Earth Day Artist Workshop in NYC : "Broadway Boogie Woogie"
Fellow Steemians -
Yesterday I celebrated Earth Day with the lots of colorful markers and enthusiastic young city planners. I hosted an artist workshop at 39th and Broadway for the annual "Car Free NYC" event. Each year the initiative closes 30 blocks of street in celebration of Earth Day and plans tons of fun events and projects between Times Square to Union Square.
I was invited to participate through the NYC Department of Transportation Arts Program. A great group of folks with whom I collaborate often. My project was called...
"Broadway Boogie Woogie" - A collaborative drawing workshop celebrating Broadway as New York City’s signature North-South thoroughfare. For Earth Day, the public is invited to draw and create their own imaginary car-free city.
Process of the "Boogie Woogie"
Here are a few snapshots of the fun from yesterday... The project started with a big blank map of Manhattan, with Broadway (NYC's longest and oldest street) highlighted from top to bottom... From there I consulted with up-and-coming urban planning experts on how we could make Manhattan a greener and more fun place to live...
Here's me (below) meeting with consultants about new zoning for green streets in Midtown...
"We need more big trees!... and dinosaurs!"
"Where's California??" A heated debate ensued. Tensions were quickly resolved through the planting of Red Oak Trees along 8th Avenue...
The end result was a beautiful new master plan for Manhattan! I was thrilled with how the workshop turned out! A big thanks to all the amazingly creative and enthusiastic New Yorkers who helped make this possible. I'll be posting the whole drawing later this week! Stay tuned for more...
"The mission of Car Free Day NYC is to encourage New York City drivers to choose alternative means of moving about NYC on Earth Day, April 22nd, 2017. Car Free Day NYC is an idea that we hope will spark a movement. It addresses critical issues facing our city, our country and our world that stem in part from having too many cars on our city’s streets. From sustainability and environmental justice to land use and urban planning as well as public health and street safety, our overuse of cars has caused numerous urban problems that have mounting social and economic costs. Car Free Day NYC is about encouraging people to make more thoughtful decisions in their daily lives, particularly related to transportation. We are proposing to have Earth Day be a day where we drastically limit the number of cars on New York City streets, by encouraging residents and commuters to choose one of the many other forms of transportation that New York offers for one day of the year." - Car Free NYC
How wonderful! I think the giant dinosaurs is a superb idea- a bit like Godzilla?
There were at least 2 Godzillas drawn...! One in the East Village and one on the edge of Queens :)
so beautiful pics, I can see more colors and more fun ^^ Great way to celebrate Earth Day ^^
Thanks so much Silvia! Colorful markers are always a good ingredient for fun. Happy Earth day to you!
Awesome!
Upvoting and resteeming
Thank you for the support @cjhornung! :-)
Wow, amazing.
Beautiful..
Good job and good luck.!!
@voronoi
Thank you for the kind words Tina!
You are welcome ^_^
@voronoi
What a perfect project for Earth Day, awesome!! Love the photos and captions too.
Haha I had a blast. It was pretty cold and rainy out but luckily that didn't hold people back. Plus the March for Science crowds helped bring out a lot of enthusiasm and Earth Day energy!
I heard about the March for Science and I'm so heartened by it!
"There is no Planet B!" (The signs, as always, were amazing)
Isn't that the truth, yes great sign
This is such a great idea @voronai its a really great way to get youth involved in planning. Considering they are the ones who all the planning is for anyways, its cool because it gives them that shot to say what theyd like to see. And I'm sure there had to have been some really ambitious kids too! I love NYC.
Skrt
Anchorage,AK
Exactly! These kids were super engaged and very interested. I was shocked at how well a 6 year old could navigate a blank map without any street names. They could navigate the map so well, identify parks, plazas and schools. It was a lot of fun. Thanks for the kind words @skrt!
No doubt man! It's great to hear about events in cities that encourage the youth to be more wise in respects to how our cities interact with the environment, and in some places such as Central Park, have a slot of nature in the middle of the city.
I love Nyc man. I went to school at Manhattan College in the Bronx for my first year out of high school. I was on an engineering scholarship, and I decided quickly that I didn't want to be an engineer. But I loved living in Ny. And then it was back to Alaska.
Skrt,
Anchorage,AK
No kidding! It's such a great place, I've been here for about 5 years now (a Philly native myself) ... I've always wanted to go to Alaska though, Central Park is great but I could use a glacier or two thrown in.
great thing! :)
Thank you Paolo! :)