For our latest mission, thousands of people followed secret, synchronized instructions delivered via headphones in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The crowd of around 2,000 people created real-life Instagram Boomerangs, cheered for random joggers, and made music together with drum sticks and household objects, surprising the New Yorkers and tourists in the park. The drum sticks were generously donated by Promark, and the event was a partnership with Make Music New York. This was all part of our our fifteenth annual Mp3 Experiment event.

A huge thanks to the amazing community of people that come out to be a part of this event every year. So many of you came up to us to tell us how many years you’ve been doing it, or how far you traveled to be there (some from out of the country!) We’re so proud of what a diverse, joyful celebration the Mp3 Experiment has become. As silly as the project is, it’s life-affirming to be in a crowd of strangers, all smiling, laughing, and supporting each other.

If you’re new, be sure to join our email list to be the first to hear details for next year’s event when we do it. We also have an NYC Mp3 Experiment Facebook group you can join. We support this free event by touring it to schools, festivals, and conferences around the world. If you want to hire us to stage one for you, get in touch. We put together a quick survey for people who participated this year. If you were there and have few minutes, please fill it out and help us make things even better next year!

Here are some of our favorite photos from this year.

Participants form long lines on either side of the two main jogging paths in the park, creating a race by cheering on random runners and cyclists.

The selfie-photo-bomb challenge. Participants wearing stripes had to take a selfie without getting photo-bombed by someone wearing a solid-colored shirt.

Participants surround the Harbor View Lawn, and then dashed across the lawn simultaneously, in a mad scramble.

The sun sets over Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.

The first 1,000 participants received a drum stick, which led to tons of fun games. Everyone was asked to bring spoons, which served as a back up for those who didn’t get drum sticks.

Participants brought buckets and worked together to create the tallest bucket tower. They then created long stepping stone paths.

Participants were asked to bring a metal, cardboard, and plastic container. These items, along with their buckets, created a drum kit for the “drum stick finale.”

Participants celebrating the end.

Mission Accomplished

OTHER RESOURCES:

To find out about future Improv Everywhere events like this, be sure to sign up for our New York Agents Mailing List.

HIRE US
We regularly tour The Mp3 Experiment around the world to places like Berlin, Germany and Adelaide, Australia and to college campuses in the US like UNC and Texas Tech. If you’re part of an organization (festival, conference, university student activities board, arts group) that is interested in commissioning an Mp3 Experiment, get in touch via our contact form.

Watch the videos of our previous 14 Mp3 Experiment projects.

Here are the official photos from our photographers:
– Photos from Arin Sang-urai
– Photos from Andrew Bisdale

As always, all of the music was created by our composer Tyler Walker. Check out his site to download free songs from the Mp3 Experiments.