Friends From New York
“Started as a dance party. Now developing a creative community that can visualize a greater future”.
Photo credit: @friendsfromnewyork
New York is a creative hub where everyone is chasing after a dream. People come to this city to pursue their passion. But it’s not the city itself that makes New York the main subject of songs and movies, it’s the people we meet and the connections made along the way. Connections that inspire us, elevate us but most importantly open up our view of the world.
I’ve been living out of a suitcase over the past 5 years and realized that no place feels like home quite like New York does. I long for the day when I can sit at a rooftop bar sharing crazy stories and ideas and dancing to epic tunes with strangers meant to become friends.
We recently had the opportunity to talk to Heidi Hartwig, founder of Friends from New York, a community of visionaries, innovators, and creatives that celebrate new art forms, expressions, and ideas that bring us to life. But first and foremost, Friends From New York is an epic dance party.
What was the idea behind Friends From New York?
Friends from New York started around 2006 when I was living in Berlin. Being in such an incredibly artistic city, I wanted to bring my friends’ work over to mingle with the artists I was meeting. I contemplated opening a store to carry my friends’ designs but got carried away with my own photo and film work so I didn’t get that off the ground.
Flash forward 12 years, when I lived in Los Angeles. I saw so many of my friends from New York living like ex-pats here that I decided to create a community and just dance.
I reconnected with an old friend from New York, who I actually met on the dance floor, Julie Mond, and said, “Hey why don’t we start a dance party and call it FFNY?”. We’ve thrown 6 parties and it’s been a really good time seeing friends whom I grew up with within the city. We’ve thrown a few at my friend’s Chinese restaurant, Genghis Cohen. It’s the best New York-style Chinese in LA. He’s a real friend from my high school years in New York.
New York City has always been an epicenter for culture, especially through the music and fashion scene seen in the nightlife. What do you foresee will happen with nightlife culture once restrictions are over?
Like they say, with every great depression comes an even greater party.
There’s gonna be lots of breaking nights, artists, and culture wanting to be seen. If you’re lucky enough to be here when we’re commenting, designing, and going hard then I think you will be in the right place.
It’s going to be interesting not having to leave NYC to get your fill now that we got our weed smoking, and we’ve always had our 4 am’s mix with every culture in the world. I don’t think you’ll want to miss it
Photo credit: @friendsfromnewyork
What period of time would you have liked to experience yourself?
Well, it’s interesting because part of the reason I’m so into Friends from New York is sort of a pop culture history lesson, where you can see into the city kids who were coming up from my era of the 90s.
I’ve always only dreamt about other eras of New York as being the ones I wish I was part of, never thinking about my own time coming up in the city. But my 13-year-old who is super into the 90s made me realize I lived in a super cool time, maybe the last wild Pre-Giuliani New York City. So a lot of what Friends from New York is are images from my high school years growing up in Manhattan, going out, running the streets.
I think the biggest difference about growing up in New York as opposed to other places is that you start going out from a really young age. You get used to going out, being seen, and being part of the nightlife culture.
So we’ve been trying to give some love and attention to the late 90’s early 2000’s New York because we’ve been overlooked or not commented on as of yet.
BUT... if I had to go back, it would be the 70s for the win! That’s all my kind of wild fun! I’d probably be dead from nights at Studio 54, to Mudd club, or Max’s Kansas City. It would be disco naps and late nights on the town- all the time!
How has Friends from New York evolved since it started and where do you see it going post-covid?
I’m excited about the photography world right now. My former boss, Roxanne Lowit, lived through the nightlife scene of the ’70s & ’80s in NYC and taught us a crash course on pop culture in that era.
She was the creator of a niche photography scene and would capture amazing moments, like the before and after at fashion shows. She also normalized makeup tutorials and the inception of backstage photographers. She was a huge part of the nightlife back then, going out every night to magical events and living life to the fullest.
My passion is connecting with people and hooking people up. I must’ve been a matchmaker in a past life as a promoter. I love talking up to my people and connecting others to my creative friends.
So what’s happening now is that I am capturing my friends’ stories on film and remembering what used to be or what still is. I think the next chapter is storytelling about the lives of New Yorkers. Telling stories through photography and collaborating with my friends’ businesses is my main priority.
I also created my first T-shirt collaboration with Genghis Cohen since we throw dance parties there. I want to do more of that because I know so many people that own restaurants!
Photo credit: @friendsfromnewyork / Night at Studio 54
Making friends in a city like New York can be hard, especially for people who are new to it. In your experience what is the best way to meet like-minded people?
Go sit at your local watering hole. Support your neighborhood right now. Meet your neighbors! You live on top of so many people in New York. Especially now, since there’s no tourism, you can actually see who really lives in your neighborhood. So, say “what’s up” to the guy who runs your deli and meet the dude at your pizza place.
Just follow your heart because you love to do shit and you came here to make it happen. Doing your thing will lead you to meet all the right people.
That being said, I have always wondered if I hadn’t grown up in NYC, would I have had the balls to come here and do my thing? The famous saying is true that if you can make it here….You’re made.
How do you think dance and music bring people together?
I think it is our truest connection as a species -- the ability to move your body and to feel the music. Music saves lives. Music is everything.
The hardest part about the pandemic is realizing how beautiful it is to listen to music in your home or on headphones, but not be able to experience it in person. Because there’s a whole different side to just listening to music, which is connecting to other beings. Our lifeline to staying alive is dancing and music. From the community you’ve created, what are the most groundbreaking projects you are seeing that can create a better future?
The FFNY community is incredible! We’re the perfect age: we are pre-Internet, yet part of the Internet. We are Gen X, so we may have a family and children, we’re tech-savvy and have experience. We’re having deep-dive conversations on social media. And Gen Z wants to soak up our wisdom. We want slow, deliberate, things that last. Something made well, done well, with thought behind it. The FFNY community has been there, done that, seen success, lived it, and now we are looking for a deeper connection or understanding of our interconnectedness to it all.
My boy Harry B, @harryb started his own creative agency, sold his company, and now is making Youtube content about his spiritual path and wanting to save the world. Or @ecoshaker who’s on the forefront of fast fashion and fashion waste, advocating for a change in the fashion world, and setting up. I Clean NY which are clean-ups around the city -- Talk about a place to meet cool people! Or my friend @traceyryans who’s consulting with companies on the climate crisis, inclusion, and justice for black lives. Just to name a few.
You know the saying: “Leaders of the past influence the leaders of the future”. That’s FFNY.
Photo credit: @friendsfromnewyork
Photo credit: @friendsfromnewyork
For incredible stories, epic dance parties and to learn more about what this community is doing you can visit their new website: www.friendsfromnewyork.com
Click below to listen to their latest Spring Mix — an exclusive playlist created for We The Cool Magazine.