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Coachella Organizers Move Festival To Randall's Island After Denied Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

Jen Carlson

Published Jan 12, 2016

Modified Jan 11, 2016

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Jen Carlson

Published Jan 12, 2016

Modified Jan 11, 2016

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Get your Festival Fashion in order. (Photo by Perhansa Skallerup/LAist)

While rumor had it that AEG Live/Goldenvoice was headed to Queens' Flushing Meadows-Corona Park with their Panorama festival (their East Coast answers to Coachella), they just announced that they'll hold it on Randall's Island instead. This appears to have been their alternate plan all along, and they pulled the trigger on this announcement shortly after Mayor de Blasio announced there would be no festivals in the park this year.

Goldenvoice, producers of the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival, announces Panorama, a music festival coming to New York City on July 22-24, 2016. Taking place at Randall’s Island Park, the inaugural event will present three days of top tier musical performances, dynamic art installations, innovative technology, and some of NYC’s best local eats.

The festival is named after the Panorama of the City of New York, the massive to-scale model of the city located in Queens Museum, which they had hoped to host their festival near. There were some issues with moving their Park plans forward, however, specifically Queens Borough President Melinda Katz reportedly "refus[ing] to back any of the proposals unless the city requires applicants to meet with the community before awarding permits." Today, Mayor de Blasio announced there would be no festivals at the park this summer—the Parks Dept. has denied "all current applications by for-profit companies to hold paid-admission music festivals this summer in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park." MSG had also hoped to host their festival there.

Katz released a new statement today following the announcement by the City and by Panorama festival:

"Mayor de Blasio’s decision today is both fair to all applicants and allows the City to first establish an official policy as to whether and how we shut down and rent out public parks to for-profit companies. Events of any scale that enhance our borough are encouraged. The use of our public parks, however, need to be publicly vetted and coordinated under an official city policy, because the absence of one renders the entire process unfair. The merits - or lack thereof - of any existing or future individual application cannot be fairly considered in the void of policy and public participation, which are paramount. I look forward to reviewing the subsequent policies crafted on a selection criteria and a process for community input that will be used to consider future proposals."

Mark Shulman of Goldenvoice released this statement, noting he hopes to host a festival there eventually: "[We] remain committed to continue its work of the last two years with the park users, elected officials, park institutions, and communities surrounding Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to produce a world class event in Queens. Goldenvoice has received tremendous support from the local community and elected officials who recognize the immense economic benefits these types of events deliver to their businesses and constituents. We look forward to continuing our discussions with NYC Parks to create an event to take place in Queens in the future."

Another change: originally Goldenvoice was aiming for a June 17th festival, which would have fallen soon after Governors Ball, taking place on the weekend of June 3rd. This would have created competitive booking situation and potentially effected ticket sales, though it's unclear if Governors Ball petitioning against that original date had anything to do with them changing it.

Governors Ball, which is taking place on Randall's Island as well, has just announced an insane lineup featuring Kanye West, The Strokes, Beck, Robyn, and many more. Panorama has not announced their lineup yet.

Tagged

aeg live

coachella east

goldenvoice

music festival

randall's island

Jen Carlson

Jen Carlson is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations

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