Hello dear you,

I hope the first days of January are treating you well. It’s cold and sunny in New York City, with a beautiful light in the sky almost every day. We have a new mayor, a new NYC first lady - her photos for The Cut are splendid, take a look if you haven’t yet.

The performing arts festival season has started, with hundreds of performances - dance, music, opera, theater - all over the city, and hundreds of artists to applaud and hug. I made a quick selection for you at the end of this post!

My week is quite a festival as well:

Tonight, Monday, I'm cooking for 50 guests—a winter menu: warm, a bit spicy, comforting, and, I hope, delicious. I cooked all weekend to let everything rest for 24 hours, because winter meals love to rest—the flavors love to deepen and sing.

While the stew was burping, the potage blending, the pears poaching, and the caramel burning, I started to pack artworks from the collection of The Invisible Dog for the new exhibition opening on Saturday at Hashimoto Contemporary.

46 artists, 70 pieces of art - painting, drawing, sculpture, video, photography - surely the largest group exhibition I’ve ever curated. It was such a joy.

Tuesday, 9am, movers are coming to pick up the artworks and bring them to the gallery. R. Justin Stewart recommended Lugg, an on-demand app. —it's like Uber for movers. Cross your fingers they will be on time you know how much I’m stressed about punctuality.

Wednesday is install day at the gallery (if you are around, come say hi and hold the hammer). My idea is to present the exhibition in a salon style. Like at home.

Thursday and Friday are totally free on my agenda. For sure, I will have tons of things to do, nap and mani included.

Saturday, the opening reception of the exhibition is from 6 to 8pm. I’m so impatient and excited to greet you. Are you coming? Please RSVP, it makes me even more impatient to see your name on the list.

Sunday? Breakfast in bed for lovers!

Yours, Lucien

The Winter Festival Season

Under the Radar Festival has started, 25 productions to attend all over the city. No excuse to miss it.

As part of UTR Festival, our friends at Here are presenting Dream Feed, by The HawtPlates until January 25 and offer you a $5 off with discount code DREAMFIVE

You can book your seat here

Drop into Dream Feed, the latest electro-acoustic vocal work from two-time Grammy Award-winning theatrical family band The HawtPlates. Can we remember our own dreams? Can we share the dreams we have in common? Can we awaken ourselves to the origin of our aspirations? In this shared dream sequence and live concept album, The HawtPlates metabolize the surreal allure of the active mind within a slumbering body through trip-like lullabies and bold reverie. A 2023 HERE Artist Residency Program (HARP) commission with additional co-commissioning support by Under the Radar, this psychedelic live concept album makes its world premiere at the 2026 Under the Radar Festival.

A new winter Festival to discover at PS21 : Center for Contemporary Performance that celebrates and elevates the depths of winter. Taking place February 16–22, 2026, the festival will unfold at PS21 and across Columbia County—in theatres, restaurants, libraries, saunas, and outdoor public spaces. Featuring more than 60 international artists and over 80 performances, The Dark offers a packed week of world-class contemporary performance, installation, music, dance, and theatre—all exploring winter as a time of community and solitude, fire and ice, darkness and light. A major new attraction for the region, the festival positions Columbia County as a year-round cultural destination—not just a summer one.

Discover the program and book your tickets here.