Street Performers

Street performers are found everywhere in the city. They seek their audience, perform their art, and pass the hat for donations. These are some of the buskers who performed near the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall subway station last April 17.

SAX AND THE CITY

While strolling in Central Park one Sunday morning, I took a photo of a saxophone player, one of the many street performers/musicians at the park. In many areas of the English-speaking world, performing live in public places to entertain people to solicit donations or tips is called BUSKING. Buskers may do musical performance, dance, acrobatics, balloon modeling, juggling, magic, street sketching and painting, puppeteering, mime, or the now popular variation of mime, performing as a "living statue." Manhattan offers countless venues for buskers to perform: parks, subways, tourist spots, outside stadiums, Times Square and streets. But Central Park has some advantages those other locations can’t match. Visitors to the park are out to relax and are more receptive to hearing music and being entertained. Park visitors are encouraged to drop a dollar or two in the donation hat if they hear or see something they enjoy.