{"id":3549,"date":"2026-09-27T10:52:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T14:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/at-prospect-park-free-moliere-and-a-case-for-funding-culture-like-parks\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T10:52:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T14:52:55","slug":"at-prospect-park-free-moliere-and-a-case-for-funding-culture-like-parks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/at-prospect-park-free-moliere-and-a-case-for-funding-culture-like-parks\/","title":{"rendered":"At Prospect Park, Free Moli\u00e8re and a Case for Funding Culture Like Parks"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Prospect Park this month, thousands of New Yorkers have paused their strolls and gathered to watch Moli\u00e8re under the open sky. The latest production from Moli\u00e8re in the Park<\/strong>\u2014Don Juan<\/em>\u2014unfolds in a temporary outdoor theatre where admission is free and the audience spills across the lawn. Some arrive as devoted theatregoers; many simply happen upon the stage and decide to stay. The scene encapsulates a simple proposition: excellent theatre should be accessible to everyone, regardless of what they can afford.<\/p>\n

A park model for culture<\/h2>\n

Founded in 2018<\/strong> by Lucie Tiberghien<\/strong>, Moli\u00e8re in the Park<\/strong> was built on offering professional productions of Moli\u00e8re\u2019s 400-year-old plays at no cost to the public. Tiberghien argues that we should think about access to culture the way we think about parks. Everyone can enter Prospect Park<\/strong>, benefit from the painstaking design and construction that made it possible, and from the millions of dollars<\/strong> invested year after year to care for it. Keeping a park free doesn\u2019t make it free to maintain; it signals a collective decision that its value should not depend on an individual\u2019s ability to pay. Beautiful, well-kept parks correlate with thriving communities; they make residents feel worthy and cared for by their city.<\/p>\n

By the same logic, making theatre free does not reduce the cost of creating it. The work still demands extraordinary actors, ambitious designs, and rigorous engagement with the text\u2014expertise that requires resources. For the past five years, Tiberghien has directed these productions in collaboration with actors, designers, composers, and theatre artists, holding artistic standards high while removing the barrier of ticket price.<\/p>\n

Why Moli\u00e8re, and why rigor matters<\/h2>\n

Tiberghien sees Moli\u00e8re as uniquely suited to this mission. The more professional skill and discipline brought to the plays\u2014their context, rhythms, and the seriousness of their satire\u2014the more resonant they become. With Moli\u00e8re, artistic excellence increases accessibility. As the 20th-century French actor and director Pierre Dux<\/strong> observed, Moli\u00e8re\u2019s enduring relevance lies in \u201cce comique profond\u00e9ment humain<\/em>,\u201d a profoundly human comedy that invites spectators to recognize themselves, their friends, and their enemies onstage.<\/p>\n

That recognition is on full display in Don Juan<\/em>, where we meet \u201cthe man of enormous charm and privilege who is convinced that the rules governing everyone else do not apply to him.\u201d When tickets are free, people come; when the work is rigorous, the centuries-old plays do their work once the audience arrives.<\/p>\n

Back in Prospect Park, the equation is clear: we invest in parks because open, well-tended beauty strengthens communities. Tiberghien makes the same case for culture. Free access to excellent art requires talent, expertise, care, and significant resources\u2014and, like parks, supporting it is an investment in the health and well being of the city. In this season\u2019s gathering of thousands, that investment looks like neighbours laughing together at Moli\u00e8re, on the grass.<\/p>\n

Kaliswa Brewster and Keeshav Moodliar appear in Don Juan<\/strong>, a production of Moli\u00e8re in the Park<\/strong> at Prospect Park<\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

V\u00eda americantheatre.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At Prospect Park, Moli\u00e8re in the Park presents Don Juan for free to thousands this September, reflecting Lucie Tiberghien\u2019s case for funding culture with the same conviction as parks: excellence, access, and sustained investment go hand in hand.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3548,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-happening-now"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.echoartfoundation.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}