This blog is a selection of my photos, anecdotes, and character sketches that portray some of the dedicated employees I was privileged to work with from 2010-2019.

As a manager, filmmaker, and storyteller, I felt it was my duty to document and dignify some of the people I came to know, their jobs, and their unique lives - On the Clock at Lincoln Center.

My Road to Lincoln Center

In May 2000, I left my home in London for a new home in New York City, driven by a dream to make a feature film that would launch my career as a writer and director. Drawn to stories of underdogs and unsung heroes, I wanted to be the voice of the unheard.

By July 2010, after working on countless independent films, I needed a job to cover my rent while fundraising for a feature film that I would direct. Lincoln Center suddenly came to mind, and on a whim, I checked their job openings. I found a position that seemed perfect: Facility Assistant/Visitor’s Service Representative, 20 hours a week. I applied on a Monday and to my surprise received a call the very next day—Lincoln Center wanted to interview me.

In August 2010, I began working at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. What started as a part-time job quickly evolved. Over the next nine years, I moved through various roles: Facility Manager, Senior Manager of Operations & Facility Services, and Assistant Director of Operations & Facilities. By December 2019, I became the Director of Facilities, Operations at The Juilliard School, a premier performing arts academy and a Lincoln Center constituent.

During my fourteen years at Lincoln Center’s 16-acre campus, I forged meaningful friendships, cultivated relationships, and developed a love for the community, especially within the facilities and operations teams.

At Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera, New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, Chamber Music Society, The Juilliard School, The David Rubenstein Atrium, and Lincoln Center Summer Stages put on an estimated 1500 performances per year for over 5 million visitors. Behind the scenes, before, during, and after these performances, a secret army of shadow workers—electricians, carpenters, security guards, porters, cleaners, custodians, maids, engineers, and painters—prepare, maintain, and clean up, often long after the last curtain call.

This dedicated group scours countless toilet bowls, replaces thousands of light bulbs, catches and disposes of stubborn pests, squeegees hundreds of panes of glass, makes snow magically disappear, keeps the Revson Fountain spouting like clockwork, and deters drunk students from diving into it. They remove the hair brushes that clog toilets in Juilliard dormitories, provide School of American Ballet students with air purifiers, repaint concert halls, replace hand sanitizers, disinfect doorknobs, and work overnight shifts and on public holidays to scrub and mop classrooms, dance studios, and restaurants, and handle all the unglamorous tasks that maintain the standard of excellence required of the world's leading performing arts center. These efforts are largely invisible to and unrecognized by the patrons focused on the stage, but their purpose is to provide those patrons with a splendid night of entertainment at world-class facilities.

**Revson Fountain and Metropolitan Opera**

For some operations employees at Lincoln Center, this may be the only job they hold in the United States. Many are immigrants of color, adjusting to life in a new country where English is not their first language. Some of these dedicated individuals work multiple jobs to support their families. These anonymous workers have never stood in the spotlight, received a round of applause, caught a bouquet of flowers, or been asked for an autograph, yet after their shifts they return home with a sense of fulfillment, satisfied to have completed their tasks and eager to return the next day to do it all over again.

Paul Milstein Reflecting Pool and Henry Moore *Reclining Figure*

Their decades of unwavering commitment have forged personal legacies of exceptional service at Lincoln Center, an institution that embodies a welcoming community for those devoted to its mission. These silent pillars are the backbone of the performing arts, blending resilience with dignity as they ensure the Lincoln Center campus runs smoothly. They are often unseen but always essential.