New Year’s Eve traditionally involves going to parties, most with lots of alcohol. In 1975, a group of Boston artists decided the holiday deserved something better than repetitive pop music, bad drinks, and a televised ball drop. They founded First Night, a huge arts festival with performances and installations around the city and not a bar in sight. It became a huge success and spread to cities across the country. In 2008, the deep recession hit the non-profit that runs First Night hard. Last June, they finally ran out of funds for good and closed, leaving a huge hole in the city’s cultural fabric. Unwilling to let one of the region’s signature events disappear, the city of Boston took over organizing duties. Unlike the previous group, who tended to emphasize high-brow performance groups and family friendly
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