First Night Austin: Get Your Creative On

Logo and image from First Night Austin website

Looking for New Year’s Eve Plans? First Night Austin is going to be a new tradition for this city, and since we like anything that supports the arts community in Austin, we are very excited about this one. Since the activities are stretching between 2PM and midnight, you can either go early before your partying begins, or end up your evening downtown for the First Night Finale.

According to the First Night Austin website, the main idea behind First Night is that downtown’s plazas, parks, streets and storefronts will be transformed into a canvas where all may participate in a “festival of art, imagination, music and creativity.“

The program page is the key source to see all the details about what’s going on, but here’s the schedule in summary:

Family Festival: 2–5 PM
Grand Procession: 5:30 – 6:30 PM
Family Finale: 7 PM
Evening Program: 7:30 - 11:30 PM
Midnight Finale: 12 AM

You can also check out the Program by its artistic disciplines (Dance, Music, Performance, Film & Video/Projections, Literary/Spoken Word, Visual Art/Installations) and by the artist timeline schedule.

First Night Austin
Date: Saturday, December 31, 2005
Cost: All the outdoor events are FREE.
For the indoor events, you need to buy a button. They are $8 in advance of the event, $10 at the event. Children six and under are free. Buttons will also be given to those who volunteer for a minimum of three hours in advance of or on the day of the event.
Location: Various parts of downtown. See a map for the different event locations.