It is no surprise that Erika Elliott, the executive artistic director at SummerStage, celebrates New York through music. “There’s this cathartic, exciting and energetic feeling in an all-green public space when the audience and the artist and the stage all come together.”The music festival, run by the City Parks Foundation, started in 1986. This summer there are nearly 80 SummerStage shows in 13 parks across the city. The season, which started on June 3 with a performance by the band Hippo Campus in Central Park, ends Oct. 2 in Coney Island with the Yeshiva Boys Choir. In between are some standout superstars: Grandmaster Flash in Crotona Park; Tanya Tucker in Central Park; and Grand Wizzard Theodore and Monie Love, who are part of the festival’s 50th Anniversary of Hip-Hop celebration.

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Persons: Erika Elliott, “, ”, Elliott, Grandmaster Flash, Tanya Tucker, Theodore, Monie Love, Estarlin Trejo, Ethan, Ellie Organizations: SummerStage, City Parks Foundation, Yeshiva Boys, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center Locations: New York, California, Central Park, Coney Island, Crotona, Mott Haven, Bronx