Established in 1968, the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) was charged with developing and maintaining a well-balanced community on the Lower West Side of Manhattan, in place of where deteriorating piers once stood in the Hudson River. Battery Park City has achieved worldwide acclaim as a model for community renewal. Through a public/private partnership between the Battery Park City Authority and private developers, this planned community has become a blueprint for successful urban development.
An important part of the BPCA mission is its commitment to providing high quality free programs and events open to the public of New York City. A wide variety of programs for adults, teens and children are offered outside in the parks and indoors in managed community centers. Battery Parks City Authority programs focus on creative and performing arts, leisure and active recreation, environmental and nature appreciation and education.Programs offer entertaining and informal learning experiences in well-organized, relaxed, public
environments staffed by trained professionals. The Parks Programming department releases calendars of events each year: Winter, Summer and Fall.
Some of the annual events we do include:
Swedish Midsummer Festival: The largest Swedish celebration of the summer solstice outside Sweden.
River & Blues: 20 years of world class blues music and summer sunsets on the Hudson.
Strings on Hudson: Battery Park City's al fresco classical music series on the Hudson Riverfront.
Community Dances: Celebration of dance and movement traditions around the world and throughout the ages.
Saturday Family Workshops: Hands on crafts and interactive performance workshops to introduce the young ones to art around the world.