tribeca festival

Only for the Vaccinated: Radio City Plans Grand Return With Tribeca Festival

Every event going forward at the iconic New York City venue will require attendees to be fully vaccinated

NBCUniversal Media, LLC

What to Know

  • Radio City Music Hall will host Tribeca's closing night on June 19 before a full capacity, 100% vaccinated, mask-free audience, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday
  • Pier 76 on the Hudson will officially open on June 9 and host the Tribeca Festival's opening night screening of Lin-Manuel Miranda's "In the Heights"
  • Eight different venues across the city's five boroughs will simultaneously screen the festival's opening night film

The Tribeca Festival is poised to not only be the first in-person film festival to take place in North America since the COVID-19 pandemic, but it's also planning to hold one of the first major indoor events at full capacity for a vaccinated-only audience.

Radio City Music Hall will host Tribeca's closing night on June 19 before a full capacity, 100% vaccinated, mask-free audience, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday.

"Having Radio City back at 100% without masks, with people enjoying New York and the New York arts is going to be not only symbolic and metaphoric but I think is going to go a long way towards bringing back this state overall," he added. "People are going to say, 'So if I'm not vaccinated I can't go?' That's right."

Meanwhile, a new park, Pier 76 on the Hudson -- will officially open on June 9 and host the Tribeca Festival's opening night screening of Lin-Manuel Miranda's "In the Heights," yet another incremental step toward a new normal for New York state.

The United Palace theater in Washington Heights will host a special screening of the film, in addition to eight open-air venues across the city's five boroughs. Tickets are free (only two locations still had tickets Monday) and reserved for groups of one to four people to be seated in pod configurations.

In the age of social distancing, drive-in movies are all the rage again. The Tribeca Film Festival has sponsored a series of drive-in films over the summer.

Eight different venues across the city's five boroughs will simultaneously screen the festival's opening night film. Tickets to the June 9 screening of "In the Heights" are free (the few screenings with tickets left were sold out by Monday afternoon) and attendees will be divided into pods.

James Dolan, Executive Chairman of Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., joined Cuomo's Monday press conference to announce the news for Radio City Music Hall. Every event going forward at the iconic New York City venue will require attendees to be fully vaccinated, not just the festival closing night, he said.

"[Robert] De Niro and I started the festival 19 years ago as the governor said in the aftermath of 9/11 with the purpose of bringing people back downtown," said Jane Rosenthal, co-founder of the festival. "Now, in the wake of another crisis, our founding mission is even more relevant today."

The 20th edition of the Tribeca Festival returns after a pandemic interruption with an expansion of outdoor screenings all across New York City. Typically held in the springtime, this year's festival runs 12 days in June, with events at outdoor venues including the Battery, Hudson Yards, Pier 57 Rooftop, Brookfield Place, the MetroTech Commons and Empire Outlets.

NBC New York is a partner of the Tribeca Festival.

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