Scare Park: Awakens in 06.
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This is a true NY story…
It involves the City, several neighborhoods, politicians, artists, business people, kids and many people with opinions. It involves creating something for the good of all, that adds to the fabric of our great town while seeking to do something different, dynamic and strange.
The genesis question was… If you could launch a new Halloween Festival anywhere in the world, where would it be?
For those who know, the most creative Halloween Celebrations happen in NYC, SF and New Orleans but, anyone who has every experienced the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade knows that NYC rules because of how many people come out on this occasion and the diversity of this city's creative genius. New Orleans is delightful but smaller and has bragging rights on Mardi Gras (and of course, is rebuilding), and San Fran's famed Castro District Celebration is reportedly in decline.
It
is NYC, with its creative masses- its artists, theater people and millions of
seemingly normal people who pick this holiday to shine- to express their inner
artist, their creative muse or their insane musings…
… And the best neighborhood in NYC for this, for the last 20+ years has been the East Village/ Lower East Side of Manhattan. And, at the heart of it, is the storied Tompkins Scare Park.
With 10+ acres of well-laid out terrain, in a neighborhood where, for many, it is Halloween year-around and where the underground artsy types from all other neighborhoods tend to come for nights out, Tompkins Square Park was the obvious site for such a new fest.
Thus, "Tompkins Scare Park" was envisioned and the birthing progress began…
Easier said than done…
The dream behind Tompkins Scare Park was to be a community event but also to
inspire the world. Happening on the weekend before Halloween, in NYC's coolest
park, this would be a one-two day fest giving NYers a wonderful new creative
outlet while inviting people and media groups from around the world to take
part and spread the word back to their home countries in the form of photo,
video and word-of-mouth…. A made for media spectacle, involving NY arts
& theater groups, kids, families, politicians and NYC's most creative people.
The first step was to get the park permits. Not a simple process
Long story short--- We got permission by creating a non-profit association with a strong board of Directors whose members were specifically oriented to impress and facilitate the process. We then pulled together a production team with the experience of doing other large events and, finally, reached into the East Village to find a Producer and others from the neighborhood. Thus, are production team contained a former Parks Department official, a long-time East Village event/theater producer and a member of the East Village community board.
To
this great team we added a "participatory theater" theme… This
was to be an event by and for the east village involving community groups with
a special emphasis on Kids and Educational programming early in the day….
Not a dance party, this was to be an arts festival taking some of the interactive
elements we have become accustomed to as the Burning Man arts festival, mixing
with a heavy dose of the East Village and focusing on how we can give back to
this community benefiting the neighborhood and New-York at-large. Hard for the
powers-that-be to say no to that... Right?
Then we were onto putting our coalition together. Inspiring groups to get involved,
to prepare an offering for the event (with not much budget to speak of)…
Even with the best leaders, the vision needed to inspire.
Then we created the website… The idea-- "Beware of the Squirrels" needed to be cute for kids, hip enough for the East Village and edgy so as to inspire people for the edgiest of all holidays. Looking at Park Logos from around the world, we came up with our squirrel who seemed both friendly and scary, slinking from behind a tombstone-like wall, offering an acorn-skull in a park where it is probably not a good idea to take peculiar offerings from strangers.
Next up was the Parks Deptartment and Community Board 3. A park in the east village falls under two feifdoms who work together and crossways... A time consuming, but ultimately, a pleasant process, everyone was accomodating and, in September, we got formal approval. The game was afoot.
And
the day was fast approaching…
During this run-up we begged & borrowed all that we needed including staging, electronics and many creative supplies. We developed a materials team, activities committees and all-sorts of creative plans… With not a moment to spare- the final vision was in place, under budget with an exceptional program and participants list in place and enough volunteers to make it happen… This was a major achievement.
The final plan called for themed areas, a main-stage, a "halloween alley"
halloween-diorama area, an all-day dance circle, costume giveaways and several
educational programs for kids. There was to be a kids "Million Superheroes
March" with a "feats of strength" competition. There was to be
a Robot procession, a Zombie Olympics and Japanese Butoh Dancers. The main stage
was booked with a variety of performances by day and two exciting orchestras
plugging in as darkness descended. After dark there was to be multi-media light
shows, spooky soundscapes and two multi-instrument orchestras that were to completely
rock the park… It was to be AWESOME.
But, alas, Mother Nature would not bless us this year. Massive rain was forecast and all around NYC Halloween events were being postponed or cancelled. Without the propper tenting we moved our event to the raindate and scaled back the program to deal with the high winds. With a historically warm fall, this was the one problematic weekend for the entire season, which saw nice & warm weekends from September through December.
On Sunday we still had a delightful event… We gussied many kids as superheroes, gave costumes away and, ultimately, danced with the Hungry March band throughout the park. The Glass Bead Collective erected their inflatable dome and projected video onto it as the wind blew it hither and yon. Shige from CAVE projected spooky lightshows and there were many smiling people, kids, adults and community members as darkness fell… The height of the event was the tribute to reporter and community member ________ who was killed by _________. A unique Tompkins Square Park event while growing our ability for 2007.
For more check out www.ScarePark.org as well as our Slaybill Program below... Next year is on...
