August 6, 2016

DDC STEAM Initiatives Participates in Summer Streets Festival

An aerial view of DDC's STEAM team.

On Saturday August 6th, 2016 the New York City Department of Design and Construction STEAM Initiatives Division and the Percent for Art Division participated in the Summer Streets festival in Lower Manhattan. Summer Streets, organized by the NYC Department of Transportation, is an annual celebration of NY’s most valuable public space–our streets. Summer Streets provides space for healthy recreation and encourages New Yorkers to use more sustainable forms of transportation. Various city agencies and community organizations provided family friendly activities including artistic performances, interactive lessons, art and sculpture making, fitness classes, outdoor dining, and physical activities. More than 300,000 people took advantage of the open streets this summer.

DDC staff members from the Public Arts Division, Office of Community Outreach and Notification and STEAM organized creative arts activities and informed community members about the many infrastructure upgrades that the city will be constructing. Community members were able to answer trivia questions about Science, Technology, Engineering, Architecture, and Mathematics and help paint an informational mural depicting how and where New York City residents get their water. The resulting artwork by Summer Streets participants will be temporarily on display at Foley Square.

DDC and volunteers paint a construction fence that shows how New Yorkers get their drinking water.