First Night USA is the National Association of Community-based New Year's Eve Arts Festivals. It is an initiative for First Night, Inc. - presenter of the First Night Boston Festival of the Arts, the oldest and largest festival of its kind in North America started in 1976. First Night provides opportunities for audiences in about 80 cities and towns across the United States to explore and celebrate their unique communities through New Year's Eve festivities provided by a national network of nonprofit organizations and municipal agencies.
The mission of First Night is to build community and celebrate diversity through the arts. Nationally-based First Night organizers are dedicated to this goal, promoting music, dance, theatre, and the visual arts as catalysts for unifying their citizens on New Year's Eve (and beyond) through creativity, imagination, and participation. First Night, Inc. licenses First Night organizers and empowers them to plan and produce festivals that reflect their particular constituents and communities.
All First Night Cities agree to the following standards in planning and implementing their First Night Celebrations:
- The Celebration takes place on New Year's Eve with a focus on the themes of reflection, rejoicing and renewal made evident through its creative programs.
- The public is invited to actively participate in the Celebration through the inclusion of creative programs that are designed for hands-on participation.
- Children and family programming is available throughout the duration of the Celebration. There is no-alcohol policy to which is strictly adhered.
- Artistic programs are of high quality and include a broad spectrum of performing and visual arts that reflect the diverse artistic and cultural communities of First Night cities and towns.
- The Celebration includes a participatory Procession Ceremony that invites the community to come together and celebrate as one.
- The Celebration often uses indoor and outdoor venues that may include nontraditional locations such as places of worship, municipal buildings, plazas, streets, balconies etc. to present its programs and create a unique experience for attendees. Often, programs are occurring simultaneously.
