The initial sessions took place at the DecadesOut Studio in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The theme of the workshops was the exploration of local Brooklyn neighborhoods - namely, Park/South Slope, Carroll Gardens, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn Heights, Gowanus, and Red Hook.
Participants were encouraged to explore their local neighborhoods visually — with an eye toward becoming aware of the beauty and challenges facing our urban landscape. Through our collaboration with the Trust for Public Land, we also had the opportunity to collaborate with other students working to rebuild local playgrounds.
In 2018, the we brought the program to our neighborhood school, PS 118: The Maurice Sendak Community School, where we worked with 3rd graders over the course of several weeks to create short films about topics of their choosing based on the themes outlined above. It was a wonderfully collaborative process, which resulted in a special screening of their finished films for parents and teachers at the end of the session.
