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Read the press release here.

SummerStage Kids Delivers Free Fun to City Youth

By Angely Mercado | July 12, 2016 4:04pm
 Rod carries Jane on his shoulders while balancing a plush tiger and a glass of water on her head.
Rod carries Jane on his shoulders while balancing a plush tiger and a glass of water on her head.
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DNAinfo/ Angely Mercado

Last week, as awe-struck children looked on, acrobats Rob and Jane balanced on a chair that was perched on glass bottles, and dashed across the bottles on foot in Courtney Callender Playground in Harlem. Once the performers made it, the crowd jumped up, clapped to the music, shouted, and danced around despite the heat. 

The event was organized by SummerStage as a part of a larger program, SummerStage Kids, a new series of events that was launched this year by the City Parks Foundation that caters specifically to children.

The free festival will run until August 19 at 32 locations across New York City. According to the Parks Foundation, the performances will focus on national and international arts and will feature over 100 different types of art including dancers and live musicians. 

Lisa Holmes-Baber, the founder of D.R.E.W, a not-for-profit that gives low-income kids access to summer camp, said that having performances like the ones hosted by SummerStage is crucial for the children she serves. 

"Some of them come from family shelters, some of them live in the projects," she said. "They don't have the chance to have the money to go see these kind of things." 

Holmes-Baber hopes to continue taking the kids to more Summer Stage performances, she has seen them become enthusiastic about different topics after seeing performances.

There will be other performances at Courtney Callender Playground this summer, including a puppet show and a jam session. Other SummerStage Kids events will be held throughout the rest of the summer city wide.

To see the full SummerStage Kids calendar, click here.

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