Right now, members of the Joyce Theater are keeping their fingers crossed that the sky will be clear tonight, when they are scheduled to present the first of several free evenings of dance in Battery Park. In the long term, however, more than uncertain weather is hanging over the Joyce’s future downtown.

Five years after the attacks of September 11, 2001, the planned performing arts center at ground zero is without either institutional leadership or a fund-raising campaign. The Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, which until recently was overseeing the cultural development at the site, is closing its doors soon. The impetus for a cultural component at ground zero emerged from a public outreach campaign sponsored by the development corporation in the wake of the attacks. A performing arts center was part of the winning design for the site by the architect Daniel Libeskind.

While the city has indicated that it will play a role in overseeing construction of the center, it hasn’t specified what that role will be. This leaves the arts groups chosen to occupy the center — the Joyce and the Signature Theatre Company — in the dark about when it will actually be built.

The performance tonight in Battery Park launches a five-day series of free events that the development corporation and River to River Festival are calling “Arts on the Horizon,” because they highlight institutions with theoretical future homes downtown. On Saturday evening, the Signature will present “August Wilson and the Blues,” a tribute that focuses on the influence of blues on the late playwright’s oeuvre. On Saturday afternoon, the Drawing Center will hold a participatory event called “The Big Draw.” (The Drawing Center was originally part of the plan for the World Trade Center site, but it withdrew after Governor Pataki demanded a pledge from it and the International Freedom Center that they would present nothing that denigrated America or the heroes of September 11. The Drawing Center is currently pursuing a location at the South Street Seaport.)

But the leadership, funding, and schedule for the construction of the performing arts center remain up in the air.

This much is known: The center will be designed by the world-renowned architect Frank Gehry and is to include a 1,000-seat theater for the Joyce and several theaters of varying sizes for the Signature.

No final budget or design has been publicly announced. The development corporation has committed $50 million to the construction, but the budget will certainly surpass that. (Mr. Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles cost $274 million.) The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation has made grants of $1.2 million each to the Joyce and the Signature to support their move downtown, grants that each institution is supposed to match within three years.

The task of raising the rest of the money is assigned to the World Trade Center Memorial Foundation. The foundation is focusing its efforts now on raising money for the World Trade Center Memorial and Museum, which are scheduled to open in September 2009.

The acting president of the foundation, Joseph Daniels, said the foundation’s board decided in July 2005, to split the general fundraising campaign into two phases, the first for the memorial and museum and, when that is completed, the second for the performing arts center. “The underlying rationale for splitting this up into two phases was to make sure we concentrate on the memorial and the museum first,” Mr. Daniels said. “Where we are now is, we’ve got $170 million to raise for this museum, and that’s certainly where our fund raising is focused.”

The president of the development corporation, Stefan Pryor, said while no budget has been announced, the corporation has its own number that it is working with internally.As for the state of the design, he said that the Gehry team has done some design work and that the corporation has done “extensive work” to design the below-ground component of the site.

Last November, Mr. Pryor announced a search for a director for the center. Asked if the search had fallen between the cracks, Mr. Pryor said: “I wouldn’t say that. I would say that we have chosen a direction, which is that the city of New York will be leading the efforts to create the performing arts center. The city will be determining the staffing structure and the staff members to conduct that work.” Since the development corporation announced that it was closing down, he explained, the city “in discussions with us made the determination that they will spearhead the effort.”

Official comments have been less clear. Deputy Mayor Daniel Doctoroff has said the city would be the best group to oversee the performing arts center, and suggested that, because the Memorial Foundation is focused on the memorial, an additional fund-raising organization should be set up. But last week, Mr. Doctoroff’s office referred calls to the New York City Cultural Commissioner, Kate Levin, who would not elaborate on the city’s role beyond saying “the City is committed to seeing that the cultural components of the site are fulfilled.”

The directors of the Joyce and the Signature both declined to comment.