It's hard to picture the Lower East Side of the future — maybe there'll be hipsters in flying cars.
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But The New Museum has a different image in mind for the future of the neighborhood. On May 4 through 8, the museum on the Bowery will host "The Festival of Ideas for the New City," and its goal is to open a forum for ideas that will propel the city forward in the 21st century.
"The Festival of Ideas for the New City was initially conceived by the New Museum three years ago as a natural outgrowth of its ongoing commitment to public education and civic outreach," said Gabriel Einsohn, the New Museum's communications director.
This year marks the festival's debut. More than 100 organizations will participate in the project — NYU's Wagner Graduate School of Public Service is one of the 11 organizing partners. Lydie Diakhaté, one of the project's curators, said NYU's Grey Art Gallery and Fales Library are also teaming up to present an exhibit during the festival called "Remembering Downtown."
"I think this festival is really important to the community itself," said Jane Friedman, an executive board member of the Howl! Festival, which aims to give financial assistance to artists in the East Village and the Lower East Side.
The Howl! Festival is involved in two panels in the Festival of Ideas.
One of the panels will focus on the future of health care and will be lead by Stanley Brezenoff, the president of Continuum Health Partners. Howl!'s main concern is that artists are taken care of.
"Our primary interest is giving exposure to the artists, helping them to show their work and providing as many services as we can for them," she said.
Howl! is also organizing a panel for the festival in conjunction with the Actors Fund, giving exposure to affordable housing in Manhattan.
The Two Bridges Neighborhood Council is also involved. Robert Weber, an urban planner at Two Bridges, has spent the last decade researching Chinatown and Little Italy. Weber has been working with an urban planning class from Pace University, taking long observational walks through the areas. At the festival, the students will showcase their work through videos and photography.
"We thought it would be a good idea to take a look, working with six students at Pace, go out into the community, walk through the neighborhood," he said. "Get an idea of the change: Who is living there, who is shopping there, where does Chinatown stop? To some extent, I think it's very subjective."
Each day of the "Festival of Ideas for the New City," will usher in a new theme: the networked city, the heterogeneous city, the sustainable city and the reconfigured city.
Rem Koolhaas, author of "Delirious New York" and a noted architect, will be speaking on May 4. Musician David Byrne will also be featured in a workshop.
The Bowery has seen a myriad of changes over the past few years, including the impending demolition of 35 Cooper Square. According to Friedman, the festival will help address some of the problems in the area, especially economic issues.
"All of the changes people are going through in their lives can be helped by this — ways to solve problems, ways to move ahead. It's very important for this community," she said. "It's not just for artists, it's for everybody."
