{"id":205986,"date":"2026-04-22T13:23:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:23:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/205986\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T13:23:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T13:23:18","slug":"moma-ps1s-50th-birthday-bash-saw-8000-people-attend-the-most-joyful-block-party-in-nyc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/205986\/","title":{"rendered":"MoMA PS1\u2019s 50th birthday bash saw 8,000 people attend the most joyful block party in NYC"},"content":{"rendered":"

In honor of their 50th anniversary, the city\u2019s largest free museum in Long Island City, Queens, invited the whole city to celebrate \u2014 and more than 8,000 people showed up to dance, make art, check out the local food vendors, participate in family workshops<\/a>, see the documentary \u201cFly In Power\u201d and wander through the brand new group show that fills two floors, \u201cGreater New York.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so thrilled to welcome all of you here today to celebrate MoMA PS1\u2019s 50th anniversary,\u201d museum director Connie Butler said in her opening remarks. \u201cThis is our first block party, and I can say it\u2019s a huge success, because all of you are here. So thank you for coming and celebrating. Today, we are also celebrating our \u2018Greater New York\u2019 exhibition, which just opened two days ago, so you\u2019re among the first to see it. \u2018Greater New York\u2019 is an every-five-years celebration of all the incredible artists and creatives in the five boroughs and beyond.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been working on the block party for about five months,\u201d Chief Curator Ruba Katrib told us later. \u201cIt\u2019s really a full staff effort.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

\"LadyLady Pink, a legend of the New York City graffiti scene, in front of the mural she created for MoMA PS1.Photo by Bob Krasner \"\"Singer Carmel St. Hilaire adding her tag to the wall during Lady Pink\u2019s graffiti workshopPhoto by Bob Krasner \"\"A dad helps his 4 1\/2 year old artist reach his higher goals on the chalk wallPhoto by Bob Krasner \"\"MoMA PS 1 Director Connie Butler (L) and Chief Curator Ruba Katrib at the museum\u2019s 50th Anniversary Block PartyPhoto by Bob Krasner<\/p>\n

Lady Pink, one of the first wave of notable NYC graffiti artists, was on hand to guide registered participants as they made their marks on extensive walls. Pink, whose work adorns the outside of PS1, had a great time with her role.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fun to see people exploring their artistic side and having a go at it,\u201d she said. \u201cSpray paint is, get it done quick, instant gratification, and when people try it out they realize how easy it is and how much fun art can be. Some museums make art seem stuffy and boring, but here they\u2019re just having fun, no pressure.\u201d<\/p>\n

And what did she think of the results? \u201cIt\u2019s a wonderful mess,\u201d she concluded.\n<\/p>\n

R+B\/Jazz singer Carmel St. Hilaire stopped spraying for a minute to confirm Pink\u2019s theory.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve never done it before,\u201d she admitted. \u201cBut I understand why people do this \u2013 it\u2019s really fun!\u201d\n<\/p>\n

Also having fun were the multitudes of folks, including lots of kids, who grabbed chalk and added to the free-for-all art fest on the chalk wall.\n<\/p>\n

\"\"Dancing to Saint James Joy at the MoMA PS1 Block PartyPhoto by Bob Krasner \"\"View of the courtyard from inside PS1Photo by Bob Krasner \"\"Just doing the nose dance\u2026\u2026..Photo by Bob Krasner \"\"The Block Party also celebrated the opening of a wild, sprawling multi-media group show titled \u201cGreater New York\u201dPhoto by Bob Krasner \"\"Aneesa Razak, one of the artists from the Teen Art Salon, drew free portraits for teens and younger subjectsPhoto by Bob Krasner \"\"Attendees were asked to lend their opinions for Participatory Budgeting , democratic process in which community members directly decide how to spend part of a public budgetPhoto by Bob Krasner \"\"Dancers from the Queens Boro Dance Festival (they\u2019re the tall ones) were on hand to teach some salsa movesPhoto by Bob Krasner<\/p>\n

The Teen Art Salon, a non-profit organization \u201cthat supports, develops, and promotes adolescent artists, and demystifies the process of starting a career as an artist,\u201d lent their prodigies out to provide free portraits for teens, kids and babies.<\/p>\n

Among other community-oriented booths, the people from the City Council\u2019s Participatory Budgeting office were there to gather opinions that would help to decide directly how to spend part of a public budget.<\/p>\n

Tunes were provided first by Discolocas NYC Fiesta Club, with DJ\u2019s Linda and Loly rocking a set that featured Funk, Latin House, Salsa, Cumbia, and more. Dancers from the Queens Boro Dance Festival demonstrated their prowess and shared the floor with willing partners of all ages.<\/p>\n

Later, the decks were taken over by DJ Chill and DJ Jo Vill from the Brooklyn collective known as Saint James Joy, who inspired a little friendly competition on the dance floor.\n<\/p>\n

Inside the museum, rooms were filled with a diverse crowd admiring the equally diverse group show, a wild, sprawling survey of 53 artists that utilized everything from photography to fish bones. Video, sculpture, installations, the use of sound \u2026 you may not like everything, but it\u2019s all worth seeing.<\/p>\n

Back outside, the courtyard was packed with a crowd who were either dancing or bopping to the music, and one thing was for sure \u2014 there were a whole lot of smiles.\n<\/p>\n

For more info on MoMA PS1, check out momaps1.org.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In honor of their 50th anniversary, the city\u2019s largest free museum in Long Island City, Queens, invited the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[48108,81675,81676,48969,81677,81678,81679,73412,9090,21944,81680,9,56,63,41843,65,64,81681,81682,66553],"class_list":{"0":"post-205986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-community-arts","9":"tag-family-workshops","10":"tag-free-museum-events","11":"tag-graffiti-art","12":"tag-greater-new-york-exhibition","13":"tag-lady-pink","14":"tag-live-djs-nyc","15":"tag-local-artists-nyc","16":"tag-long-island-city","17":"tag-moma-ps1","18":"tag-museum-anniversary","19":"tag-new-york","20":"tag-ny","21":"tag-nyc","22":"tag-nyc-block-party","23":"tag-nyc-headlines","24":"tag-nyc-news","25":"tag-public-art-participation","26":"tag-queens-arts","27":"tag-queens-culture"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}