Jake Resnicow, a world-renowned event producer, was sitting at a beer garden in New York’s Governors Island during the spring 2010.
Resnicow, who had been a Deloitte consultant, quit that job earlier in the year to become an event producer and throw a Pride party in New York City. Resnicow was just told by the Brooklyn bar that it would be closing permanently.
Resnicow had an idea after looking at the 172-acre island with mostly empty fields and abandoned military buildings just south of Manhattan. Resnicow would host the party there. He approached one of the few bars on the island to help him.
Resnicow, 37, recalls that he once went up to one the bartenders, asking them if they had ever organized an event there. They replied, “No, that’s just not going to happen.”
Resnicow, dressed in a suit and tie the next day, returned to the city and met unannounced with officials. They agreed to allow him to host the first ever large-scale concert at Governors Island. The island is now well-known for its summer music events.
Resnicow, a gay man with little experience in event marketing, created video reels of Pride parties he attended in Ibiza. He used Apple’s early video editing software, iMovie. It worked.
On the last Saturday in June 2010, thousands of LGBTQ individuals travelled from around the globe to New York to attend the event. They travelled by ferry to Governors Island to enjoy a six-hour DJ set with Broadway performers, ballerinas and fireworks.
Resnicow stated that he felt a sense of magic while on the island. It really came from the heart. That’s what I really believe and what I say.
Resnicow was a star in nightlife after his first event. His company Jake Resnicow Events has hosted more than 1,200 parties over the past 12 years, he stated. His events include some of the most popular LGBTQ celebrations around the globe, including the Life Ball in Vienna and the White Party in Miami. He also hosts World Pride’s WE Party. It features top musicians like Ricky Martin and Janet Jackson.
Resnicow and DJ Ty Sunderland will co-produce the Planet Pride festival at the Brooklyn Mirage. It is a 12-hour party that takes place during New York City Pride weekend. Galantis, SG, Lewis, and LP Giobbi will be the headliners. There will also be performances by Aquaria and Gottmik, “RuPaul Drag Racing” alums, and a “surprise popstar”.
Resnicow, who now lives in New York and Miami, was born outside Boston. Resnicow said that he fell in love with nightlife while working as a DJ and MC at local weddings and bar mitzvahs. He decided to take a break from the world of nightlife and study government at Georgetown University.
Resnicow graduated college in 2008. He continued his interest in politics and Capitol Hill. He moved to New York shortly after graduating college to become a Deloitte human capital analyst. This position lasted almost two years. Resnicow was at a party in Ibiza during that time and felt a strong connection to his childhood love for nightlife.
Resnicow stated that New York’s nightlife was very dark in 2010. “I went to Ibiza and saw drag queens and aerialists. I thought, ‘Why can’t we have this?’
Resnicow attributes his trip to Ibiza, known as one the party capitals in the world, to his knack for throwing parties that are “magical moments that blow people’s minds.”
Resnicow is bringing the “wow factor” to New York City’s Pride weekend. Resnicow’s Planet Pride festival will be accessible to people from around the globe via the metaverse, which is a virtual reality world.
Resnicow stated that you can not only interact with people and talk to them, but also walk to the stage to see the live performance and enjoy the party. Instead of being a linear stream, it’s actually a live experience.
Resnicow said that he is also working with many LGBTQ advocacy groups to bring them to the metaverse, so queer people around the globe can anonymously access their services from their homes.
Resnicow’s parties double as fundraisers for LGBTQ causes. Resnicow claimed that he raised millions of euros by producing the Life Ball in Europe, which was one of Europe’s most important charity events to fight HIV/AIDS. It ran from 1992 through 2019. Resnicow said that the WE Party at New York’s Javits Center raised more than $500,000 for various LGBTQ charities during World Pride 2019.
His Planet Pride event this year will benefit NYC Pride, which hosts New York City’s annual Pride parade, as well FEMME House which assists women and LGBTQ people working in the music industry.
While Pride parties and LGBTQ celebrations have been a great way to lift the community, others have become targets of hate-fueled attacks over recent years.
Federal prosecutors arrested a man they claimed threatened to attack the NYC Pride March this year with “firepower” that would make the shooting at the Orlando Pulse Nightclub last year look like a “cakewalk”. This was referring to the Florida massacre that left 49 people dead, and many others injured. Last month, a man entered Rash Bar in Brooklyn with a bottle filled with flammable liquid. He set the place ablaze.
Resnicow stated that the hate-based attacks “speak volumes about how important it is to do what we have to” for the LGBTQ community.
He said, “I repeat it over and again, but it is something I truly mean from the heart: We must provide safe spaces where people can gather and celebrate Pride 24 hour a day, seven day a week in an open space.”
There have been many issues within the LGBTQ community that plague the LGBTQ nightlife scene. Queer activists of color in recent years have accused the LGBTQ industry of catering only to gay, white men while leaving out queer people and transgenders.
After several incidents that involved racial discrimination at different LGBTQ bars, 11 Philadelphia queer venue owners were required to undergo anti-discrimination training in 2017. After allegedly racist comments by Burkhart’s owner on his Facebook page, a group consisting of transgender women of color quit their jobs at the popular Atlanta gay club. In 2020, a Number Nine bartender was accused of wearing a Covid-19 mask with a “black face”. Management at the bar later apologized, saying that the bartender had no idea what the mask meant.
Resnicow, a white man, acknowledged that there were concerns about racial discrimination in his field.
He said, “The truth is, it must change.” “And one thing I have learned in the last few years is that everyone needs to be included, and that starts at the top. It’s up to us as event producers.
