Stay in the Loop
BSR publishes on a weekly schedule, with an email newsletter every Wednesday and Thursday morning. There’s no paywall, and subscribing is always free.
Hip, trendy, free…. and hopeless
Art Museum's crowd control problem
Vincent Rinella
The saxophonist Wayne Shorter, who is 77, is a jazz legend, having performed with and written pieces for Miles Davis and Art Blakey. As a jazz aficionado, I was particularly eager to attend his recent concert, part of the Art Museum's popular free "After 5 on Fridays" series.
Alas, my wife and I never heard the concert, although, after 30 minutes of driving around the Museum, I did locate the last $8 parking place (Museum member rates) at the Museum's parking garage. When I entered the museum at 5:10 p.m. (the concert was scheduled for 5:45), the indoor Grand Stairway was packed with attendees standing and sitting, and there was a mass of other folks, cramped and crowded, sitting at small tables or just milling around the floor near where the concert was to occur.
Museum staffers were carrying tables and food around, pushing people around and exacerbating the barely contained mayhem. There was really no vantage point from which you could view the concert, and the wait for a glass of wine was at least a half hour.
When we asked a Museum employee if we could get a glass of wine somewhere else, she said she didn't know. When we remarked to another employee that the crowd seemed overwhelming, she replied she was frazzled too. Reluctantly, my wife and I left before the concert began.
I was pleased at the extraordinary turnout. But the Art Museum had an obligation to ensure that patrons who spent the time and energy to get there had the opportunity to see the event. Little or no advance thought seemed to have been given to the number of people the space could safely and comfortably accommodate, the arrangement of tables or the food and beverage service. One bar for hundreds people was absurd, and the number of folks squeezed onto the Grand Stairway constituted an environmental hazard.
After that experience, we'll never attend another "After 5" event. I just hope that Wayne Shorter can make it to Chris's Jazz Cafe or Ortlieb's Jazz House in the near future.♦
To read responses, click here.
Alas, my wife and I never heard the concert, although, after 30 minutes of driving around the Museum, I did locate the last $8 parking place (Museum member rates) at the Museum's parking garage. When I entered the museum at 5:10 p.m. (the concert was scheduled for 5:45), the indoor Grand Stairway was packed with attendees standing and sitting, and there was a mass of other folks, cramped and crowded, sitting at small tables or just milling around the floor near where the concert was to occur.
Museum staffers were carrying tables and food around, pushing people around and exacerbating the barely contained mayhem. There was really no vantage point from which you could view the concert, and the wait for a glass of wine was at least a half hour.
When we asked a Museum employee if we could get a glass of wine somewhere else, she said she didn't know. When we remarked to another employee that the crowd seemed overwhelming, she replied she was frazzled too. Reluctantly, my wife and I left before the concert began.
I was pleased at the extraordinary turnout. But the Art Museum had an obligation to ensure that patrons who spent the time and energy to get there had the opportunity to see the event. Little or no advance thought seemed to have been given to the number of people the space could safely and comfortably accommodate, the arrangement of tables or the food and beverage service. One bar for hundreds people was absurd, and the number of folks squeezed onto the Grand Stairway constituted an environmental hazard.
After that experience, we'll never attend another "After 5" event. I just hope that Wayne Shorter can make it to Chris's Jazz Cafe or Ortlieb's Jazz House in the near future.♦
To read responses, click here.
What, When, Where
Wayne Shorter. April 23, 2010 at Philadelphia Museum of Art, Ben Franklin Parkway at 26th St. (215) 763-8100 or www.philamuseum.org.
Sign up for our newsletter
All of the week's new articles, all in one place. Sign up for the free weekly BSR newsletters, and don't miss a conversation.
