USA: EVERY YEAR NEW YORK'S METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY FINDS TALENTED PERFORMERS TO PLAY IN ITS SUBWAY STATIONS

Record ID: 392210

  • Title: USA: EVERY YEAR NEW YORK'S METROPOLITAN TRANSPORTATION AUTHORITY FINDS TALENTED PERFORMERS TO PLAY IN ITS SUBWAY STATIONS
  • Date: 3rd July 2001
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF VONGKU PAK AFTER WINNING A PLACE UNDER THE MUNY PROGRAM (4 SHOTS)
  • Embargoed: 18th July 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVA9OKHTVEQ4L7ZPP3D21LTPOAEV
  • Story Text: Each year, New York' s Metropolitan Transportation Authority conducts auditions to find talented and unusual performers and musicians to play in its subway stations, under the busy crowded streets of New York.
    If you want to be a Rock 'n' roll star, reggae act or just perform for people, the New York subway may be just the place! New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority holds auditions each year for its
    "Music Under New York" summer program that assigns 25 of the most lucrative public performance venues to entertainers selected from this year's pool of 250 applicants.
    What the judges are looking for at the auditions are a good attitude, genuine talent and the ability to transport a listener away form their everyday lives. The MTA already has a list of 115 approved entertainers but are seeking more for the peak summer tourist season.
    Kathleen Mock, who is one of earliest performer for the Music Under New York, has been selected as a judge for the 2001 program. Mock says, "Well Music under New York is the MTA sponsored music program under ground and they have certain spots. There are a lot of spots in the subways where you see performers. There are certain Mezzanine spots, where you see the banner behind the musician and those are scheduled times.
    People know two weeks in advance, where they are going to play. When they get there, if someone else is there, they know they can play there."
    Life in New York is a challenge, and the music takes people's minds off the daily issues of life. It gives them a chance to pause, stop, get caught up in the music. MTA officials say the program targets the commuter who takes public transit every day, but also should appeal to New York's massive tourist population.
    Vong Ku Pak, a Korean dancer who has traveled from his home country to find work in New York, is auditioning for the third year running. He says there is a respectability to being a street performer in New York that is not to be found anywhere else in the world. This reason has brought him to the United States.
    He says," Here it's very different from Korea- America's performance style is this style. It means street performers. I play outside in Korea but its not popular like in New York. I wanted to do something like that, because it is a new experience.
    Once having made it past the tough audition process (with the competition crossing over 5000 applicants in the year 2001) the artists are free to perform and earn a living, without being bothered by the New York police.
    Although non-MTA approved buskers set themselves up in the subways whenever they feel like it, police do not allow them to use platforms or amplifiers or impede the flow of human traffic. And occasionally they could be hassled if their noise levels are too loud.
    Jazz performer Leonard Curry who has been selected for the 2001 program has already started performing at bustling Grand Central Station.
    Curry is thrilled to be selected. "Well when I got the letter in the mail and I opened it, the first line said "
    Congratulations" so right then I said, Oh great I got it. I t gave me a little history and a little procedures, and it went along real well.
    New York's MTA's musical menu mirrors the city's global makeup. And boasts it is unique in its diversity and flexibility.
    And for stressed out commuters, the relaxing sounds of a saxophone playing, helps take some of the edge off a busy day.
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