The initial plan, hatched in the mind of Ben, a Julliard PHD candidate, was to mic check the Opera, but we were found out. We went to plan B: an Assembly outside of the doors of the opera just after it ended. When we arrived, Our group was far outnumbered by NYPD who had two paddywagons parked on Broadway. They ushered us into a pen which we loudly occupied. Many of us told our stories about student debt, and dealing with a culture controlled by the 1%. Some spoke more specifically about Julliard. We chanted “Off the Stage and Into the Streets” which provoked the Opera-goers who had just seen students protests onstage and seemed to find it troubling to be met by a real one. Some smiled, and the librettist finally joined us on our sides of the barricades. Then we marched to Lincoln Center and stood nose to nose with a line of cops preventing us to enter. We loudly discussed David H. Koch’s donations to Lincoln Center until the police and Lincoln Center manager were forced to evict us from the steps. 

The Juilliard School has commissioned
an opera about the history of international
student uprisings and protest. This is a world-
premiere, all the big press will be there to witness
the IMAGE of protests PAST.

Let’s show the 1% that the student movement
is not a thing of the past, but an urgent REALITY.

And that the worldwide movement for economic justice
is Here and here to stay!

This is a chance to highlight the reasons that students 
are a big part of OWS.

Since 1978 the cost of college tuition 
in America has increased by 900%.
As a result, college students are
graduating on average with 
$25,000 in outstanding loans.

This is also an experiment to connect “high art”
sponsored by such 1% as the Kock Brothers
to the urgency of the moment
on OUR streets!