In light of recent events and because I am tired of being misquoted and paraphrased in the press, I wanted finally and cohesively to express my opinions on busking in this city. New York is our countrys cultural capital, and one of the last cities in America where street performers are allowed to work without a permit on streets and in subways. Street art is the most basic element of a cultural ecosystem, and an essential, democratic, part of any healthy metropolis that can be a light in the grind of a droll working day, and an active resistance against the robotized and alienating landscape our cities can become. However, Since police commissioner Bratton assumed office, arrests among freelancers have increased sixfold. Unsurprisingly, the bulk of police harassment targets young people of color who dance on train cars, ironically embedding the so-called broken window theory into Brattons quality of life standards - when in actuality, smearing the life of a young person with an arrest is the real, institutional, broken window theory that deteriorates society. Cops focusing energy on arresting kids for dancing is a clear sign that the sixth biggest army in the world has too much time on its hands, and that our city does not have enough criminals to justify the size of our police force. In truth, there is little better for young people to do than dancing in public, and in the words even of one off-duty NYPD officer, the fact that this exists as a crime is incumbent on the citys own inability to create opportunities for cultural and expressive space. Increasingly also, White Performers Following All the Rules (unamplified, on platforms, etc) have also begun to come under fire, and now people are starting to take notice. Matthew Christian and I met on Union Squares L platform as I was being booted off last year and he was in the midst of legal proceedings against the city for his previous violin playing arrest, and BuskNY was seeded in our conversations. I was arrested this winter under Times Square and am still in legal proceedings, and another guitarist was grabbed just a few days ago, despite police knowing the musician was conforming to all regulations. Nevertheless, this problem extends beyond ignorant or typically aggressive police officers into a wider disappointment with an American public who sees street work as illegitimate, akin to pan-handling. The United States is actually a notoriously unfriendly country to street workers, and not a few times friends of mine from college have come up to me on the street and said but Kalan! You belong in a gallery, not on the street! In fact public work is a vital, dynamic, special, and chronically undervalued choice, and though some of us work across do spatial genres, and frequent more legitimate venues, we are still saddened by the reception of and solidarity with our public work. In Peru for instance, when the cops came to expel our performance, fifty people started berating them saying they wanted to see street art, that the authorities should find something better to do. Here, half the audience usually sides with the Police. Recently people have been asking me what they can do to help, and honestly as far as Im concerned this is one of the biggest ways to support: if you see a cop harassing a busker, film the event, stand up for the busker, and tell people what theyre doing is not only legal, but desirable in a culturally thriving urban environment. If you dont like people dancing, playing music, or doing puppet shows on the streets, move to the suburbs. Follow us on Busk NY and buskny
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 19:09:55 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015