Flavorwire

Now that Christmas is nothing more than a pile of shredded wrapping paper and tinsel on the floor of your family’s living room, ’tis the season to think about how we can make slightly less of a mess of things in the year ahead. That’s right: New Year’s resolutions. Of course, here at Flavorwire, we’re not so interested in your plan to get ripped or reconnect with your middle-school best friend. Our favorite resolutions are of the cultural variety — and who better to ask about those than 50 of New York’s most promising emerging culture makers? We hope their compelling, diverse, and sometimes humorous resolutions will inspire you to make some of your very own.

Le1f

“I want to see and experience more of the wonderful creative output coming from all corners of the city, from all mediums, just more. Music, art, dance, comedy, I want to experience all of it. Specifically, I’ve noticed in the past year or so that there are a lot of creative people in New York doing very interesting out of the box stuff. It’s not hipstery, it’s not forced, it just seems to be in the air that people want to experiment with the traditional forms of their disciplines. There is a lot of bizarre stuff going on in a lot of different mediums, and as the people creating this bizarre stuff keep finding each other, the mediums themselves matter less and less. I don’t want to be dramatic, but as the host of a show where a lot of weird comedians and filmmakers and bands and artists have congregated, I can’t help but sense that there’s something odd bubbling up in New York City, and I’m just glad I get to be around to witness and help facilitate it.” — Chris Gethard

“My goal is to spend more time seeing shows (music/theater/art) during the week and getting out into nature on the weekends — balancing city life with the natural beauty of upstate.” — Gretchen Jones

“I want to take the East River Ferry more regularly, I want to find a better Indian restaurant, and I want to dive deeper into my exploration of Kabuki theater.” — Alex Karpovsky

“More TV! I’m currently deep into Deadwood and The West Wing and never want them to end, but suppose they will soon enough. And more house-visiting, specifically: Eleanor Roosevelt’s Val-Kill and Edna St. Vincent Millay’s Steepletop. It’s my dream to spend a week in Edith Wharton’s bedroom at The Mount, but I’m not sure that’s allowed.” — Kate Bolick

“Go to more queer or Latino or punk (or whatever sub-identity) events that exist outside of my community, like more reading series or more drag performances that aren’t specifically at my friends’ events. Although it’s true, this is a cycle, where I go out and explore, and the slightest trigger of alienation makes me a little jaded and tired; so it motivates me to create the spaces I want to live in. So now that I am living in these spaces (setting up a lot of queer punk shows) and have healed from my last bout of alienation, I’m stoked to connect with stuff outside of this.” — Cristy C. Road

“I’d like to finally complete this cyberweaponized performance piece that climaxes by crashing the Internet – unfortunately, like most people, I have a tough time keeping my resolutions. So, while it may not be quite as catastrophic in scope, I can promise the release of some destructive work at LETHAL SOFTWARE Art Hack Day, where I’ll be participating in the mayhem. Couple of places on my must-visit list in 2013: the Rothko Chapel in Austin, Texas and Gottfried Böhm’s brutalist church, Mariendom Neviges in West Germany.” — Jeremiah Johnson

“I think 2013 is about raging. I don’t wanna go to any galleries unless I can glide down a 20-storey water slide holding hands with Marina Abramovic. All concerts should be like Dethklok’s in Metalocalypse. I’m only going to mermaid balls and aquarium raves from now on.” — Le1f

“See more theater! I recently saw the new production of Edward Albee’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (incredible!! go and see it right now!) and I thought: why don’t I do this all of the time?” — Ayana Mathis

“The Brooklyn Museum is close my apartment and yet I never go! So, making a short trip there would be a nice start (especially on First Saturdays). Also, Littlefield is an amazing venue in Gowanus. I constantly see amazing shows (visual art, comedy, music) on their calendar and find myself only going there when I’m doing standup. It’s a special place.” — Hari Kondabolu

“Next year I really want to see more stuff at The Museum of the Moving Image. I’ve neglected it simply ‘cuz I don’t often find myself in Astoria. They have awesome programming -— both old and new films -— and for movie nerds, it’s one of the best screens and sound systems in the city.” — Craig Zobel