The celebrated Big Umbrella Festival returns as a free 1-day Lincoln Center campus takeover full of relaxed spaces with multi-sensory experiences, performances, installations, and workshops specifically welcoming neurodivergent audiences and their families..

Big Umbrella Day Highlights

The Urban Conga's Optik
All day
Hearst Plaza (Outdoors)
This interactive installation invites participants to manipulate the movement and reflection of light, while each unit becomes a different musical instrument.

Visual Art Stations
11am – 6pm
The Garden at Damrosch Park (Outdoors) and LeFrak Lobby, David Geffen Hall (Indoors)
Create your own artwork based on inspiration from nature and the world around us, guided by Lincoln Center teaching artists.

Close-Act Theatre's Birdmen
11–11:45am and 5–5:45pm
Hearst Plaza (Outdoors) T
hree gigantic, stilt-walking puppets resembling birds from prehistoric times roam Lincoln Center.

The Art of Wellbeing: Tai Chi With Raymond Li
11am – 12pm
LeFrak Lobby, David Geffen Hall (Indoors)
Manhattan Tai Chi founder Raymond Li demonstrates the ancient Chinese practice of Tai Chi, accompanied by live traditional Chinese music.

James Ian
12:30–1:15pm and 3–3:45pm
Hess Grand Promenade, David Geffen Hall (Indoors)
Includes: ASL interpretation, closed captioning
Award-winning singer-songwriter James Ian, who has Spinal Muscular Atrophy (“SMA”) Type 3, brings his passion and talent to Big Umbrella.

Marsha Elle: An Ode to the ‘90s and 2000s
2–2:45pm and 4:30–5:15pm
Hess Grand Promenade, David Geffen Hall (Indoors)
Includes: ASL interpretation, closed captioning
Bionic model, musician, and disability advocate Marsha Elle celebrates body positivity and self-acceptance as she spreads messages of love, light, and inclusivity in a concert dedicated to the '90s and 2000s.

The day ends with a Silent Disco dance party, complete with 10-foot disco ball, at 6pm.