Five years ago, The Year of Reinvention opened in New York. The event transformed the New York Public Library’s Central Library, covering its landmark on Fifth Avenue, and encompassed a 10-day programming of music, film, and other cultural and social ventures, running from Dec. 2 to 9, 2011. This year, that same foundation, now called The New York Public Library Foundation, opened in downtown Brooklyn at the East River Boathouse. It is hoped that the new space will boost revitalization around the Brooklyn-Queens waterfront. (Perched above the new building is the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building, the library’s tower.)
The year’s events included the yearly “Renew Tomorrow!” centennial celebration for the photographer Ansel Adams, a retrospective of photographer Barbara Kruger, and a run of LGBTQ musical acts at the Bowery Ballroom on W. 14th Street in Manhattan.
The three-day festival in the South Street Seaport featured performances by Patti Smith, Janelle Monáe, She & Him, DJ Kid Koala, and other artists. At Central Park Zoo, Apollo Theater, Cinema Village, and Webster Hall, performers took to the stages for a week-long festival.