Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts was incorporated in 1956 to develop and manage the first performing arts complex of its magnitude in the United States. With theaters, concert halls, and an opera house designed by some of the most prominent architects of the day, the Lincoln Center campus was built on New York’s Upper West Side in a neighborhood formerly known as Lincoln Square. It was conceived and proposed by John D. Rockefeller 3^rd, who oversaw fundraising efforts and served as its first president. The RBF supported the creation of Lincoln Center with a gift of $2.5 million in 1962. In 1970 it made a gift towards a deficit that remained after the original funding campaign wrapped up. Although the Fund’s last general support grant to Lincoln Center was $3 million in 1978, it has since supported individual projects and initiatives including the Lincoln Center Global Exchange, a conference encouraging world leaders to amplify the global impact of the arts.

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