NEW YORK, NY.- Anish Kapoor, Brian Eno, and Peters Sellars are among the artists scheduled to participate in a series of public programs dedicated to the arts and creative collaboration in New York City this fall. The Rolex Arts Weekend, to be presented November 11-13 at the New York Public Library (NYPL), will also feature emerging talents in dance, film, literature, music, theatre, and the visual arts, who were paired by the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative with master artists for a year of creative exchange. The weekend festival—titled LIVE from the NYPL Presents the Rolex Arts Weekend—will include performances, workshops, and cross-disciplinary discussions with artists. The weekend is co-produced by LIVE from the NYPL and Rolex.

The Arts Weekend will include performances by:
• Dance protégé Lee Serle of Australia, mentored by choreographer Trisha Brown, will premiere a site-specific work at the New York Public Library;
• Music protégé Ben Frost of Australia, mentored by composer Brian Eno, will present a new arrangement of the work “Music for 6 Guitars” calibrated to the specific acoustics of the NYPL;
• Theatre protégée Maya Zbib of Lebanon, mentored by director Peter Sellars,will perform The Music Box, a solo piece based on a series of real/imagined stories of women and their personal connections to their homes;
• Literature protégée Tracy K. Smith of Brooklyn has commissioned composer Gregory Spears to set to music poems written by her and her mentor, Hans Magnus Enzensberger. Soprano Joelle Greenleaf and another soprano (name to be announced later) will sing the arrangements.

Other highlights of the weekend include:
• A series of cross-disciplinary conversations between past and current mentors, as well as other artists who have participated in the Arts Initiative as advisors, moderated by Paul Holdengräber Director of LIVE from the NYPL;
• An installation by Visual Arts protégé Nicholas Hlobo of South Africa, mentored by sculptor Anish Kapoor;
• Workshops in writing and performance, led by protégées Tracy K. Smith and Maya Zbib, respectively.

“The Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative is delighted to partner with the New York Public Library’s LIVE from the NYPL to share the work of the talented artists brought together by the Initiative,” said Rebecca Irvin, head of philanthropy at Rolex SA. “Given Rolex and the NYPL’s shared commitment to encouraging creativity and advancing knowledge, we can think of no better place to celebrate the artistic exploration our renowned mentors and their talented protégés have experienced together.”

“We often forget that libraries are not merely repositories of knowledge, but catalysts for new work and scholarship,” said Holdengräber. “Thus, the New York Public Library and LIVE from the NYPL look forward to presenting the work of the Rolex protégés and engaging the leading master artists who have participated in the Arts Initiative to explore the context and meaning of their work. We anticipate dynamic and revelatory conversations.”