Busking For Permits
It’s spring in the Northeast and, at least in New York City and Boston, buskers’ thoughts turn to getting permits to ply their arts in the cities’ subway systems and public spaces.
Photo: AP Photo / Kathy Willens
Jacinta Clusellas – “El Pajaro Azul,” or Bluebird – tunes up to audition for judges in Grand Central Terminal’s Vanderbilt Hall in NYC May 19. About 70 buskers and others vied for official permission to set up shop on underground platforms.
At least 70 acts from countries around the world showed up May 19 in New York’s Grand Central Terminal to audition for permission to play for tips as part of the Music Under New York program run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
From military veterans to law school graduates, the opportunity to busk in the world’s largest mass transit system is as coveted as a trip to Carnegie Hall.
The process is a little dicier in Boston, where the company that manages the city’s Faneuil Hall Marketplace planned to charge fees to street performers who, in turn, threatened to quit that program.
The Boston buskers won out. Ashkenzy Acquisition Corp. said May 18 that after “careful consideration and series of good-faith discussions,” it decided against the plan to charge from $500 for solo acts to $2,500 for variety acts for the privilege of collecting tips.
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