Marking 25 years of creative service, the installation brings our journey full circle to the campus where it all began.
NEW YORK — Sing for Hope, The Juilliard School, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts announce the activation of six Sing for Hope Pianos on Lincoln Center’s Hearst Plaza for public open play and collaborative programming from September 11 through September 20, 2026.
The activation marks a meaningful homecoming. Exactly twenty-five years ago this week, in the days immediately following September 11, 2001, Sing for Hope Co-Founders Monica Yunus and Camille Zamora were students at The Juilliard School. The two sopranos organized fellow classmates to sing for the families and surviving firefighters of Engine 40/Ladder 35, located just across from Lincoln Center. That singular gesture of solace grew into Sing for Hope’s global mission: using the power of the arts to bring connection, healing, and universal comfort wherever it is needed most.
Returning to Hearst Plaza a quarter-century later underscores the enduring strength of this creative alliance. The activation represents a close collaboration with The Juilliard School, the foundational artistic home where Sing for Hope began 25 years ago and an institution that continues to shape its vision today, alongside Shanta Thake, Chief Artistic Officer of Lincoln Center, and her team.
The six Sing for Hope Pianos will be central to Juilliard Outdoors: PLAZAWORK 2026, an interactive outdoor performance taking place Saturday, September 19 at 11:00 AM (rain date: Sunday, September 20) as part of the Juilliard Fall Festival.
Free and open to the public with no tickets required, PLAZAWORK 2026 transforms Hearst Plaza (30 Lincoln Center Plaza) into a dynamic creative commons. Conceived as a living, democratic experiment, the performance features artists responding in real time to creative prompts, generating a continuously evolving work attuned to its open-air surroundings. Sound, dance, and public interaction layer together to blur the line between performer, audience, and the city itself.
Visitors, passersby, and musicians of all levels are invited to play the instruments on Hearst Plaza during designated public hours:
Each instrument featured in the installation is a one-of-a-kind artwork created by a Sing for Hope Artist Partner:
Together on Hearst Plaza, the Sing for Hope Pianos stand as an open invitation to listen, create, and bridge community divides through shared culture.
To learn more about the Sing for Hope Pianos: Juilliard x Lincoln Center, click here.
