New York to host 325 free pop-up performances to ‘revitalise spirit and emotional well-being’

New York State is set to host over 300 free pop-up arts and music performances in a bid to “accelerate the revival of the arts” and “revitalise the spirit and emotional well-being of New Yorkers”.

NY PopsUp has been greenlit by New York governor Andrew Cuomo, and is set to kick off on 20th February, running until 6th September. The event series is described as being “the state’s first large-scale model for how to bring live performance back safely after this prolonged COVID-related shutdown”.

Events will take place across the state of New York , and will begin on a very small scale, gradually increasing in size as it becomes safer to do so. Many events as part of the series will not be announced in advance in order to prevent large crowds from gathering. Events will take place in spaces such as parks, subway platforms, museums, skate parks, street corners and storefronts.

Among the musical acts set to perform as part of NY PopsUp are A Tribe Called Quest’s Q-Tip, Patti Smith and Dev Hynes, aka Blood Orange.

“Cities have taken a real blow during COVID, and the economy will not come back fast enough on its own – we must bring it back,” Governor Cuomo said in a statement. “Creative synergies are vital for cities to survive, and our arts and cultural industries have been shut down all across the country, taking a terrible toll on workers and the economy.

“We want to be aggressive with reopening the State and getting our economy back on track, and NY PopsUp will be an important bridge to the broader reopening of our world-class performance venues and institutions.”

Keep up to date with updates on NY PopsUp via its website, and learn more about the project here.