We know that Coke doesn’t promote Pepsi and vice versa, but this three-day event is only a short bridge ride from The Rockaways – or a short boat ride in Rockaway Inlet – and it’s simply wonderful.
The Floyd Bennett Field! Public Arts Festival runs from Friday, April 19, through Sunday, April 21.
This family-friendly weekend features two evenings of site-specific digital video art works projection-mapped onto the 11,000-square-foot façade of historic Hangars 3 and 4. (Twenty-two artists!)
Parking and admission to all events are free. The schedule follows.
April 19
7:30 pm to 9 pm Opening night preview and reception.
April 20
4 pm to 10:30 pm Nature activities, lawn games, Ranger-led tours, shopping with Rockaway Makers Market, and food trucks (Pizza da Michelino, NUCHAS, Poke Motion, Exotic Bowls, Kinky Taco, Souvlaki GR, Los Parrilleros NYC, Nacho Average Eats, Dilly Dilly Donuts NY, and Crepe Truck.)
8 pm to 9 pm Video Projection Mapping with Derrick Adams, Peter Burr, Eto Otitigbe, Ryan Hartley Smith, and students from Brooklyn College and the Fashion Institute of Technology.
5:45 pm to 8 pm Live music with Wild Yaks, Sesame Flyers, and Batalá.
9 pm to 10:30 pm Silent disco and quiet events DJs with live video projections by Peter Burr with Eric Timothy Carlson, Kerim Safa, Lovid, MSHR, & Yoshi Sodeoka. Sound piece by Martha Hviid.
April 21
10 am to 2 pm Open house-style access to historic buildings and aircraft.
Floyd Bennett Field is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area around Jamaica Bay. It was once NYC’s first municipal airport and a World War II naval air station. Now, it features more than 1,300 acres of grassland, saltmarshes, tidal mudflats, mini-islands and bodies of water.
The Belt Parkway to Exit 11S is one way to get there by car. The Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge is another. Public transportation is scarce, but the Q35 bus goes to the entrance.
The Floyd Bennett Field! Public Arts Festival is presented by Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy with major support from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Ford Foundation.
Images: JBRPC