Creative Stage Collective announced today that founder Madeline Bender has been selected as a 2026 New Yorker for New York Honoree as part of CitizensNYC’s annual gala, set for The Lighthouse at Chelsea Piers on June 1, 2026 starting at 6pm. For more information, please visit https://www.citizensnyc.org/gala/.

The annual gala celebrates community-led change and raises critical funds to support grassroots leaders across all five boroughs.

The leaders they fund are the ones organizing food distributions, youth mentorship, climate resilience projects, community gardens, neighborhood cleanups, and school-based initiatives that keep communities strong. They’re small business owners and block captains, parent organizers and volunteers—neighbors solving problems where they live.

Madeline Bender has had a rich career as an international opera singer, as well as a writer, director, and producer, specializing in devising original work with multigenerational, multidisciplinary groups. She is the founder and director of Creative Stage Collective, a multigenerational theater troupe that creates originally devised works for public audiences, and has led numerous productions at Symphony Space, collaborating with artists from Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera, Jazz at Lincoln Center, television and streaming platforms, and feature films. She developed Musical Madlibs for Carnegie Hall Fall Family Day and Instrumental Storytellers in collaboration with Concert Artists Guild. As a performer, she has worked with leading directors including Sir Peter Hall, Robert Wilson, and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, with highlights including the New York Philharmonic, La Monnaie (the Royal Opera House in Brussels), Le Châtelet in Paris, and Glyndebourne Festival Opera. A passionate arts educator, she founded the Creative Stage Education Company and developed the Creative Stage method, integrating music, theater, dance, and storytelling. She is also a founding member of the Electric Ladybug Garden and leads its Gardening Committee.