Piano in the Park, Two Ways

For the past week, amateur and professional pianists have had the rare chance to tickle the ivories outdoors throughout all five boroughs of New York City.  

Play Me, I'm Yours is a citywide artwork by British artist, Luke Jerram, featuring 60 pianos located in parks, streets, and plazas, intended specifically for public use. Each piano is an individual work of art, painted and decorated by volunteers from local schools and community organizations, mobilized by the nonprofit, Sing for Hope.

Bryant Park is happy to host a Play Me, I'm Yours piano on the front terrace of the New York Public Library, beneath the south lion statue at Fifth Avenue and 41st Street. Visit www.nystreetpianos.com for a map of all the public piano locations, piano hours, and to share your comments and photographs from each site. The pianos will be available through July 4, so grab a partner and brush up on Heart and Soul en plein air.

Please remember that Bryant Park's signature piano, located at the rear of the New York Public Library on the park's Upper Terrace (beneath a large green and gray umbrella), is not intended for public use.

The piano was created for our Piano in Bryant Park program, in which a different musician fills the Upper Terrace with toe-tapping jazz and ragtime tunes, every weekday from 12:30pm to 2:30pm. Stop by this week to catch a performance by talented Piano in Bryant Park veteran, Todd Robbins, who plays classic tin pan alley songs, performs regularly with Woody Allen's Jazz Band, and happens to swallow swords, fire, and glass (though not in the park).

Visit www.bryantpark.org for the complete roster of Piano in Bryant Park musicians. The program is generously supported by Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians, the Music Performance Fund, and Sam Ash Music.

Play Me, I'm Yours photograph courtesy of www.nystreetpianos.com

Word for Word Poetry Blogs

We've tapped some very special guest bloggers to help us celebrate this summer's Word for Word Poetry series at Bryant Park. They'll provide a behind-the-scenes look at each event and divulge about the talented poets who share their work. Experience Word for Word Poetry yourself every Tuesday through September 14, from 7pm to 8:30pm, at the Bryant Park Reading Room.


Mary Austin Speaker on Word for Word Poetry, June 22

Rain was once again in the offing on Tuesday, June 22, when Coffee House Press presented its selection of readers at Bryant Park, but a sizeable crowd braved the hovering clouds. Paul Romero began the evening by offering an excerpt from Mark Strand's poem, "Eating Poetry," an apt choice for the satisfyingly diverse selection of readers presented that evening. Coffee House, a Minneapolis-based press that's been operating for over 25 years, publishes an extremely wide range of poets, and Tuesday's evening reflected their broad, carefully-selected editorial efforts.

Lightsey Darst appeared before the crowd first, a spectral sort of woman, strikingly fair and serious, with a frill of red hair. Lightsey has an austere, intense kind of femininity that compounds the considerable effects of her book, Find the Girl, a collection of poems that examines the spiritual detritus of unsolved mysteries involving missing girls. The book (and the reading) drew connections between the culturally acceptable disfigurement of the female body and the visceral imaginings projected onto the bodies of missing pre-teen beauty queens like Jon Benet Ramsey ("the little pageant winner in her red dress"). The drama of Lightsey's reading drew its power as much from the cultural phenomena of CSI Miami as it did from the violent drama of the coming of age of any girl. There's a boldness to the decision to look into the darker corners of beauty, and Lightsey's reading reflected this boldness. There was a hint of challenge in her voice as she spoke, a challenge likely born from a culture pathologically attached to the innocence of young girls. It's with lines like these, "a girl is a woman is a rack  to be hung with gashed sky" and "some nerve damage / some dirt rubbed in / your hair my dear" that a conceit begins to emerge— we have no adequate way of discussing the sexualization of young girls. Lightsey offers poems in this dearth. She finished the reading with an excerpt from her new work in progress, a project that begins in hell, and then moves through earth to paradise. These poems were more sound-based, fractured phrases rife with assonance and rhyme, where narrative became more of a referent than a driving force. It was great to see her read from such different works without losing her grip on her subject matter. The darkness of physical violence was still very much a part of the newer work, but the work's chaotic, disorienting aspect had moved itself into the forms of the poems themselves. Within that chaos came some very dark music— a halting, lilting sound—which felt very much Lightsey's own.

Southwest Porch Anniversary Week Celebration

The Southwest Porch has become such a popular Bryant Park amenity, it's hard to believe it's only one year old!

Next week, Southwest Airlines and 'wichcraft will be celebrating the one year anniversary of The Porch and a successful first year of Southwest service from LaGuardia Airport.

The week-long celebration at The Porch includes daily giveaways, special prizes, and more. Stop by on Monday, June 28, for the chance to win Yankees tickets, show off your Southwest Airlines iPhone App to get a free appetizer during "Appy Hour" on Wednesday, June 30, and don't miss the big Porch Cookout on Thursday, July 1, featuring complimentary sliders and sweet treats served up by 'wichcraft.

Click here for all the celebratory details from Southwest. 

UPDATE 7/1/10: The Southwest Porch Cookout on July 1 will take place from 6pm to 8pm or until supplies last.

Broadway in BP Kick-Off & Schedule Announcement

Broadway fans, be sure to take a lunch break tomorrow and head over to our neighboring 34th Street district where JCPenney and 106.7 Lite FM will be celebrating the 2010 season of Broadway in Bryant Park.

The special kick-off event includes a free performance by Constantine Maroulis and the cast of Broadway's Rock of Ages, followed by the highly anticipated announcement of this summer's Broadway in Bryant Park line-up. Hosted by Lite FM's Bob Bronson, the event will take place at 12pm in the main lobby of the JCPenney store at 33rd Street and 6th Avenue.

Broadway in Bryant Park begins on Thursday, July 8, with free lunchtime performances by casts from the most popular musicals on and off Broadway. If you miss tomorrow's announcement, be sure to visit bryantpark.org where the schedule will be posted shortly after the event.

Bryant Park Knits is Back

Presented in partnership with Gotta Knit!, our popular series of free summertime knitting lessons began yesterday in the park.

Bryant Park Knits brings New York City's knitting circle scene outdoors and helps newbies learn the basics of casting on and the knit and perl stitches. Class size is limited in order to answer questions and give personal attention to each student, so make sure to pre-register and reserve a spot. Yarn and needles are provided to participants, free of charge.

Bryant Park Knits
Tuesdays, 1:30pm – 3:00pm
June 22 – August 31
Upper Terrace, across from the Bryant Park Grill
Call 212-989-3030 to pre-register 

Visit bryantpark.org for a full calendar of programs and events in Bryant Park, or subscribe to have weekly events listings sent directly to your inbox

Word for Word Poetry Blogs

We've tapped some very special guest bloggers to help us celebrate this summer's Word for Word Poetry series at Bryant Park. They'll provide a behind-the-scenes look at each event and divulge about the talented poets who share their work. Experience Word for Word Poetry yourself every Tuesday through September 14, from 7pm to 8:30pm, at the Bryant Park Reading Room.


Mary Austin Speaker on Word for Word Poetry, June 15

Tuesday's reading showcased the offerings of Blue Flower Arts, a literary speakers' agency founded by Alison Granucci, which handles the appearances and affairs of several dozen of our nation's finest writers, among them Thomas Sayers Ellis, Taylor Mali and Patricia Smith, who graced Bryant Park Tuesday with their ineffable presences.

Ofer Ziv of Blue Flower introduced the poets, and the reading began with Thomas Sayers Ellis, who noted that he was a minority because he was the only poet reading that evening who had not been on Russell Simmons Def Jam Poetry. Anyone who has heard Thomas read before knows his signature brand of highly syncopated musical poetry, but for those who haven't had the chance to catch him, it is extraordinarily anaphoristic, to the degree that his readings verge on the beatbox, with shorter words (like "or," the title of an exemplary poem) becoming staccato punctuations that draw out a list, allowing Thomas to give each item in the list a differently-phrased kind of music. One of my pet peeves with readings is when readers read poems as though they're reading off their grocery list, with the same inflection on each word, utterly obscuring valuable syntax. Thomas, obviously, is in no danger of this, and perhaps offers us the polar opposite to that kind of reading. The poems are often provocative, thorny, dissenting, pissed-off, and wry, wry, wry. The musical way he reads them serves to offer up a bittersweetness—it's a smart way of delivering such patently uncomfortable rhetoric— such as his vowel poem which deftly demands reparations for slavery, from his latest book, Skin, Inc.,: "A - E - U - O - I : APOLOGIZE" But Thomas wouldn't be Thomas if he didn't get personal, too: he also read poems that include the text of rejection letters he's received, using the syntax of the submission process as a way of critiquing the economy of poetry publication. His poems, and his reading, true to form, were condemning, slippery, and full of wit. A big highlight, which I wish I'd heard more of, was an excerpt from a long elegy for Michael Jackson called "Gone Pop." Michael Jackson seems to be perfect territory for Thomas's poetic acumen, and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of that piece in Skin, Inc., available from Graywolf this September.

Film Festival Facts

With the first night of the HBO Bryant Park Summer Film Festival just days away, here's what you'll need to know before heading over to the park.

Sitting on the Lawn? Bringing a bag?
For the protection of all Film Festival attendees, there are changes to how you access the Lawn Area (the grass and surrounding gravel areas).

• The gravel area surrounding the Lawn opens at 3:30pm. UPDATE 6/28/10: The gravel area surrounding the Lawn will open at 4pm for the remaining Film Festival dates.
• The Lawn opens at 5pm, as usual, for blankets and picnicking. 
• Entry to the Lawn Area is only permitted at the 6th Avenue side of the park (near the movie screen).
• All packages, bags, backpacks, etc. will be inspected.
• There are two entry points on each side of the Fountain (north and south sides). Each side has two entry points: one for those with packages, bags, etc. and one for those without.
• Should you leave the Lawn Area, all packages, bags, etc. will be inspected again upon re-entry.

*Please note, no chairs, tables, dogs, or plastic sheets, tarps or bags are allowed on the Lawn
(sitting on plastic creates brown spots on the grass). Ice should be emptied into park drains at the end of the film.

Got a bike?
A free bike parking area is located inside the park at 6th Avenue and 41st Street (at the Petanque Court).

Need a snack?
Dine al fresco and pre-order a picnic from 'wichcraft on Film Festival nights. Call (212) 780-0577 or go to wichcraftnyc.com to place an advance order, then pick it up at the sandwich kiosk in the park.

Want to know more about the films?
Film connoisseur and professor, Scott Adlerberg, will be on hand at 7pm every Monday in the Reading Room to give you an inside look at each week's classic movie at Word for Word Reel Talks.

Enjoy the show!

For more information about the Film Festival, visit bryantpark.org or call (212) 512-5700

Bryant Park's Wishing Well

Did you know Bryant Park has its very own wishing well?

Every two weeks the park's Josephine Shaw Lowell Memorial Fountain is drained for routine cleaning and maintenance of its filtration system. The process includes collecting all the coins from the bottom of the fountain, tossed in by park patrons and hopefully followed by wishes come true.

Although the majority of the coins we find in the fountain are U.S. pennies, along with a fair number of nickels, dimes, and quarters, there is always an interesting handful of foreign coins thrown in by Bryant Park's visitors from all corners of the world.

Our most recent bucket contained some coins we'd never pulled from the fountain before, hailing from exotic lands like Singapore, Israel, Russia, South Korea, and...Pennsylvania. Perhaps a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation token is luckier than a penny?

Some coins from the fountain: 
a Uruguayan peso,
Brazilian real,
Colombian peso,
Dominican peso,
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority token,
Israeli new shekel,
Russian ruble,
South Korean won,
and two Singapore dollars.



What happens to all the coins once they've been fished from the fountain? After a rigorous process of cleaning, drying, and sorting, they take a trip to the bank. After it is deposited, the money goes right back into the maintenance of Bryant Park.

Fencing with an Olympian

Mark your calendars for the chance to learn the modern sport of fencing from an Olympian!

Tim Morehouse, Silver Medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, will teach the final Bryant Park Fencing lesson of the spring/summer season on Friday, June 25.

Morehouse trains at the Manhattan Fencing Center, a prestigious midtown facility that also happens to be our partner for Bryant Park Fencing. He has been a champion of our free fencing lessons since they began in April, fenced with President Obama, and was recently named one of NYC's most eligible bachelors by Time Out New York.

We expect the class to fill up quickly, so call (212) 382-2255 to pre-register for one of 12 spots. No prior experience is necessary and all equipment is provided free of charge. After the June 25 session, Bryant Park Fencing will take a summer hiatus and lessons will resume in the fall.

Bryant Park Fencing
Fridays, 1:00pm – 2:00pm
April 9 – June 25
Library Terrace at 5th Avenue & 41st Street

Visit www.bryantpark.org for a complete schedule of free classes, programs, and events in the park.

Word for Word Poetry Blogs

We've tapped some very special guest bloggers to help us celebrate this summer's Word for Word Poetry series at Bryant Park. They'll provide a behind-the-scenes look at each event and divulge about the talented poets who share their work. Experience Word for Word Poetry yourself every Tuesday through September 14, from 7pm to 8:30pm, at the Bryant Park Reading Room.


Mary Austin Speaker on Word for Word Poetry, June 8

Being in Bryant Park for a reading feels oddly more New York than being at other readings with their interchangeable, often institutional indoor spaces. One can’t forget the hulking library, the orderly lawn, the fountains and carousel nestled beneath Bryant Park’s tall deciduous trees. Birds swoop through on their way elsewhere, rifling the air. Poets tap into this magnified urban-ness in different ways, but most of them nod to the strange surprise of sharing space— on the subway or bus, even the baffling way that nature asserts herself over and over in the city’s parks. These often emerge as themes of city poems, which most of Tuesday’s poets read, and as long as we’re counting, three of the poets read pieces about a dying or aging relative, two read airport poems, and two read poems about the Iraq war.

Bryant Park on the Web

Rare Birds Spotted Making Pit Stops in Bryant Park (DNA.info)
Lincoln sparrows, Canadian warblers, and a Savannah sparrow were identified during this
season's Birding Tours of Bryant Park

Get keyed into the Big Apple (New York Post)
Artist Paul Ramirez Jonas' public project, Key to the City, is a hit in its first week of operation


On our radar

New Seattle Center plan: Open space 'yes,' glass museum 'no' (Seattle Post Intelligencer)
Bryant Park is cited as an example of a successful urban park in arguments for the development
of a new public space in downtown Seattle

Certosa Urban Park 2015 (designboom)
In Italy's Venice lagoon, developers aim to create a self sufficient island, able to independently
manage energy, matter, and information


Scenes from Bryant Park

Composite drawing of two women at Bryant Park, by Kendrick Mar of the blog Sketchbook Stuff

Bryant Park Lawn Updates

Bryant Park lawn status updates can be found on www.bryantpark.org under "Today in the Park" at the top left corner of the homepage.

We aim to keep the lawn open to the public as frequently as possible (and even keep records of the number of open days each season), but sometimes the grass must be closed for mowing, watering, chemical treatments, because of inclement weather, or to rest before or after a major event.

Dr. Ruth To Help Celebrate Bryant Park Couples

Are you and your sweetheart a "Bryant
Park Couple"?

If the park played a special role in your relationship - maybe you met, became engaged, or were married under the London Planes - you fit the bill, and are cordially invited to Love Blooms in Bryant Park, a celebration of Bryant Park Couples.

At 7pm on Wednesday, June 30, sex therapist, author, and media personality, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, will dish her signature advice on love, sex, and everything in between at the Bryant Park Reading Room, followed by a special reception for park lovebirds.

Couples should contact Susie Sigel at ssigel@urbanmgt.com or (917) 438-5151 to share their Bryant Park love story and RSVP for the reception. Dr. Ruth's talk at the Reading Room is open to all.

Unlock a Piece of Bryant Park

New York City visitors and residents have no shortage of public artwork to enjoy this summer. Artist Paul Ramirez Jonas' latest project, Key to the City, launched last week, joining the ranks of Antony Gormley's Event Horizon and Eleven Heavy Things by Miranda July, two popular public installations currently on view in Manhattan.

In Key to the City, presented by Creative Time, Jonas invites members of the public to visit a temporary kiosk in Times Square where they can bestow keys to the city upon each other, for reasons great or small, in a ritual traditionally reserved for heroes or dignitaries. However, in Jonas' ceremonies the keys are both symbolic and literal. Participants each receive a key that can unlock 24 special sites across all five boroughs of New York City.

Key holders then embark upon a one-of-a-kind scavenger hunt to unlock the new spaces they have access to. Jonas explains, "with this new key, we gain an opportunity to step back and reflect on common space in the city. For not only does the key open up specific sites, but it can also make us aware that the city is a series of spaces that are locked or unlocked."

At this point you may have guessed: Bryant Park is playing host to a special locked box on the Fountain Terrace, accessible only to Key to the City key holders. It's just a short walk from the ceremony site, so pick up your key then head over to unlock a piece of the park.

Two hints for enjoying our site: 1) it's more exciting at night; 2) once you've completed the "task" inside the box, you may need to wait a minute to get the full effect.


Keys are available through June 27 and can be used with the 24 locks through September 6. Visit the Key to the City website for all the project details.

Word for Word Poetry Blogs

We've tapped some very special guest bloggers to help us celebrate this summer's Word for Word Poetry series at Bryant Park. They'll provide a behind-the-scenes look at each event and divulge about the talented poets who share their work. Experience Word for Word Poetry yourself every Tuesday through September 14, from 7pm to 8:30pm, at the Bryant Park Reading Room.


Mary Austin Speaker on Word for Word Poetry, June 1

Hello to all you readers out there. I'm Mary Austin Speaker and I'll be blogging for the Word for Word series for the month of June. You can find my bio below.

Tuesday's first reading of June was a great, if tentative, success. The clouds threatened, but Paul Romero, Director of Tourism & Visitor Services at Bryant Park and general Pusher of Poetry, decided to chance it and hold the reading outside even though stormclouds hovered. It was the right call. Being outdoors for a reading is a remarkable experience— the practice of public reading is one that many people never see and it's wonderful to watch the looks on people's faces as they walk by and wonder what it is we're doing. And it's not every day you get to listen to both birds and poetry at once.

Capital Projects Constantly Improving the Park

Another item will soon be crossed off our Capital Projects Department's extensive list of improvements for Bryant Park. Work began last week on the installation of a new drainage system to benefit concessions located at the south side of the park. Trenches have been dug through sections of bluestone and ivy beds along the 40th Street Allee, and pipes will be installed within the next week. The entire project should be completed in two weeks.

To minimize the project's impact on the ivy beds, the Capital crew worked closely with the park's Horticulture team to remove and conserve sections of ivy where digging would occur. Once the drainage system has been installed and the trenches filled with earth, the ivy that was saved will be returned to the beds and nursed back to health by members of the Horticulture staff.

Real Housewives at The Pond

Please enjoy this frosty break from your regularly scheduled summer programming.

Bryant Park had a starring role in Thursday's episode of The Real Housewives of New York City on Bravo. Filmed in December 2009, Housewife Jill Zarin threw a holiday party at Celsius then took a spin on The Pond at Bryant Park to entertain her guests and public skaters.



Jill's skating performance may not have wowed TV audiences, but hopefully Bryant Park's beautiful winter scenery did! Be sure to visit The Pond and Celsius when they return to the park this fall for the 2010-2011 season.