The Downtown Alliance stimulates Lower Manhattan’s cultural life by presenting free concerts, showcasing neighborhood chefs, and supporting a wide variety of performances and exhibits.

The arts and special events play a major role in the vitality of our neighborhood.  They enliven the community and provide people with another reason to spend more time Downtown. A dynamic calendar of events is a wonderful amenity for workers, residents and visitors – and has proven to generate business for Downtown restaurants and retailers.

There's always something exciting happening Downtown. To search our calendar of events, click here.

Downtown NYC River to River Festival

The River to River Festival produces and promotes free music, dance and cultural events each summer. It is a collaborative effort among Downtown’s major event producers including the Downtown Alliance, Battery Park City Authority, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, South Street Seaport and the World Financial Center Arts and Events Program.

In the wake of September 11th, the festival was launched to heal the community and welcome the world back to Lower Manhattan with music, dance and the arts. Today the festival continues to leverage the arts as an economic development tool and has successfully attracted new and diverse audiences to the area – hundreds of thousands of people per year – thereby demonstrating how the arts have contributed to the revitalization of Lower Manhattan. Audience research reveals that people come Downtown each summer not only to experience world-class arts programming but also to enjoy Lower Manhattan’s rich history, retail shops and fine restaurants.

Past highlights include Ryan Adams, Patti Smith, Lyle Lovett, Fountains of Wayne, Ted Leo/Pharmacists, American Ballet Theater, Tan Dun, Audra McDonald, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Macy’s Fireworks Spectacular, Children’s Day at the Seaport, and much more. For more information on the River to River Festival, click here.

Music at Castle Clinton Concert Series

Castle Clinton, a national monument, was one of the first performance venues in New York City.  In 1850, P.T. Barnum presented "Swedish Nightingale" Jenny Lind in her American debut. In 1997, the Downtown Alliance paid homage the monument's musical heritage with the launch of the Music at Castle Clinton concert series. And for nine consecutive summers, we have presented concerts for capacity crowds featuring a wide variety of music genres from jazz and rock to Latin and pop. In 2010, Madeleine Peyroux, Duncan Sheik, and Antibalas from the Broadway hit FELA were presented as part of the Broadway 2 Battery themed programming.

Movie Nights on the Elevated Acre

This open-air movie series on the Elevated Acre at 55 Water Street showcases classic New York features paired with independent shorts at one of Lower Manhattan's most spectacular venues. In 2010, the Broadway themed programming included Woody Allen's  Broadway Danny Rose, Auntie Mame, The Country Girl and The Muppets Take Manhattan. Each summer thousands of people bring a blanket and boxed meal for a pre-show picnic on the lawn before the sun sets and the movies begin.

Dine Around Downtown

Dine Around Downtown is Lower Manhattan’s most popular annual culinary event. This gastronomic celebration presents approximately 50 well-known Downtown restaurants with cuisines ranging from French to Chinese to Continental. Diners sample signature menu items from top restaurant and beverage providers while enjoying live entertainment. It also allows those who work, live and visit Downtown an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the many enticing restaurants below Chambers Street.