Williams
Max Willig

Advisory Council
Steve Broderick
Daniel E. Cantara III
Terry Collesano
Thomas J. Fatta
Brian Geary 
Seymour H. Knox IV
Alison Lytle
Angelo J. Morinello
Hon. Robert G. Ortt
Sophia Slaysman
Richard Soluri
Anne Welch
Rebecca Wydysh