Valuing Central Park's Contributions to New York City's ... - Appleseed

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The Angel of the Waters
Among the many forms of artistic
expression New Yorkers can find today
in Central Park, sculpture is among the
oldest. In 1873, Emma Stebbins was
commissioned to create “The Angel of
the Waters” at Bethesda Fountain – the
Park’s first commissioned sculpture and
the first commission for a major work of
public art ever awarded to an American
woman. Today the angel – one of 51works
of sculpture found in the Park – remains
one of the Park’s most popular figures, and
one of its best-known images.
it annually hosts major performances – Shakespeare in the Park, the New York
Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, SummerStage and others – that together
draw hundreds of thousands of people from throughout the City and beyond. But the
Park also hosts a variety of other cultural activities serving the local community. They
include, for example:
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The Harlem Meer Performance Festival, a weekly performance series by the Meer, at
the north end of the Park;
Sunday Latin, gospel and jazz concerts at the Dana Discovery Center;
A marionette theater at the Swedish Cottage;
Family music and art workshops;
Winter Jam, an annual winter festival attracting more than 10,000 participants in
2007; and
The Central Park Film Festival, featuring a different movie that was filmed at
Central Park each evening for a week at the end of August.
Building New York’s “social capital”
While the numbers on New Yorkers’ use of the Park are impressive, Central Park has
a value to the community that goes beyond what can be measured by aggregating
numbers of individuals who use its facilities at various times for various purposes.
The Park also represents a significant investment in building New York City’s “social
capital” – the collective value that arises from the “trust, reciprocity, information, and
cooperation associated with social networks.”
Central Park contributes in several ways to the development of social capital. The
Central Park Conservancy, for example – in addition to being an enterprise that
generates substantial revenue and invests heavily in the management, maintenance and
improvement of the Park – is also a focal point for volunteer activity. The Conservancy’s