The New York Public Library is hosted an anti-prom for students who want to celebrate but feel they don’t fit in. Students at the High School of Fashion Industries will host theirs at Astor Hall at the NYPL on Fifth Avenue on Friday. The NYPL also holds anti-proms in the Bronx and Staten Island.
“It’s actually not about canceling prom,” Sanya Wilson, a junior, told ABC7NY. “It’s actually about creating your own type of problem where many people can feel accepted without being an ideal type of standard in society.”
The goal is to welcome anyone who doesn’t conform to traditional norms of the prom, including same-sex couples and anyone who feels they may not fit in at their school’s prom.
“I think the anti-prom perfectly represents libraries, how libraries are for everyone. We want everyone to have access to them, to come and have fun and that’s what we want for anti-prom, too,” Caitlyn Colman-McGaw, NYPL’s associate director of Young Adult Programs and Services, told ABC7NY.
“Proms have come a long way and they’re much more inclusive now and we’re so happy to be a compliment for those, but it’s really cool to be free and it’s cool teens can come with their friends. Everyone is welcome here,” she added.
The event will start with a fashion show. This year, the theme is fantasy.
“It feels pretty amazing to do something big for young people in this space to express their individuality,” Hunter Sky, a sophomore, who designed her own gown, said.
“Everyone can come to this prom, be themselves however they should be,” Carrington Edwards, a junior, added.
