Best Daytime Events At First Night Boston 2012

The biggest daytime event every First Night is the FedEx Family Festival over at the Hynes. It's a full afternoon of family friendly entertainment. But it's not the only stop worth making on December 31. Here are some other best bets before the sun goes down.

See Also:
First Night Family Events
First Night Nighttime Events
First Night Must-See Artists
First Night Ice Sculpture Guide

Elizabeth Mitchell and You Are My Flower

Hynes Auditorium
1 p.m. and 2:15 p.m.

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings artist Elizabeth Mitchell has been recording and performing music for families since 1998. At the suggestion of friend Dan Zanes, Elizabeth was the first new children's artist signed to Smithsonian Folkways in the 21st century. Her latest record, Sunny Day is a collection of "handmade" music of the finest kind, for folks of all ages. Steeped in the tradition, history, and comfort of the folksingers and elders before us and spun with the modern delight and wonder of children, the songs are as young and magical as the very young and magical songwriting family making the music.

New England Anime Society

Hynes Convention Center, Room 312
1-6 p.m.

Back by popular demand! The New England Anime Society, convention organizers of Anime Boston, presents the best and most popular Japanese animation.

Sean Fielder and the Boston Tap Company

Hynes Ballroom
3:30-5 p.m.

The mission of the Boston Tap Company is to educate and entertain through art as a way of life. Bring your tap shoes and join in as Sean and the Boston Tap Company hold a master class, join in a Tap Battle and perform for your enjoyment.

ICA

100 Northern Ave.
Open to First Night button holders 10 am —5 p.m.
Featured Exhibition - Mark Bradford

Through his collaged paintings, sculptures, videos, and installations, Mark Bradford explores issues of class, race, and gender in American urban society. An archeologist of his own environment, Los Angeles, Bradford uses found materials—peeling movie posters, hand-lettered "FOR SALE" signs, endpapers used to perm black hair, salvaged plywood—which he layers, embellishes, erodes, and reconstitutes into abstract compositions.

Project STEP

Boston Public Library
1 p.m. and 2 p.m.

Project STEP was founded in 1982 to address the reality that Blacks and Latinos are underrepresented in classical music. Since then, the organization has worked to identify and train minority students who wouldn't otherwise have access to the best available training. Every graduate of Project STEP has gone on to college or conservatory, and many are now playing in orchestras, teaching music, or mentoring current Project STEP students. At First Night, the Honors String Quartet will perform, along with two other chamber groups, under the direction of Mariana Green-Hill, a Project STEP alumna.