From Dreaming to Directing: Paloma Estévez’s Path to the Lincoln Center

I saw this incredible place, and I said: “I want to work there…”

Paloma Estévez always dreamed big, until today becoming the Director of Artistic Programming at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, not an easy thing to accomplish.

“I applied to Lincoln Center about seven times, they never called me, never anything, but it was me, one of my dreams since I visited New York when I was very little and saw this incredible place,” says Estévez.

She arrived in New York in 2016 to study a master’s degree in Theater Management and Production at Columbia University, and since then this has been her home.

“Sometimes cold, sometimes a little hungry, sometimes a little brokebut that passion never left, and like that internal spark, which I think New York, keeps you young and keeps you alive within what you want to do, the things you dream of and that it is possible to do here,” he adds.

After completing his master’s degree, and knocking on several doors, and even getting to work at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, his true dream comes.

“I always say that if the performing arts If they were a religion, which they are a little bit, Lincoln Center would be the Vatican, like the epicenter”, explains Paloma Estévez.

She began her career in Santiago, Chile, where for more than a decade she was in charge of theater companies, as well as a wide range of cultural events and festivals, because despite the fact that she dreamed of being an actress, she realized what her passion was. true vocation.

“I realized very quickly, that the artists needed support, that there was a need for a role behind the scenes, and that he had to organize things, and that there was also a need to generate public policies that promote culture in Latin America”, he indicates.

Estévez is an essential member of the Lincoln Center programming team, since he is in charge of the festival Summer for the Citywhich has 300 artistic shows and is enjoyed by thousands of New Yorkers every summer.

In addition, she says she is proud to be part of an equitable and inclusive team, since most of the seats at Lincoln Center are led by women.

“I feel honored, and I feel part of a group of women, who are passionate, very professional, and I feel that my female colleagues also raise my standard of excellence, that is, I am inspired every day,” Estévez ends by saying.