More than 100 parks permits have been approved for Make Music New York and are now listed on our website.

Boy Problems, photo by Ervin Gaviria, MMNY 2008

These amazing park locations are open to everyone on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register at makemusicny.org/participate so you can spend Thursday, June 21st making music in the park!

Note that access to electricity in parks is not provided, so be prepared to perform “unplugged” or to bring your own power source.

If you’re a musician who needs a space that provides electricity, a sidewalk location could be a better choice. Hundreds of sidewalks outside of businesses and libraries are going online in the next week for you to choose. You can also create your own location on nearly any sidewalk you’d like, once you register — email ethan@makemusicny.org if you have questions.

Once again, registration ends April 21st.

Block Parties

Cornelia Street block party, photo by Peter Matthews, MMNY '08

Each year for Make Music New York, dozens of community groups have put together musical block parties, bringing their neighbors together for Cuban jazz, electronic Gameboy music, indie rock, steel pans, hip hop, and string orchestras in streets across the city.

This year, why not your block?

To help you throw a party on your street, we’ve put together a helpful handbook, updated for 2012.

Download it here: MMNY Block Party Handbook (pdf)

Block party applications are due by March 21st to be considered for an event in June. If you’re interested in having a block party, read the handbook and contact us this week! Email ethan@makemusicny.org to get started.

Parks

In about a week, we will list over 100 New York City parks on our website for musicians and organizations to use for Make Music New York. These spaces are first come, first served — if you’re a musician who wants to perform in a park, register today, and we will send you an email as soon as the parks go live on the website.

In the meantime, please don’t use the “Create your own location” tool to register a park — only the parks we put up can be permitted for Make Music New York. (If you want to create a space on a sidewalk, plaza, garden, or closed-off street… that can work!)

EMEFE at The Winery (Harlem), MMNY 2012

Multiple Venues

Lots of MMNY locations are managed by Business Improvement Districts, library systems, and other groups that oversee multiple outdoor locations. We are working on a tool right now to allow these groups to register all of their locations at once on our website. If you have more than three locations and are interested in having an account that lets you manage them all at once, email aaron@makemusicny.org.

Volunteering

Right now, we need volunteers to help organize MMNY in neighborhoods throughout the city, and to make phone calls to musicians from our Astor Place office. Email makemusicny@gmail.com if you’d like to join us.

More than 100 parks permits have been approved for Make Music New York and are now listed on the Make Music NY website.

These amazing park locations are open to everyone on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register at makemusicny.org/participate so you can spend Tuesday, June 21st making music in the park!

And once again this year, thanks to Sing For Hope’s remarkable initiative, 18 of these parks will have tuned upright pianos on June 21st, just sitting there, waiting for you to play. Piano locations are listed on the website, and priority will be given to groups who can make good use of them. (Many more Sing For Hope piano locations are on the way!)

Note that access to electricity in parks is not guaranteed, so be prepared to perform “unplugged” or to bring your own power source.

If you’re a musician who needs a space that provides electricity, a sidewalk location could be a better choice. Dozens of sidewalks, over 50 spots outside of libraries, and many more pianos are going online in the next few days for you to choose. You can also create your own location on nearly any sidewalk you’d like — email jackson@makemusicny.org for details.

Once again, registration ends April 21st.

More than 100 parks permits have been approved for Make Music New York and are now listed on the Make Music NY website.

These amazing park locations are open to everyone on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register at timeoutnewyork.com/makemusic so you can spend Monday, June 21st making music in the park!

And in a remarkable turn of events, 20 of these parks will have tuned upright pianos on June 21st, just sitting there, waiting for you to play. Piano locations are listed on the website, and priority will be given to groups who can make good use of them.

Stay tuned for an official announcement of what this is all about, and who is making this possible.

Note that access to electricity in parks is not guaranteed, so be prepared to perform “unplugged” or to bring your own power source.

If you’re a musician who needs a space that provides electricity, a sidewalk location could be a better choice. Just choose a sidewalk entry on the website and click “Request this Location” (or create your own).

Once again, registration ends April 21st.

On our website about two weeks ago, we started listing the NYC parks that are available for MMNY musicians this year. As you might guess, the City’s “Flagship Parks,” like Central Park and Battery Park, got a lot of requests.

But the most popular parks among musicians, for the second straight year, are spaces you might never have heard of: Bleecker Playground and Abe Lebewohl Park.

Most Requested Parks, MMNY 2009
(as of 4/14/09)

Bleecker Playground    10
Abe Lebewohl    9
Central Park: Wollman Rink Terrace    8
Brooklyn Bridge    8
Battery Park: Castle Clinton    7
SoHo Square    5
Astoria Park    5
DeSalvio Playground    5
Minetta Triangle    5
Battery Park: Battery Place and State St.    4
Central Park: Stranger’s Gate    4
First Park    4
Sakura Park    4
Sheridan Triangle    4
City Hall Park    3
Dag Hammarskjold: First Avenue Plaza    3
McCarren Christmas Tree Area    3

Meanwhile, about 25 parks that we used last year still haven’t been requested at all. If someone snagged Bleecker Playground before you could, think about some other parks that could work. (Or better yet, set up on a sidewalk where you can get access to electricity!)

Over 75 parks permits have been approved for Make Music New York and are now listed on the Make Music NY website.

These amazing park locations are open to everyone on a first-come, first-served basis. Please register at timeoutnewyork.com/makemusic so you can spend Sunday, June 21st making music in the park!

Note that access to electricity in parks is not guaranteed, so be prepared to perform “unplugged” or to bring your own power source.

If you’re a musician who needs a space that provides electricity, a sidewalk location could be a better choice. Just choose a sidewalk entry on the website and click “Request this Location” (or create your own).

Once again, registration ends April 24th.

(Photo of “Boy Problems” in McCarren Park by Ervin Gaviria)

Make Music New York is open to every musician, in every neighborhood.

Really.

New York City has 12,000 miles of sidewalks, almost all of which can be used for MMNY.

If you’re having trouble finding the perfect spot for your music on our website, sign in and click on the link to Create Your Own Performance!

But first — please read the following guidelines carefully.

(1) A lot of musicians are requesting Washington Square Park — if you’ve been there lately, you know that most of it is under construction, and is not going to work. We don’t want you to be competing with the sound of bulldozers (unless that’s your thing). Choose places where you spend time already, places that you know and love.

(2) If there’s already a space that’s filled (like Governors Island), don’t create an entry for Governors Island and try to play there. It won’t work. Your request will be denied.

(3) Some marquee locations — Bryant Park, Prospect Park, Radio City Music Hall, Lincoln Center, and others — are impossible to get for June 21st. We tried our best, but couldn’t secure them. You won’t be able to, either.

(4) Because you are responsible for your own electricity, we ask artists who need amplification to perform in places where they have a personal connection — in front of a friend’s store, for instance, or in front of their own apartment. This should make it easy to run an extension cord out to the sidewalk. When you propose a space like this, include a note to us explaining your connection to the space, and who you’re working with. That will speed up the confirmation process considerably.

(5) Do not create a block party as your location, unless you have gotten the permits already. Do not create a NYC park location — all available parks are already listed on the website.

(6) Finally, do not create more than two locations where you propose to perform. We will look over the first two that you submit, and ignore the others. Choose wisely!