First Night Boston-2008
Visions of Light, Peace and Hope
By: Erica H. Adams - Jan 01, 2008
(Boston) New Year’s Eve, an estimated one million people heated-up an evening too cold to snow as a raucous Mardi-Gras style Grand Procession, the heart of First Night Boston, sauntered through Copley Square past the Commons to Charles Street from 5:30 –7 P.M. Outdoor and indoor venues from 1:00 PM through midnight included: visual art, dance, poetry, concerts and film alongside local treasures Sidewalk Sam and Brother Blue. Illuminated ice-sculptures and installations lit-up Boston Common and Copley Square while many Boston’s museums and historic houses remained open.
For First Night Boston’s 32nd year, the 2008 Grand Procession theme was “Look at You Boston” whose three sections –Elegance, Excitement and Color –were differentiated by color and led by the Back Alley Puppet Theatre and Puppet Cooperative. Color-deprived New England found an antidote among the most colorful Caribbean band leaders and an undulating dragon carried by members of The Greater Boston Chinese Cultural Association. On-lookers caught Mardi-Gras beads and rubber balls thrown from careening performers on stilts, on foot and wheels. New performers joined perennial favorites in a blur of excitement: The Hawthorne Youth and Community Center members carried snowflakes like magic wands. The Cycling Murrays; Explicit Noise; The Hot Tamales and Geometric Progression, added color, movement and fun alongside the Middlesex County 4-H Fife and Drum Corps; New Liberty Jazz Band and “Dinoman!” to name a few.
Artists created First Night, in 1976, as an alternative New YearÂ’s Eve revelries, with small arts events on Boston Common. Crowds swelled over the years from 25,000 to a million. Now, 1,000 local, national and international artists in 200 exhibitions and performances in over 40 locations in Boston generate an estimated $47 million dollars.
The countryÂ’s oldest and largest New YearÂ’s arts celebration, First Night has inspired over 200 similar events internationally. A non-profit organization, First Night is supported by public and private contributions, sponsorships, and, importantly, through the admission sales of the First Night button.
Youth programs offered among the most memorable, vibrant and original First Night events. Boston, long regarded a city of neighborhoods, in 1994, initiated First Night Neighborhood Network (FNNN). This year-round arts and education outreach programs of First Night, programs have enriched 2000 Boston area children and families. First Night partnerships with twenty-five community organizations, including youth and community centers that provide afterschool programs in Allston, Boston, Brighton, Charlestown, Chinatown, Dorchester, East Boston, Hyde Park, Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, Roslindale, Roxbury, South Boston, South End and West Roxbury.
At the Hynnes Auditorium, Peace and Hope was the message of 3 panel stained glass mural "A Need for Unity in Our Community" made by Dorchester’s Boy’s and Girl’s Club with help from their teacher Ryan Davis. A recent Mass College of Art graduate and Roxbury native, Davis credits his own teacher Jamil’s high school “Portfolio” class, for helping him realizing a dream -to attend art school. In turn, the stained glass window by Davis’ students illustrates mentoring, community policing and neighborhood cleanups.
At the privately created Cloud Foundation on Boylston Street, urgent spoken word performances by very professional urban youth expressed unity and hope across their diverse communities. Most inspiring was their shared belief in an individual’s ability, the power of “me”, to challenge and change our toxic, violent environment that all agreed had poisoned their bodies and minds, but not their hope. Also on view were films and an exhibit of photographs made by pin-hole cameras. Visitors were encouraged to make their own flag and pin it to their home on a world map.
After the procession, a slow, crowded walk with stops for lattes ensued from Copley Square to Boston Common where installations and ice sculptures listed “TBA”, once found were transporting.
Two Boston Common installations were by alumni of School of the Museum of Fine Arts: Evelyn Elias “Subzero Unity Project: The Great Indoors” was designed to give people an idea of what it might be like to be an ice cube in a ice-cube tray. The fire emitting spheres of Hannah Verlin’s "Cyclic Light" emphasized the element of fire and passage of time as she unplugged one after another sphere in the kiln, from dusk to midnight. Enchanting, these recalled Luminarias, paper bags with candles weighted by sand and lit on Christmas Eve throughout the Southwest United States.
At the edge of the Commons was Cape Cod artist Bob Harmon’s "Janus Arch". The Roman god of beginnings and endings –Janus was a symbolic site where New Year’s wishes were made as people rang any one of three bells symbolized “past,” “present” and “future”-from arch’s roof.
Two artist’s ice sculptures on the Commons, recognized endangered species: Ice Effects team Steve Rose, David Peterson and Tim Tufts celebrated the American Eagle, both a patriotic U.S. symbol and formerly endangered species. The most spectacular and colorful work of First Night was the Disneyesque ice sculpture made by Donald Chapelle and his ‘green’ company Brilliant Ice Sculpture. "Mangrove" celebrated the Everglades native flora, palms and species including a peaceful kingdom of wading pink flamingos amid alligators and an a panther sipping from emerald water. As global warming causes coastal waters to rise, the erosion of mangroves is assured and this destroys a vital ecosystem that protects our coasts from storms and harbors turtles and small sea life.
In Copley Square, set against Trinity Church lit up like Disney World, were two ice sculptures by Brookline Coal and Ice Company artists Eric Fontecchio and Alfred Georgs: more of a logo than a sculpture, there was "Give Us Peace" with The Dove of Peace hovering on top of the earth, as man, woman and children raised up their arms to the heavens. Nearby was "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs”.
Most amazing sight of the night: Bostonians up and dancing in less than ten minutes of Nathan and the Zydeco Chas Chas taking the stage; may this internationally revered Louisiana band return often.
After this raucous fare, Donal Fox at Emmanuel Church carried us gently through liquid transformations of classical music into contemporary modes. The fireworks ended the evening in Copley Square and the Harbor front seemed superfluous after the delicate flow of music from Donal Fox.
First Night Boston, Inc. is a private, 501©3 non-profit organization. It is supported by public and private contributions, sponsorships, and through the admission sales of the First Night button. First Night Boston is grateful for the support of its major contributors: The City of Boston, Thomas M. Menino, Mayor; WBZ-TV; The Massachusetts Convention Center Authority; The Boston Foundation; the Linde Family Foundation; an Anonymous Foundation; Massachusetts Turnpike Authority; Idearc Media Publishers of the Verizon Yellow Pages; Massachusetts Cultural Council; Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau; MBTA; Metro Boston; El Planeta; WGBH Radio; Boston 4 Celebrations; Deborah Munroe Noonan Memorial Fund, Bank of America, Trustee; Clear Channel Outdoor and Wall USA.