How Street Performances Transform Public Spaces

A busking advocate blogs about the benefits of street performances in public spaces and the need to revisit street performance licenses and requirements.

1 minute read

June 1, 2014, 5:00 AM PDT

By Helen Brown

"As William H. Whyte put it, buskers are a means of triangulation: people who have the power to change the way people react to and perceive the space," blogs Nick Broad, founder of The Busking Project and an advocate of buskers and public art performances.

To illustrate the benefits brought by buskers, Broad shares the story of a violinist who "transformed an impersonal [subway station] into a place with creative identity."

Broad calls for making public spaces more friendly to street performance as they are "at risk of being licensed out of existence." He notes that street performance regulations are "making the spontaneous, surprising creativity in public spaces a thing of the past."

FULL STORY: Busking: Creating a Place one Performer at a Time

Wednesday, May 7, 2014 in Project for Public Spaces blog

Land Use Urban Development United States New York street performance busking Public Space use regulations View More

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