About the Prospect Park Bandshell

Designed in 1865 by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, Prospect Park was envisioned as the centerpiece of Brooklyn's cultural institutions that included the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn Botanic Garden and Brooklyn Public Library. The Bandshell was added to the Park in 1939 to serve as a site for live outdoor entertainment.

At its inception, the Bandshell featured an acoustic shell, raised stage, public restrooms and a large circular plaza, and was the site of many popular concerts and dances such as in this circa 1953 photo.

The Bandshell, as much of the Park (and many Northeast cities), suffered through the late sixties and seventies as budget cuts and the broader effects of urban neglect took its toll. The facility and the Park deteriorated and was perceived as unsafe as seen in this 1978 photo.

Celebrate Brooklyn! and the "New Prospect Park" (as it was then called), was founded in 1979, to reverse this trend by bringing people back to the Park via a series of exciting, accessible performances - many of which were held at night - a radical idea at the time. The first few seasons were filled with many of the Brooklyn's world famous jazz performers and New York City's emerging choreographers and presented on an expanded stage that featured some of the elements to be incorporated in the coming renovation of the Bandshell.

In 1983 a newly renovated Bandshell was introduced, allowing more adventurous programming and productions. Celebrate Brooklyn! grew rapidly during this time from 24 performances in 1982 to 44 performances in 1985.

After devastating funding cuts in the early 1990's, Celebrate Brooklyn! was scaled back to as few as 16 performances in 1992. A new team was brought in to revive the program, and new focus was placed on pairing international artists with local talent. World music, America roots music, film, theater and spoken word programs were introduced and the number of performances increased again to 32 in 1995.

The renewed popularity of the program and problems associated with the large lighting and sound towers encouraged a plan for a second redesign and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President funded a $3 million reconstruction which took place in 1998-99. Designed and managed by the Prospect Park Alliance, this project dismantled the three inappropriate towers which were responsible for sound bouncing back into the neighborhood; renovated the backstage areas; expanded public restrooms; re-graded the site for better viewing and drainage; added a new stage roof that facilitates rigging, lighting and projection for film and dance programs, and allows performances to go forward in inclement weather; and added a new "distributed" sound system which provide excellent sound quality while tightly directing the sound at the audience and away from other areas. The improved site and programming combine to allow Celebrate Brooklyn! to offer probably the finest outdoor performance experience in all of New York City.

All of this would not have been possible without support and encouragement from the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation and the Prospect Park Alliance. Prospect Park hosts hundreds of events annually, including concerts, sporting events, performing arts, festivals, and tours. For more information on Prospect Park, its programs and history, go to www.prospectpark.org.
"...Celebrate Brooklyn! with the new Prospect Park Bandshell in Park Slope at its locus, this international potpurri offers classic movies..., classic music..., jazz and slsa..." - (New York Times, 2000)

For information about all New York City parks go to http://www.nyc.gov/parks.