The City Opens Its Doors
There are certain moments that only make sense in New York: a student hearing a Broadway orchestra tune for the first time, a family stepping into Lincoln Center after years of walking past it, or a teenager from the Bronx arguing passionately about Yankees’ batting averages on a subway ride home after a game.
This June, many of the institutions that shape those moments are coming together for something larger.
Situation Project’s first-ever virtual auction, Only in NY, brings together organizations across sports, entertainment, media, and culture to support access to arts experiences for students and families throughout the city. In partnership with Charitybuzz, the month-long campaign will feature one-of-a-kind experiences donated by some of New York’s most recognizable names, with all proceeds supporting Situation Project programming.
When Summer Access Shrinks
For many young people, summer creates a different rhythm in the city. Schools close, routines shift, and access to arts programming often narrows at the exact moment students have the most unstructured time.
That loss is not always visible from the outside. New York is filled with theaters, museums, stadiums, and performance spaces, but proximity does not automatically create access. Cost remains a barrier, as does awareness of what is available and who feels welcomed into those spaces.
Situation Project has spent more than a decade working within that gap, connecting students and families to live arts and cultural experiences throughout New York City. Since its founding, the organization has supported more than 100,000 students and families in attending performances and events, often for the first time.
Summer programming becomes especially important because it gives students something tangible to anticipate and carry with them into the next school year. A ticket can become a memory, but it can also become a story shared back in the classroom, a new interest pursued later, or a feeling of familiarity in a space that once felt distant.
Building the Greatest Auction in New York
Only in NY is designed around the idea that New York’s cultural identity is strongest when it is shared.
Throughout June, experiences donated by institutions including the Yankees, the Metropolitan Opera, Disney, and Broadway partners will be auctioned online through Charitybuzz. Some experiences place bidders inside rooms and spaces typically reserved for insiders: backstage access, premium seats, exclusive tours and merchandise, and opportunities that reflect the texture of the city itself.
Every bid directly supports Situation Project’s ongoing programming, helping fund arts access initiatives for students and families across the five boroughs. The campaign also creates a visible moment of alignment between organizations that do not always occupy the same space publicly but collectively shape the cultural landscape of New York.
“What do the Yankees, the Met Opera, and Disney have in common?” the campaign asks. “For the first time, they are all part of something this city is doing together this June.”
That sense of collective investment matters. It reinforces the idea that access to culture is not the responsibility of a single institution, but a shared commitment across the city.
A City Reflected Back
“NYC is the greatest city in the world,” said Damian Bazadona, President and Founder of Situation Interactive and Situation Project. “And this is a moment for the incredible people and places that make NYC, NYC, to come together to create amazing one-of-a-kind experiences for our community and beyond. That’s everything that makes Situation Project’s heart beat.”
The phrase “Only in NY” resonates because it captures something recognizable to anyone who has spent time moving through the city: the collision of worlds that happens here every day. Sports fans, theatergoers, tourists, students, artists, commuters. Different institutions, different audiences, all sharing the same streets and trains and neighborhoods.
The auction leans into that overlap. A Broadway fan may find themselves bidding on a sports experience. A Yankees supporter may discover a backstage arts opportunity they had never considered before. The campaign reflects the city back to itself, showing how interconnected its cultural life already is.
And for students, that interconnectedness matters. Exposure to one form of culture often opens the door to another. A student who sees a Broadway show may later attend a museum. A young person who visits Lincoln Center may begin imagining themselves in creative spaces they once thought belonged to someone else.
The point is not to prescribe one path. It is to widen the field of possibility.
Beyond a Single Bid
Auctions are often framed around rarity. The one-of-a-kind experience, the impossible-to-get ticket, the insider moment. Only in NY certainly offers those things. But underneath the campaign is a more practical goal: sustaining access during a time of year when many students have fewer opportunities to engage with arts and cultural programming.
That support extends beyond a single summer. The experiences funded through Situation Project’s work continue throughout the year, reaching students who may never have left their neighborhoods to attend a performance or event otherwise.
The organizations participating in Only in NY are contributing experiences, but they are also contributing visibility. They are signaling that access to culture belongs at the center of how New York defines itself.
And perhaps that is what makes the campaign feel distinctly local. In a city built on crowds, movement, and shared public experience, the arts are not separate from civic life. They are part of it.
The City, Shared
By the end of June, winning bidders will walk away with unforgettable experiences including nights at the theater, moments behind the scenes, and memories tied to the places people travel across continents to see.
But somewhere else in the city, a student may be boarding a subway for their first Broadway show. A family may be entering a performance space they once assumed was inaccessible. A young person may be discovering a part of New York that suddenly feels closer than before.
Only in NY is built on the idea that the city’s greatest experiences become more meaningful when more people can see themselves inside them.
And this June, New York is opening the doors a little wider.
