The 17th annual Apollo Uptown Hall MLK celebration focuses on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s as the template for modern social and civil justice movements. This year, we celebrate young people impacting society through activism, engagement, and a commitment to justice.
The Apollo has a decades-long tradition of serving as a convener for local community residents as well as people from across New York City. That tradition continues as the Apollo partners with WNYC in our annual celebration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his enduring legacy on the culture. WNYC’s Notes from America host, Kai Wright moderates the first hour of this year’s celebration followed by music, spoken word and other forms of creative expressions with WQXR’s Terrance McKnight.
WNYC and Apollo presents Apollo Uptown Hall: MLK Blueprint for the Culture in collaboration with the March on Washington Film Festival.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Following the in-person program, Celebrate MLK’s National Day of Service with an inspiring panel on the Apollo Digital Stage featuring a discussion on the pivotal role of young voices affecting change within their communities, curated by the Apollo Young Producers.
Apollo Young Producers Presents Young Changemakers
This is a free event with a ticket required. Free tickets are also available at the Apollo Theater box office. You must show your e-ticket at check in. Seating is by general admission and registration does not guarantee space. Doors open at 2PM. Tickets not scanned or picked up from the box office by 2:30PM on the day of the event will be released to patrons in the standby line. Please arrive early!
For the safety of our artists, audiences and staff, face coverings are optional but encouraged for all attendees while inside the theater. Click here for more information about our COVID safety policies.
TUNE IN and WATCH LIVE: If you are unable to join us in person for this year’s Apollo Uptown Hall, we welcome you to tune in on the Apollo Digital Stage, Facebook or Youtube on Sunday, January 15 at 3pm ET for a livestream broadcast of the event. Then, at 5pm stay tuned in for the broadcast of MLK Young Changemakers.
Free with RSVP
Important Information:
For the safety of our artists, audiences and staff, face coverings are optional but encouraged for all attendees while inside the theater. Click here for more information about our COVID safety policies.
The 17th annual Apollo Uptown Hall MLK celebration focuses on Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s as the template for modern social and civil justice movements. This year, we celebrate young people impacting society through activism, engagement, and a commitment to justice.
The Apollo has a decades-long tradition of serving as a convener for local community residents as well as people from across New York City. That tradition continues as the Apollo partners with WNYC in our annual celebration of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and his enduring legacy on the culture. WNYC’s Notes from America host, Kai Wright moderates the first hour of this year’s celebration followed by music, spoken word and other forms of creative expressions with WQXR’s Terrance McKnight.
WNYC and Apollo presents Apollo Uptown Hall: MLK Blueprint for the Culture in collaboration with the March on Washington Film Festival.
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
Following the in-person program, Celebrate MLK’s National Day of Service with an inspiring panel on the Apollo Digital Stage featuring a discussion on the pivotal role of young voices affecting change within their communities, curated by the Apollo Young Producers.
Apollo Young Producers Presents Young Changemakers
This is a free event with a ticket required. Free tickets are also available at the Apollo Theater box office. You must show your e-ticket at check in. Seating is by general admission and registration does not guarantee space. Doors open at 2PM. Tickets not scanned or picked up from the box office by 2:30PM on the day of the event will be released to patrons in the standby line. Please arrive early!
For the safety of our artists, audiences and staff, face coverings are optional but encouraged for all attendees while inside the theater. Click here for more information about our COVID safety policies.
TUNE IN and WATCH LIVE: If you are unable to join us in person for this year’s Apollo Uptown Hall, we welcome you to tune in on the Apollo Digital Stage, Facebook or Youtube on Sunday, January 15 at 3pm ET for a livestream broadcast of the event. Then, at 5pm stay tuned in for the broadcast of MLK Young Changemakers.
Free with RSVP
Important Information:
For the safety of our artists, audiences and staff, face coverings are optional but encouraged for all attendees while inside the theater. Click here for more information about our COVID safety policies.
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Kwanzaa: A Regeneration Celebration lights up The Apollo! This annual tradition brings the community together for a night filled with energy, reflection, and joy.
Join The Apollo and Abdel R. Salaam’s Forces of Nature Dance Theatre to experience a vibrant celebration rooted in unity, self-determination, and community. Through powerful dance, music, and spoken word performances, we'll uplift the 7 principles.
Hosted by Olabamidele Husbands, and featuring the talented young artists from FIYAA: Forces Incredible Youth Arts Alliance this is more than a show—it's a cultural celebration. Feel the rhythm of traditions that span the African continent in a night of music, percussion, and electrifying dance that will leave you inspired and connected with your community. Don’t miss this unforgettable celebration of Kwanzaa at The Apollo!
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has selected the 47th Honorees for lifetime artistic achievements: acclaimed director and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola; legendary American rock band the Grateful Dead (Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Bobby Weir); blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist Bonnie Raitt; jazz trumpeter, pianist, and composer Arturo Sandoval; and The Apollo, which will receive a special Honors as an iconic American institution.
The Nuyorican Poets Cafe presents the Grand Slam of 2024 a spoken word extravaganza hosted by Tony McPherson with sounds by DJ Luna Rosa. After eleven months of weekly slam winners competing every Final Friday the time has come for one poet to be named the Grand Slam Champion and win $1,000, a produced show in the new building and potential spot on our 2025 national slam team.
The Nuyorican Poets Cafe is a nonprofit organization rooted in the legacy of spoken word truth-telling. Founded by Puerto Rican /Afro Caribbean poets and visionaries, we honor this sacred history by creating an accessible forum for developing poetic theatrical, musical, and visual media works in the spirit of downtown New York subculture and experimentalism. Since closing our building for a major renovation, we have taken our programming offsite at different locations throughout NYC, the country, and the world. We are happy to bring the 2024 Grand Slam to the Apollo Stages at The Victoria.
The Apollo is proud to present Loss, produced by The Theatre Centre, at the Under The Radar Festival.
Loss brings an intergenerational family story to life through a stunning blend of live music, video, and powerful storytelling. Created by the Canadian visionary Ian Kamau and his father, famed documentarian Roger McTair, this multimedia performance dives deep into grief, healing, and the strength of community.
This isn’t just a show—it’s a journey that will move your spirit and spark conversations. Don’t miss your chance to witness the future of theater, where every moment pulls you deeper into an immersive, emotional experience.
The Apollo celebrates the 40th anniversary of the Black women-led theatrical dance company and social activism ensemble, Urban Bush Women with a stunning visual exhibition in the Laura and Frank Baker Gallery. With special pop-up performances on select dates, Lineage Legacy and Liberation: An Examination of Urban Bush Women’s Art-Making and Community Organizing Praxis contains rare photographs, performance footage, manuscripts, costumes and memorabilia from the groundbreaking ensemble’s 40-year history.
Curators:
UBW Co-Artistic Directors Mame Diarra Spies & Chanon Judson and Pia Monique Murray
Curatorial Consultant:
Laura Steward
Producers:
Jonathan D. Secor & Pia Monique Murray
Presented in Partnership with Urban Bush Women
ABOUT URBAN BUSH WOMEN:
Urban Bush Women is a groundbreaking Black women-led theatrical dance company and social activism ensemble, founded in 1984 by visionary choreographer Jawole Willa Jo Zollar as an engine and an amplifier for the unheard stories of Black Women+. Today, under the artistic leadership of Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra Speis, UBW combines revolutionary performance, deep-healing community engagement, and ancestral knowledge from the African diaspora into a cultural force that is urgent, forward-looking, and essential.
UBW embraces the power of radical storytelling to activate social change. Whether creating genre-defying work for the stage, guiding the development of Black Women+ choreographers and producers, organizing for justice through art-making, or inspiring leaders across generations, UBW is an innovator, operating at the vanguard.
Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1974 classic film Claudine and the life of the late James Earl Jones at The Apollo Stages at The Victoria, in partnership with the Harlem Festival of Culture Foundation.
Experience the powerful performances of Diahann Carroll and James Earl Jones in this timeless story of resilience, love, and community. Claudine tells the tale of a strong-willed single mother raising six children in Harlem, whose budding romance with a charismatic garbage collector is tested by the struggles of life within an oppressive system.
This annual event from WNYC and the Apollo Theater will explore Dr. King’s enduring legacy through the lens of belonging, reflecting on his vision for a just and inclusive society. Through powerful conversations with prominent public intellectuals, community and faith leaders, authors and artists, we will ponder democracy and civil rights under a second Trump administration. Join us for this inspiring tribute as we honor Dr. King’s dream and engage in a timely dialogue on the ongoing project of forging an equitable society.
Apollo Education invites the community to join this year’s MLK Young Changemakers event, honoring Dr. King’s powerful legacy in a modern context. MLK Young Changemakers is a series of conversations in recognition of Dr. King’s impact and the National Youth Day of Service where local and national youth leaders will explore how environmental and food justice impact our lives and communities.
Join Apollo Education for a full-day Professional Learning Workshop to explore the digital learning hub, Apollo Stories. This online resource of educator-created materials sparks critical thinking in students and ignites thought-provoking discussions on justice, culture, and identity.
Led by The Apollo Stories team, educators will receive expert guidance on integrating and adapting the free lessons featured on the platform into their classroom curricula. Gain hands-on facilitation experience, feedback, and dive into engaging, practical, classroom-ready activities.
Presented in partnership with Bob Sumner (producer of Def Comedy Jam, creator of Laff Mobb on Aspire), the Apollo Comedy Club celebrates these rich comedic roots with an evening of comedy on the Apollo’s Stages at the Victoria to serve as a late-night hotspot featuring the best emerging talent in comedy today.
The Apollo has a long history of launching the careers of countless legendary artists and performers in a variety of genres, including comedy. Comedic legends Richard Pryor, Redd Foxx, Monique, Jamie Foxx and Jackie Mabley (a.k.a. Moms) have all delighted audiences from the Apollo stage.
Falling on the heels of Valentine’s Day, the singer, songwriter and poet known as sahn has taken pen to paper to create an introspective musical love letter that covers the elements of loss, renewal and everlasting love. sahn delivers a powerful evening of smokey, jazz-infused, songs and stories from her debut album “the mornings”.
Embark on a vibrant journey through the cultural traditions of Africa, the Caribbean, and other areas of the Black Diaspora with School Day Live: Jump Up Jamboree!
Accessibility
The Apollo is here for everyone. Artists, audiences, and all supporters should be able to experience The Apollo fully and in a way that is comfortable for them.
The Apollo has taken comprehensive steps to ensure that entrances, seating, restrooms, and more are as accessible and compliant as possible. Learn more about accessibility options and support services that might be right for you.
All persons and bags are subject to search. Bags that have passed inspection must fit comfortably under your seat. Oversized bags are prohibited.
No outside food or beverage. Accommodations are made for patrons with medical needs. Please email access@apollotheater.org or call the box office at (212) 531-5305 for assistance.
