Behind-the-Scenes: 92Y Director of Lectures Susan Engel on the ‘Real New York Center’

92Y director of lectures Susan Engel shares a story of the Y’s first-ever celebrity guest, which launched what we know today as its world-class talks program, and reveals what’s in store for the future.

On a Tuesday evening earlier this month, a diverse group ranging from single 20- and 30-somethings to couples and seniors squeezed into the 110-capacity Buttenweiser Center at the 92Y for a talk with Emmy Award-winning Randy Cohen and actress Julianne Moore.  Tonight, celebrated chef René Redzepi and “Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi will take the same stage to discuss food and the creative process to a sold-out theater.

Susan Engel, director of lectures at 92Y

Many celebrities, including actors like Moore and food-world celebs like Redzepi and Lakshmi, along with well-known musicians, artists, scholars and politicians, make their way to the 92Y for candid interviews, whether it’s to promote a new movie or book or simply to discuss interesting ideas.

“We’re seen as a stop on the way to winning the Oscars. Many times, we preview [a] film with the director before it comes out,” says Susan Engel, the 92Y director of lectures, who sits in her modest fourth-floor office wearing a muted red blazer. 92Y’s signature movie series, Reel Pieces, has been bringing audiences the best in film for more than 25 years and routinely sells out the center’s 900+ seat Kauffmann concert Hall – usually before the guests are even announced

As Engel speaks, her iPhone chimes a couple of times and email alerts and reminders pop up on her desktop, but she continues. “I started out organizing adult education classes in 1982. They were singles’ events. It was a very different Y,” she says of her first years at 92Y, when she worked in the nonprofit’s Adult Division.

Engel spent the last three decades developing the 92Y talks program into what it is today. “In 1984, my first guest was Dustin Hoffman. That was one of the biggest names to come to the Y,” she says. “We saw the thrill of having a celebrity and we then started to look at other areas to develop with the talks.”

Since then, the 92Y has seen more than 40 Nobel laureates grace its stage along with a wide range of speakers, including Woody Allen, Bill Clinton, Mos Def, Marc Jacobs, Isamu Noguchi, Elie Wiesel and Martha Stewart.

Today, the 92Y offers lectures and conversations on dozens of different topics, from art lectures and music talks to politics and big ideas such as the science of morality.

For each developed talk series, Engel connects with an expert in the field to round out a well-curated calendar of speakers. For example, director of undergraduate film studies at Columbia University Annette Insdorf lends her expertise to “Reel Pieces” and is also a well-versed moderator for each film conversation.

Fashion industry leader Fern Mallis developed Fashion Icons, a series that has brought designers Tom Ford, Donna Karen, Marc Jacobs and Calvin Klein to the stage. This winter, Mallis sits with leading American designer Kenneth Cole for a discussion and screening of a new HBO documentary, The Battle of amfAR.

And there are even more lectures that are not part of any particular series but curated with the expertise of the 92Y staff.

“We consider ourselves a real New York center,” Engel says. “The talks program to me is really the epitome of the best of who we are as a community and cultural center. It combines bringing different communities together of varying interests [with] expanding minds, enriching lives and educating.”

With anywhere from 180 to 200 evening talks planned each year, this world-class institution attracts more than 300,000 New Yorkers and visitors annually, but Engel has her sights set even higher.

“We’re soon to approach our 140th birthday…. It’s a very auspicious occasion here, so it’s a good time to reflect,” she says. “The future is really just going bigger, broader and better. We do a lot…but we need to keep up that level, so that’s always a challenge. We want to develop in new areas.”

View upcoming lectures and conversations at 92Y by clicking here.

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