Central Park a three-part documentary series slated for national broadcast on PBS, will tell the epic story of how and why one of America’s most treasured, iconic landmarks came to be created, and how, for over 170 years, through many ups and downs, it has evolved and endured. An artistic masterpiece and an enormously ambitious work of public infrastructure, the park was created in the mid-19th century when New York’s leaders made the extraordinary decision to set aside more than 800 acres in the nation’s most expensive real estate market, so that it could – at great cost – be turned into a park for the greater good of the public. To Central Park’s legendary designers, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, their magnificent creation was “a single work of art with a single noble purpose” and “democratic development of thehighest importance.”

For all its glory and influence, Central Park has a complex history that reflects many of the tensions – of race, ethnicity, sex, and class – that have shaped life in America from its founding. The series will follow the evolution of Central Park from its inception in the pre-Civil War period, through competing ideas about park use and controversies over encroachments in the 20th century, to its perilous decline during New York’s fiscal crisis of the 1970s, and finally, to its resurgence in the present day.

Central Park will be directed and produced by award-winning filmmaker Lynn Novick, whose body of work - more than 90 hours of acclaimed public television programming - has been recognized with multiple Emmys, Peabody and Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Awards. Collaborating with Novick will be veteran documentary producer Robin Espinola. The series is a production of Skiff Mountain Films and is expected to air on PBS in 2028.