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After a long year of curfews and closures, officials are looking for new ways to wake up the city that never sleeps. In their first-ever report released last week, the Office of Nightlife (ONL), outlined a series of recommendations for the city — including the creation of a nightlife museum.
The Wall Street Journal reported that this niche cultural institution would serve to reframe nightlife as one of the city’s most vital cultural and economic drivers. ONL’s report describes “an archive of memorabilia” that could be “partially funded through donations from the nightlife community to preserve and maintain the quality of the items.”
It adds: “The collection would offer a visual and written history of New York nightlife, highlighting its growth in the early 1900s, through the Prohibition era, to the movements for equal rights in the 1960s and 70s, and continuing up to the present day. In addition to traditional museum programming, the institution could host events that recall venues that have closed but are not forgotten.” The agency is exploring possible partners to bring the project to life.
Turning its focus to the more practical aspects of New York living, the report also addresses common “quality of life” issues like expanding Sunday morning waste removal services and dealing with noise complaints, for which it proposes financial incentives to help venues improve soundproofing measures.