NEW YORK CITY: Under the Radar Festival and Mayor Zohran Mandani have launched Under The Radar For All, a new ticketing initiative which will provide the opportunity for 1,500 New Yorkers to see select UTR performances at no charge. The festival states that theatregoers can access free tickets to 12 shows online. Mamdani announced the initiative in a press conference in Brooklyn earlier this morning.
“When I speak about making this city more affordable, my vision is not limited to the homes that we live in or the childcare we make universal; it’s also a vision where we make it possible for working people to afford lives of joy, of art, of rest, of expression,” Mamdani said in a press conference. “I met New Yorkers today at our giveaway where they shared with me the struggles in their own life. So often all they can think of are their struggles. They too should have art in their lives. And I’m so thankful for this incredible festival—for not only the work it has done in years past, but its commitment today in ensuring arts becomes that much more accessible for each and every New Yorker, especially those for whom it hasn’t been a reality.”
HERE Arts Center (under the co-direction of Jesse Cameron Alick, Annalisa Dias, Lanxing Fu, and Lauren Miller) announced this morning that it will partner with this initiative for its world premiere of Dream Feed by the HawtPlates, Jan. 14-16 at 8:30 p.m. at HERE Arts Center. Availability is limited; the team shared the code UTRFREE to access free first-come first-serve tickets. Dream Feed is a new electro-acoustic vocal work created by the HawtPlates that runs Jan. 9-25, 2026 as part of UTR.
“HERE has always been committed to economic access to our programs, with 10 tickets available for $10 for every single performance across our two theatres all year long,” said HERE co-directors Lauren Miller and Jesse Cameron Alick in a statement. “We are thrilled to take part in Mayor Mamdani’s first initiative to ensure that access extends to the arts across the city through its innovative partnership with the Under the Radar Festival.”
The Under the Radar Festival is the United States’ premier festival of experimental theatre and performance art, and has brought bold, risk-taking work to NYC for over two decades. In 2026, between January 7 and 25, UTR will present more than 225 performances of 30 different shows at 25 partner theaters across Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and The Bronx. Part of the city’s JanArtsNYC initiatives, the festival shared a glimpse at their programming last summer and has its current roster available online.
