David Bowie picks lineup for new NYC arts festival, including Ricky Gervais and The Arcade Fire

NEW YORK -- David Bowie has selected comedian Ricky Gervais and The Arcade Fire, among other acts, to perform at the inaugural High Line Festival in Manhattan.

The festival will include music, performance, film, comedy and visual art. It will be held May 9 to 19 in venues near the High Line, an elevated rail structure on the city's west side, with events also to be held at Radio City Music Hall and Irving Plaza.

A portion of the proceeds will go to benefit Friends of the High Line, an organization working with the city to transform the 1930s rail structure into a park.

Bowie, a co-founder of the festival, is the curator of this year's event.

"The request was for me to choose artists and acts that I myself would go out of my way to see," the 60-year-old rocker said in a statement. "Although this inaugural year will be modest in scale, we've been lucky in that many whom I asked have accepted."

Also set to appear: The Polyphonic Spree, Air, Deerhoof, The Secret Machines, Laurie Anderson and 87-year-old spoken-word poet Ken Nordine.

Bowie has selected 10 of his favorite Spanish-language films to be shown at the festival.