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"First Night 2016" schedule is thin gruel
By Ron Newman on Sat, 12/05/2015 - 8:21am
Conventures has released a schedule for the event that it calls "First Night 2016".
It still has 7 pm fireworks on the Common, midnight fireworks on the harbor, a few organ and brass performances in Old South Church, and some bands and dancers performing outdoors in typically-freezing-cold Copley Square.
But that's about it. No family festival at the Hynes, no movies, no anime, no comedy, no improv, no ballet, no classical music, no opera, no well-known bands, no experimental art. Leaving aside the Old South Church shows, the few other indoor events will happen in the Copley Place and Prudential shopping malls.
What was a "Grand Procession" stretching down Boylston Street from the Hynes to the Common is now just a "People's Procession" from Copley Square to the Common.
Should this still even be called First Night? For comparison, here are the schedules for previous years' events:
First Night 2012 -- run by the private First Night organization
First Night 2013 - the last event run by the private First Night organization (link is to archive.org, because the original schedule is password-protected for some reason)
First Night 2014 -- run by the city of Boston after the private First Night organization disbanded
First Night 2015 -- also run by the city
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Comments
Very Sad
Hynes was about the only place I went. (Well, the common too but I could only stand 20 minutes of the cold.) I thought it was awesome so much space was available to experimental/electronic/etc LOCAL artists. Sure these people preform elsewhere but on 1st night everyone was together in the same space. It was fun and surprisingly uncommercial and unique. It will be sorely missed.
Saw some great things at the Hynes too
My best memory of First Night at the Hynes was watching some great Scottish Highland dancing. Elsewhere: early Christmas Carols (really early...pre-medieval) at a Back Bay church. African Drumming and dancing (at the Y? don't recall where). A Harry Nilsson rock Opera, silent movies, and of course, bands in various locations.
When it was cold the indoor venues were a great refuge. I never gave a crap about the fireworks so stayed away. But there were definite alternatives if one wanted to skip the fireworks.
Bought the badge every year too. It was 10 bucks well spent.
Good times.
Art on the common??!!
I only went to the common, for the amazing creative technological art displays, then the parade, then fireworks.
If there's no art, there's no other reason to go, because the crowds suck, and meh fireworks in freezing wind? No.
That was called FIGMENT First Night
and it doesn't seem to be happening this year.
I doubt that Dusty Rhodes at Conventures understands the "Burner" community at all, who are the folks that made FIGMENT (and some of the Hynes art installations) happen for First Night 2014 and 2015.
It should have been called
FRIGID first night. The art was great (or at least fun) but man, standing on the Common on Dec 31st at night was cold!
There are actually several other reasons to go to the Common!!
"If there's no art, there's no other reason to go"....???
Huh? No other reason to go? I beg to differ!!!... I absolutely love taking the family to the Common, to experience all the wonderful things Liberal Boston has to offer....Like a good fix of some cheap meth-amphetamines, some delightful aroma of flowers mixed with urine from the bums and beggars...threats of violence from some "Black Lives Matter" punks (Thursday 5pm last week)...etc etc...
If you're really lucky (as I was the last time I walked through, on the way to Fenway,with my teenage daughter in May of this year), you'll get offered oral sex for just a few $$. (Really can't beat the offered price anywhere in MA).....And if you're REALLY fortunate, you'll get to witness a nice stabbing!
PLENTY of reasons to visit the Common!!!
(No subject)
This isn't First Night
First Night was originally started as an alternative to large, outdoor, Times Square style gatherings -- and you don't have to go far to find places where that still holds. The schedule for First Night Northampton has dozens of performances at more than twenty different venues. The contrast with the Boston event is unbelievably sad.
First Night Northampton link
Thanks for bringing that to our attention. Here's a link to First NIght Northampton. And this is for a city whose population is less than 30,000 people!
That bears repeating
"First Night was originally started as an alternative to large, outdoor, Times Square style gatherings"
That bears repeating. I am glad there are those like myself who remember that. At some point over the years First Night morphed into an ungainly thing with multitudes of people (mostly suburbanites and tourists) just hording in the streets of Copley square for no real reason except to ape Times Square, and all of this egged on by the local TV news media who grow increasingly desperate as they recede into irrelevancy. The alternative First Night of old t was forgotten about in all the bombast, as we do not live in an age of subtly.
Festival of the arts?
When I first lived in Boston, First Night was above all an arts festival. The city was filled with performances by local dance troupes in various venues - even modern dance in store windows along Newbury Street and in the Back Bay T station - by classical music groups from 'early' music to modern/experimental and by theater groups of all stripes. No stage/concert hall, from the smallest to the largest, was less than filled to capacity. I remember waiting in long lines in the freezing cold among big crowds to get into all the events - and dashing across the city to get from one to the next. It's been nothing like that for years: just ice sculptures, fireworks and a few family-friendly events similar to those you could find anywhere. It was the performing arts that made Boston's First Night unique, and for whatever reason that's all long gone. Very sad.
ahhhh yes
First Night, many moons ago. Was great back then - you could stroll down the street and just 'stumble upon' the most interesting things.
(No subject)
So what?
There is no more middle class, families or children left in Boston. Ask City Hall. There will be enough shenanigans going on that night anyway.
As the middle-class, married parent of a teenager in Boston ...
And a teenager whose class at a BPS high school is the largest in her school's history, I can safely say you don't know what you're talking about.
to be fair
you can have the largest class in gross numbers and have a particular demographic shrink as an overall percent of a population
that being said i dont have kids so i pay zero attention to those numbers in boston
why would this affect First Night?
I'm not understanding why you think this demographic change would affect the event.
That's Boston
So glad I decided to go to NYC this year for NYE! The last First Night was very disappointing seeing there was no well known artist last year and no DJ. I was hoping this year would be an improvement so I wouldn't have to travel and pay for my hotel room, but I'm not too surprised that didn't happen.
Last year had Yo La Tengo
a pretty well-known band.
If you're miserable
in Boston, then move to NYC (preferably Manhattan, or a small slice of Brooklyn, because these are the only real 'exciting' and hip parts of NYC; just make sure you have plenty of $). Problem solved. If you're going school here, transfer to a NYC based school.
Hearing some people whine about how Boston isn't NYC gets tired real fast.
I believe we're whining here
I believe we're whining here about how a wonderful thing that made Boston distinct and different has been blown to bits by organizers and city government who don't seem to understand it.
City ran 2013 First Night, I believe
http://www.cityofboston.gov/news/default.aspx?id=6400
Went to see Patti Smith that night, which was terrific, usually I leave the event to the folks from the suburbs, but it ought to continue on, arts in this city are important!
"First Night 2013" was on 12/31/2012
and was the last one run by the private non-profit First Night organization. The city ran the next two events.
The nomenclature for these events is a bit confusing. The event you linked to, with Patti Smith, happened on 12/31/2013 but was called "First Night 2014".
So I guess the question
So I guess the question really is: why? From the trying to cancel the midnight fireworks to this, why is this year so special/different to result in First Night being so crappy? Given how many missteps (which have been known for a long time), why can't the city just take it over, or give it to someone else, as Conventures as obviously proven themselves to be quite incompetent.
The city did take it over for two years
initially because Tom Menino did not want First NIght to die while he was still mayor. That continued for Mayor Walsh's first year, but then the city decided to unload it back to a private organization. They chose the wrong one. Just because Conventures manages the Tall Ships successfully doesn't mean they know a thing about art and culture.
Hold the pitchforks
Before we get all hissy about this, remember that 1) Dusty is doing this for free, 2) she didn't get started on this until mid-summer (past years the organizers had all year), and 3) oddly, because it is no longer a City of Boston event, private businesses are unwilling for some reason to write a big check for it.
I'm not saying that that First Night was in the past fueled mostly by corporate monies given in anticipation of a Mayoral quid pro quo.
Wait - yes - I am saying that.
First Night was a private organization until mid-2013
It was not a city-run event except for the past two years (12/31/2013 and 12/31/2014)
This is unfortunate.
I remember when First Night here in Boston was unique. I did volunteer face-painting at Hynes Autitorium and elsewhere during First Night here in Boston for a number of years, and the last time I was there, it had really started to go downhill.
I think that part of it is due to the fact that Boston's First Night program fell victim to its own success: It was successful enough that other cities and towns in Massachusetts, New England in general, and even in other parts of the country began copying it, and many people began going elsewhere for First Night.