Amateur Night at The Apollo 89th Anniversary Premieres February 22, 2023
WHAT: On Wednesday, February 22, Amateur Night returns to The Apollo with a dynamic new group of artists who will battle it out over the course of 32 shows in front of the theater’s notoriously tough “Be Good or Be Gone!” audience. The quintessential talent competition will feature vocalists, rappers, dancers, instrumentalists, comedians, spoken-word artists, and other performers from around the globe—including the U.S., Canada, and Japan—competing for a $20,000 Grand Prize and the chance to join the ranks of legendary past performers like D’Angelo, Jimi Hendrix, and Jazmine Sullivan. Contestants between the ages of 5 and 17 will likewise compete for the title of “Child Star of Tomorrow” and a $5,000 prize.
Since its inception in 1934, The Apollo’s signature Amateur Night continues to gain global recognition for launching the careers of thousands of performers and attracting audiences from all over the world. Amateur Night has long been revered by artists as a transformative experience where up-and-coming talent feel the power of the legendary performers who have come before them, and where audience responses can help make or break a career. Legendary performers who launched their careers on The Apollo Amateur Night stage have included Ella Fitzgerald, Lauryn Hill, Machine Gun Kelly, and H.E.R.
Tickets for the 89th Amateur Night anniversary are on sale now at www.ApolloTheater.org.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 22, 7:30 p.m. EST, and every other Wednesday through the November finale. WHERE: The Apollo’s Historic Theater – 253 W. 125th Street between Frederick Douglass Blvd. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.
TICKETS
Tickets for Amateur Night are available at www.ApolloTheater.org.
SUPPORT
The Apollo's season is made possible by leadership support from Coca-Cola, Citi, Sherman Fairchild Foundation, Ford Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, the Jerome L. Greene Foundation, The New York Community Trust, and The Mellon Foundation.
Amateur Night at The Apollo is sponsored by Coca-Cola.
Apollo Education Programs are made possible by generous support from BNY Mellon, Apollo EmpowHER, Steve and Connie Ballmer, ConEdison, The Walt Disney Company, William R. Kenan, Jr. Charitable Trust, The Ella Fitzgerald Charitable Foundation, the Moore Charitable Foundation, The Neuberger Berman Foundation, The Pinkerton Foundation, Sony Global Justice Fund, and the Verizon Foundation.
Public support for The Apollo is provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, with special support from New York City Council Members Julie Menin, Kristin Richardson Johnson, and Shaun Abreu.
ABOUT THE APOLLO
The legendary Apollo—the soul of American culture—plays a vital role in cultivating emerging artists and launching legends. Since its founding, The Apollo has served as a center of innovation and a creative catalyst for Harlem, the city of New York, and the world. In 2024, The Apollo opened The Apollo Stages at the Victoria Theater, marking the first ever expansion and renovation of The Apollo in its nearly 90-year history. The Apollo also has plans to renovate its Historic Theater. For more information about The Apollo, visit www.ApolloTheater.org.
With music at its core, The Apollo’s programming extends to dance, theater, spoken word, and more. This includes the world premiere of the theatrical adaptation of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s Between the World and Me and the New York premiere of the opera We Shall Not Be Moved; special programs such as the blockbuster concert Bruno Mars Live at the Apollo; 100: The Apollo Celebrates Ella; and the annual Africa Now! Festival. The non-profit Apollo is a performing arts presenter, commissioner, and collaborator that also produces festivals, large-scale dance and musical works organized around a set of core initiatives that celebrate and extend The Apollo’s legacy through a contemporary lens, including the Women of the World (WOW) Festival as well as other multidisciplinary collaborations with partner organizations.
Since introducing the first Amateur Night contests in 1934, The Apollo has served as a testing ground for new artists working across a variety of art forms and has ushered in the emergence of many new musical genres—including jazz, swing, bebop, R&B, gospel, blues, soul, and hip-hop. Among the countless legendary performers who launched their careers at The Apollo are Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight, Luther Vandross, H.E.R. D’Angelo, Lauryn Hill, Jazmine Sullivan, Machine Gun Kelly, and Miri Ben Ari; and The Apollo’s forward-looking artistic vision continues to build on this legacy. For more information about The Apollo, visit www.ApolloTheater.org.
About The Apollo
The Apollo is an American cultural treasure. It is a vibrant non-profit organization rooted in the Harlem community that engages people from around New York, the nation, and the world. Since 1934, The Apollo has celebrated, created, and presented work that centers Black artists and voices from across the African Diaspora. It has also been a catalyst for social and civic advocacy. Today, The Apollo is the largest performing arts institution committed to Black culture and creativity.
The Apollo is a commissioner and presenter; catalyst for new artists, audiences, and creative workforce; and partner in the projection of the African American narrative and its role in the development of American and global culture.
The Apollo envisions a new American canon centered on contributions to the performing arts by artists of the African diaspora, in America and beyond.
