Please join the fun! If you are a musician or vocalist, look on our website for the Perform/Host page, which launches in late March each year, and sign up as a “Performer.” Create your unique profile, including music samples, photos and social media tags to make it easy for interested host venues to learn all about you and your music. Then begin your search to connect with hundreds of participating venues, including parks, community gardens, plazas, libraries, shopfronts and other outdoor hot spots. Creating your profile is free, fun and easy. Within minutes, you will have access to the Make Music New York database to help you find your perfect match. Also, be sure to sign up to receive Make Music New York e-newsletters on our website homepage to receive the very latest updates and other important information.

While you are making your plans, remember that Make Music New York is not a traditional festival, and most locations are not traditional music venues. Not every location will be able to provide power, and in most situations you — the artist — will be responsible for bringing your own equipment (such as amps, mics, and whatever else you need in addition to your instrument). We also welcome and encourage artists to create their own performance locations — just keep reading below…

Absolutely! You are welcome to create multiple Venue profiles if you would like to host concerts in more than one location. And, if you play in more than one ensemble, or are curating a performance with multiple bands, you can create profiles for each one. Just be certain to create a separate profile for each location and each artist, so that each one can be officially matched in our database and included in our marketing and promotional campaigns.

We also welcome and encourage host venues to register their own artists — just read the section above!

In a variety of outdoor spaces.

DOT Plazas and Open Streets: Make Music New York secures permits for many dozens of plazas and Open Streets managed by DOT and their partners, with an emphasis on underserved communities. These make for outstanding performance possibilities!

Sidewalks: Most musicians perform on NYC’s 12,000 miles of sidewalks. Make Music New York will secure the neessary permits from the City so that musicians don’t have to deal with the paperwork or pay the fees. If you have a rock band, and you want to set up outside your building and play for your neighbors, we can help make that happen. If you want to perform Bach’s cello suites outside your friend’s convenience store, you can do that, too. Almost anything is possible. To use a sidewalk, you must leave a 5-foot wide path for passers-by, between your concert and the curb. Just be sure to choose a space that gives you the room you need.

Parks: Make Music New York secures permits for nearly 100 NYC park locations in all five boroughs for the June 21st concerts. These locations are made available on our website and assigned on a first-come-first-served basis. If you don’t see the park you’re looking for, it is likely already booked, unavailable to us, or the permit is still pending. Bear in mind that concerts in parks can run a maximum of 4 hours and that some parks do not permit amplified sound (as indicate in the venue profile). Note that many parks do not allow amplified sound, so these tend to work best for acoustic concerts.

Community Gardens and Office Plazas: Some public spaces are privately controlled by community groups, management companies, or individuals. These can be fantastic performance locations, quiet yet accessible. People who control these spaces will make them available as venues on the matchmaking website.

Streets: Dozens of community organizations close off streets around the city for block party concerts. If your group wishes to produce a concert in the street this coming June, you must file an application with your local community board by mid-May, 2021 For more details, download our guide, “How To Apply For a Make Music New York Block Party” (pdf). Before submitting an application, please email us at info@makemusicny.org, and briefly describe your plans, so that we can coordinate your event with others in the neighborhood.

Other Spaces: If you want to use some other kind of outdoor location — such as a cemetery, bridge, subway platform, pier, or ferry — send an email to info@makemusicny.org with a detailed description of what you want to do, and who you have already spoken to at the location. We make no promises, but we’ll see what we can do.

Due to the many logistics of permitting and marketing, Make Music New York does not schedule a Rain Day. If it does rain on June 21st, we encourage all performers and venues to persevere and adapt as needed. Perhaps you can switch around performance times to find a window when the weather improves. Or concerts planned to take place on a sidewalk can be moved under an awning or inside a building lobby or shop. If you do have to perform indoors, just do what you can to open a door or window to fill the streets with audible music! Host venues are encouraged to include their plans in the event of rain when they create their profiles. (But it won’t rain!)

Make Music New York does not typically pay musicians — nor do musicians pay us. The ethos of the festival is the celebrate the amazing talents of NYC musicians and to activate NYC’s shared outdoor spaces. That said, performers and venues are welcome to make any financial arrangements they wish between themselves, as long as the concerts are outdoors, free and open to the public to enjoy.

Make Music New York takes care of all the “backstage” logistics so that musicians can focus on their performance without worry and enjoy the unique experience of playing outdoors for their fellow New Yorkers. We pay and secure all requisite permits required by the City of New York, manage the matchmaking database, assist to coordinate artists and locations in neighborhoods citywide; and market and publicize the day.

Make Music New York is not a typical music festival. There are some high-profile venues and renowned artists do occasionally join in the fun, but the true spirit of Make Music New York is that of a holiday: people getting together in their own neighborhoods, creating their own musical celebrations in a do-it-yourself fashion.

Performers and host venues collaborate to produce the concerts, find electricity, and provide whatever equipment is needed.

Make Music New York provides the framework and helps facilitate the creation of concerts — the rest is up to you! Artists and locations are responsible for producing their own concerts. This includes finding electricity, and providing whatever equipment is needed.

Unlike most music festivals:

New York City itself is your stage; we do not construct or provide staging. Performances generally take place at the same level as the audience, keeping them intimate and interactive affairs.

You have complete artistic control. It’s your concert. If you want to perform with a different guitarist than previously announced, or take an extended 20 minute jazz bass solo, you don’t have to ask our permission!

Anyone and everyone can take part. From professionals to amateurs, from the mainstream to the unfashionably bizarre — if you can find a workable spot for your performance, you can be part of Make Music New York!

In NYC, no loud or amplified sound is allowed after 10pm. Many areas, such as public parks, will have an earlier curfew of 8pm or 9pm. Also, concerts in parks are limited to a maximum of 4 hours and some require acoustic-only concert.

If your music is unamplified (acoustic, no PA or amps), musicians can perform outside until 10pm. If it is amplified, it depends on your performance location. As a general rule, amplified performances can go until 9pm. Some neighborhoods cut off sound permits at 8pm; others can go until 10pm; and in some areas, it depends on exactly where the concert will be. Play close attention to the time slots and curfews that are included on the venue profile, and plan accordingly.

NYC parks are limited to a maximum of 4 hours and some require acoustic-only concert; other spaces can go all day.

Within these guidelines as set by the City of New York, your performance can go as long as you want.

Dozens of community organizations close off streets around the city for block party concerts. If your group wishes to produce a concert in the street, you must file an application with your local community board by April 15th. For more details, download our guide, “How To Apply For a Make Music New York Block Party” (pdf). Before submitting an application, please email us at info@makemusicny.org and briefly describe your plans, so that we can coordinate your event with others in the area.

Join one of our “Mass Appeal” concerts! We are organizing hundreds of musicians to band together to perform massive pieces written for a single type of instrument, from guitars to harmonicas to mandolins. Each concert works differently, depending on the genre, the instrument and the location.

To learn more about Mass Appeal concerts taking place on June 21st, be sure to sign up to receive the Make Music New York newsletter from our Contact page.

Each artist should create their own unique Performer profile, as outlined above in the FAQ section “I want to perform in Make Music New York. What do I do?” This is important, because we need individual artist information to properly market and track your concert! Then, each of the musicians can individually match themselves to the same host venue location in different time slots. If the entire program has a particular theme or title, include that in the venue’s description box.

We list all concerts on the Make Music New York website (with descriptions and artist websites). Many media partners also help to spread the word. We pitch stories about concerts to the media to secure as much attention as possible (peruse the many features on our media page).

At the same time, we count on musicians and venues to promote their own shows in any and all ways that make sense — sending out email blasts, putting notices on websites, calling up all of their friends, etc. Everyone who signs up to participate on our matchmaking website are given the chance to describe what they will do for promotion.

As a performer, once your event is confirmed by your chosen host venue and by Make Music New York, we will reserve your performance slot and pay for your permits, so we are counting on you to perform! If you do need to cancel, we ask that you find another performer to take your spot. Please also let your host venue – and us – know about all program changes ASAP.

Musicians are not permitted to solicit donations, nor can Make Music New York provide the permits needed to allow vending at your concert. On the other hand, musicians are encouraged to pass out fliers to promote their upcoming shows and recordings, ask listeners to sign their mailing list and generally promote themselves and make new fans.

As our name suggests, Make Music New York makes music in NYC! We are empowered to coordinate permits and promotions to cover concerts taking place only in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and Staten Island. However, there are Make Music Day concerts that take place all over the world on June 21st, and you are welcome to perform wherever you wish.