On Thursday, Aug. 13, Mayor Mamdani and the Theatre Development Fund announced that more than 2,000 free and low-cost Broadway and Off-Broadway tickets will be available for New York City high school students.
As of this week, high school students can enter a lottery for their chance to win free tickets. The lottery will remain open through Monday, Aug. 17, at 10 a.m., and selected students will be able to claim up to two tickets.
Tickets are available for seven marquee Broadway shows:
“Buena Vista Social Club,” “In the Heights,” “School Girls Or,” “The African Mean Girls Play,” “Stranger Things: The First Shadow,” “The Lost Boys,” “The Great Gatsby” and “Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York).”
In the announcement on Thursday, Mamdani stood at Manhattan’s first performing arts center alongside Mike Rosenberg — President and CEO of New York City Center. If stars can make it in New York, the mayor said, then they can make it anywhere. “We want to keep that opportunity to dream big alive, not just to hopeful out-of-towners but also to those growing up right here and across these five boroughs.”
TDF Executive Director Deeksha Gaur said that their organization believes people and societies are healthier with access to art.
Mamdani also announced that students who enter will automatically receive a free two-month Theatre Development Fund membership, regardless of whether or not they win. The membership will grant them significantly discounted tickets — from $20 to $40 — to performing arts events across the city.
“From theater to dance to music, art is how a city dreams out loud — how we reckon with our past, imagine our future, and build the connective tissue of democracy and belonging,” said Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su in a press release.
Students can enter the lottery at on.nyc.gov/Broadway.
