For residents in Prospect Heights and its neighboring areas, the Brooklyn Museum has been a destination for party-goers over the years as a result of the popular “Target First Saturdays” dance party. But it appears that the museum is changing direction and wants to shift away from the well-attended event in favor of more, ahem, serene affairs such as artist discussion, small scale events and dialing down the throng of people that come strictly to party. Needless to say, the move is frowned upon by past attendees of the eclectic jam reports DNAInfo.
Brooklyn Museum staff gave fans of the party a fair warning after a blog entry last week from Manager of Adult Programs Elisabeth Callihan wrote of the plans to inject new programming into the museum’s scheduled events calendar – and also to quell the crowds that have grown in size over the years, pushing the limits of the building’s capacity. Instead, the Beaux-Arts Court (or the Summer parking lot) where the party was held will be transformed into a lounge space with differing events including dance classes and an arts mural.
“We have to acknowledge, however, while the attendance is growing, our building is staying the same size, and we’ve run into some challenges with capacity crowds and traffic flow throughout the building,” said Callihan. “What does that mean for the event? Well, essentially it means that we are going to put the dance party on hiatus for the time being.”
Essentially, the museum felt the pressure of residents who didn’t appreciate the foot traffic and noise the dance party attracted, with some numbers hovering around 20,000 over the past year. The event attracted all walks of life; it was a place where green-conscious hippies could dance away their troubles alongside hipsters and urban fetishizing transplants.
“The only thing everyone can enjoy is the dance party,” said “Target First Saturday” alum Stephanie Morgan to DNAInfo. “Without it, I don’t need to go to the museum every month. It’s a waste of time.”
Have you been to First Saturdays? Does this sound fair to you? Let us know in the comments.
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