With NY PopsUp, Jon Batiste jump-starts the arts on NYC streets

NEW YORK — Riding the artists’ bus from Manhattan to Brooklyn — the second stop of the launch Saturday of NY PopsUp — Jon Batiste explained his enthusiasm for a project reviving live entertainment on the streets of the state during the pandemic.

“This is what I like to call ‘social music,’ ”said “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” songwriter and bandleader. “You can use music to minister to so many sectors of society.”

It was a ministry of sound and rhythm that Batiste and a cadre of singers, dancers and instrumentalists brought indoors to the Javits Center, a sprawling site these days of coronavirus vaccinations, and then outdoors to Brooklyn parks, chichi shopping districts and housing projects. They were helping to kick off a public-private collaboration that on 100 scattered days between now and Labor Day will sponsor performers in concerts across the state — many unannounced.

Along with Batiste, some major talent will be participating: the likes of Chris Rock, Amy Schumer, Idina Menzel, Hugh Jackman, Kenan Thompson and Billy Porter have signed on for upcoming free performances.

It is being organized by film and Broadway producer Scott Rudin and Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Jane Rosenthal — and supported by a $5 million state grant “It’s a plan to get New York up and running again,” said New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker, who attended the Javits Center launch. He added that the enthusiasm sparked by the entertainers reflected “the spirit of everyone in New York City coming out.”