Tag Archives: millwork

Armory Show – March 7

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The Displayers have been recommended by MMPI (Merchandise Mart Properties) to Gagosian Gallery and Various Small Fires and Liz Magic Laser to develop exhibits for The 2013 Armory Show.  In past years The Displayers work at The Armory Show have included Julian Opie’s Automobiles that graced the entrance of the show that can be seen in the Artist Edition section of our website.

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The Armory Show, a leading international contemporary and modern art fair and one of the most important annual art events in New York, takes place every March on Piers 92 & 94 in central Manhattan. The Armory Show is devoted to showcasing the most important artworks of the 20th and 21st centuries. In its fifteen years the fair has become an international institution, combining a selection of the world’s leading galleries with an exceptional program of arts events and exhibitions throughout New York during the celebrated Armory Arts Week.

 

Dates and times:

Pier 92 & 94 – Twelfth Avenue at 55th Street New York City

The Armory Show 2013 Opening Day takes place Wednesday, March 6th for invited guests.

Public Hours:

Thursday, March 7th – Saturday, March 9th, 12pm to 7 pm
Sunday, March 10th, 12pm to 7 pm

 

Directions:

Piers 92 & 94 are located on Manhattan’s west side on the Hudson River (Twelfth Avenue) at 55th Street in the Passenger Ship Terminal complex. The piers are easily accessible by public transportation, taxi, and private vehicle. The nearest subway stop is four cross-town blocks east at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue.

Shuttle Bus Service:

Shuttles are available between The Armory Show on Piers 92 & 94 and VOLTA NY on 34th Street near Fifth Avenue.

Mass Transit:

Piers 92 & 94 can be reached by public transportation via the Eighth Avenue subway, E or C trains to 50th Street, then via M50 bus line. The M50 bus runs west on 49th Street (to the pier) and east on 50th Street (from the pier) connecting at Eighth Avenue (E or C subway) and at Seventh Avenue (1 or 9 subway). Also, bus lines M16 and M42 provide service to 42nd Street and Twelfth Avenue. For subway and bus information and schedules, call (718) 330-1234

By Car:

From the Lincoln Tunnel, take 42nd Street west to Twelfth Avenue. Continue north on Twelfth Avenue to Piers 92 & 94 (at the Passenger Ship Terminal). From the Queens-Midtown Tunnel, go west via 34th Street to Twelfth Avenue. Continue north to the piers (at the Passenger Ship Terminal). Access to the piers for private cars is available via 55th Street and Twelfth Avenue. All vehicles should follow signs for the Passenger Ship Terminal parking.

 

 

History of The Armory Show:

The Armory Show, housed in Piers 92 and 94 along the Hudson River on Manhattan’s west side, is the largest art fair in New York and one of the principal annual art events in the international art market calendar. Visited by tens of thousands of people each March, the Armory has for almost two decades been the showpiece for some of the world’s most important modern and contemporary art galleries. Canonical names from Picasso to Pollock have all been presented at the fair, as have, in equal measure, some of the most cutting edge artists of a younger generation. Organized by The Armory Show, Armory Arts Week has emerged as one of liveliest moments in New York’s already rich cultural calendar, with a number of smaller art fairs temporarily alighting throughout the city and the major museums staging their marquee exhibitions to coincide with the fair.

 

Founded in 1994 by dealers Colin de Land, Pat Hearn, Matthew Marks, and Paul Morris as the Gramercy International Art Fair, named after its initial location in the legendary Gramercy Park Hotel, The Armory Show acquired its new title in 1999 following the fair’s migration to the 69th Regiment Armory on Lexington Avenue. The name was an homage to the legendary 1913 exhibition of the same name that also took place in this building, which famously showcased works by avant-garde European artists never previously seen on American soil side-by-side with their American counterparts. This original Armory Show is widely credited for bringing Modern art to New York, and its eclectic and unorthodox mix of genres, juxtaposing Vincent van Gogh alongside Marcel Duchamp and Edward Hopper, has been a source of inspiration for ensuing decades and continues to linger today, 100 years later.

 

While its location at the 69th Regiment Armory was only temporary, the current Armory Show was inspired by the idea of bringing new art from all over the globe together under one roof. The fair moved to the west side piers in 2001, initially on Piers 88 and 90. Like the fair’s previous locations, the piers feature prominently in New York City history, and are also a characteristic part of its visual make-up, with their finger-like structures poking out from Manhattan on popular bird’s eye view maps of the island.

 

The piers are numbered according to their original position amongst over a hundred similarly sized piers from the south tip of the island to the Upper West Side. Located between 52nd Street and 55th Street on Twelfth Avenue. The Armory’s piers are on the edge of midtown, with it’s characteristic skyline and flashy neon signs hovering just a few blocks away.

 

The piers are visual reminders of a significant time in New York’s past, when the Hudson River was central to the city’s transportation infrastructure. Wider than the East River, and connected to timber, coal, livestock, and other natural resources from upstate New York, the waterway carried steamboats and ferries to a budding metropolis long before cars became mainstream. Passengers and cargo were off-loaded at the various piers, which further connected the surrounding area by rail—the Highline, now a public park, extended from the riverfront to the Meatpacking District and SoHo.

 

As the emergent auto industry gradually diminished the reliance on rail and waterways by mid-century, traffic to west Manhattan thinned. Businesses at the piers closed down and many were left to decay. Their desolate, frail structures could be dangerous territory to frequent, but also offered temporary homes to various artist projects, the most illustrious, perhaps, being Gordon Matta-Clark’s iconic Day’s End on Pier 52 from 1974. As with his characteristic building cuts, the artist, to use his own words, took “a decaying sad reminder of a previous industrial era and renovated it.” While the police were quick to put an end to the huge, gaping hole cut in the far wall of the abandoned pier, thus letting in air, light, and reflections cast by the Hudson’s sparkling water, the intervention stood as a visionary effort to revive the west side waterfront, which was ahead of its time by over thirty years.

 

In the last decade, significant cultural redevelopment of the area has been underway. The Hudson River Park, extending from Battery Park to 59th Street, is the largest park to be created in Manhattan since Central Park (completed in 1873), and provides home to a marina, sports complex, driving range, canoeing club, and many other popular year-round attractions. The remaining piers closest to the Armory still serve as a hub for ocean-bound ships and cruise liners (with the New York Passenger Terminal handling over one million travelers every year), as well as The Intrepid, the Second World War aircraft carrier, which now houses a museum.

 

Set within the city’s ever-changing urban landscape, The Armory Show on Piers 92 and 94 has become an integral part of the cultural redevelopment of Manhattan’s west side. As both a leading international art fair and a New York institution, it continues to evolve as a site for discovery and for supporting the great galleries and artists of our time.

 

Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc.

Overview of Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. (MMPI), a division of Vornado Realty Trust, is a leading owner and operator of integrated showroom and office buildings, as well as trade show facilities, bringing buyers and sellers together through market events, trade and consumer events and conferences. As both a property manager and trade show producer, MMPI has been North America’s market maker for the industries it serves, bringing together wholesalers, retailers and consumers for more than 65 years.

 

NYC x Design

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Christine Quinn on Tapping New York’s Vein of Design

New York Times – Currents | Events / By JULIE LASKY / Published: February 13, 2013

After months of vigorous planning, New York will have a 12-day celebration of design this spring extending over all five boroughs. NYC x Design will run from May 10 to 21, to coincide with the International Contemporary Furniture Fair at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center and Frieze New York art fair on Randalls Island. Pronounced “NYC by Design” and interdisciplinary in scope, it will present the work of local designers and architects in museum exhibitions, conferences, studio tours, showroom displays, pop-up stores, art installations and a design film festival.

Tony Cenicola/The New York Times NYTCREDIT: Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

The goal is greater visibility for an industry with untapped economic potential, said City Council Speaker Christine C. Quinn (left), whose office is leading the project with a steering committee of more than 30 design leaders from business, civic and cultural groups. “We have more designers in New York City than any other U.S. city, but we do a terrible job promoting them in their totality,” she said.

Ideally, the festival would seed itself over time and multiply the number of New York design jobs, she said. In the future, “if we’re doing it right, there’s more set designers in Brooklyn and Queens, more furniture designers in Brooklyn and more jewelry designers in the South Bronx and Lower East Side.”

Festival events can be found at NYCxDesign.com, a Web site that was introduced this week. The program will continue to be updated.

 

Link to The New York Times Article

MOMA – Labrouste Exhibit

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The Displayers will construct tables to match those Henri LaBrouste designed for the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève in the 1840’s.

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The Museum of Modern Art describes this show as:
Henri Labrouste: Structure Brought to Light, the first solo exhibition of Labrouste’s work in the United States, establishes his work as a milestone in the modern evolution of architecture. The exhibition includes over 200 works, from original drawings—many of them watercolors of haunting beauty and precision—to vintage and modern photographs, films, architectural models, and fragments. Labrouste made an invaluable impact on 19th-century architecture through his exploration of new paradigms of space, materials, and luminosity in places of great public assembly. His two magisterial glass-and-iron reading rooms in Paris, the Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève (1838–50) and the Bibliothèque nationale (1859–75), gave form to the idea of the modern library as a temple of knowledge and as a space for contemplation. Labrouste also sought a redefinition of architecture by introducing new materials and new building technologies. His spaces are at once overwhelming in the daring modernity of their exposed metal frameworks, lightweight walls, and brightness, and immersive in their timelessness.

The Javits Center Information

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The Javits Center is host to many leading conventions, trade shows, consumer shows and special events. There is no better world stage than the Javits Center on which to produce, exhibit or attend an event.

Whatever brings you here, we are committed to making your experience truly rewarding. And as a destination city, nothing quite compares to New York City as the finance, entertainment, publishing and fashion capital of  the world.

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Directions to The Javits Center

By Car 
By Truck

Getting to the Javits Center couldn’t be easier. To get here, just follow these simple directions.

By Car

While there is no parking at the javits Center are many parking garages throughout the Javits Center vicinity. See parking for locations and phone numbers of convenient parking near us. We are located on 11th Avenue between 34th and 39th Streets.

From the North (Westchester, Connecticut, Massachusetts)
95 South (via the Cross-Bronx Expressway) to the George Washington Bridge. At approach to bridge, bear right to lower level. Exit at the last exit in New York–Parkway South–9A. Follow Parkway South (Henry Hudson Parkway/West Side Highway) to 42nd Street. Turn left. Go one block to 11th Avenue and turn right.

Saw Mill River Parkway/Henry Hudson Parkway/Route 9A: Follow 9A South to 42nd Street. Turn Left. Go one block to 11th Avenue and turn right.

New York State Thruway/Major Deegan Expressway/Route 87: Major Deegan Expressway to George Washington Bridge exit. Stay in right lane towards lower level. Exit at the last exit in New York–Parkway South–9A. Follow Parkway South (Henry Hudson Parkway/West Side Highway) to 42nd Street. Turn left. Go one block to 11th Avenue and turn right.

From the South (New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, etc.)
95 North to the New Jersey Turnpike. Exit at the Lincoln Tunnel. When exiting the tunnel, bear left. Follow signs for uptown or northbound to 42nd Street. Turn left onto 42nd Street until you reach 11th Avenue and turn left.

George Washington Bridge to Parkway South– 9A. At 42nd Street, turn left. Go one block to 11th Avenue and turn right.

From Queens and Long Island
Queens-Midtown Tunnel: Take Southbound or Downtown exit to 34th Street and turn right. Go west and turn right on 11th Avenue.

Queensboro/59th Street Bridge: Take 60/61st Street Exit. Go to 5th Avenue alongside Central Park to 59th Street. Turn right onto 59th Street to 7th Avenue and turn left. Go two blocks to 57th Street and turn right. Follow 57th Street to 11th Avenue and turn left. The Center is between 34th and 38th streets.

From Staten Island
Verrazano-Narrows Bridge eastbound to the Gowanus Expressway, to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. Exit westbound to the West Side Highway/12th Avenue. At 34th Street, turn right. Go one block to 11th Avenue and take a left.

By Truck

Trucks higher than 12 ft. 6 in. will not clear tunnels. They must use a bridge.  Also remember that no trucks are allowed on parkways.

 

From North
95 South (via the Cross Bronx-Expressway): Exit at Amsterdam Avenue and cross the University Avenue Bridge to 181st Street. Turn left onto Broadway. (see Street Directions below)

87 South (via the Major Deegan Expressway): Exit at 155th Street/Macombs Dam Bridge. Continue west on 155th Street to Broadway where you turn left. (see Street Directions below)

Triborough Bridge: To Manhattan. Exit at 125th Street. Go west to Broadway and turn left. (see Street Directions below)

Street Directions: Continue on Broadway to the intersection of Broadway, West 65th Street and Columbus Avenue. Bear right onto Columbus. This becomes 9th Avenue at 59th Street. Stay on 9th Avenue to 34th Street. Follow westbound signs to 11th Avenue.

12’ 6” and under:
From Long Island–Route 495 (Long Island Expressway): To Queens Midtown Tunnel. Take southbound or downtown exit to 34th Street and turn right. Follow westbound signs to 11th Avenue.

From Staten Island and Brooklyn:
From the Verrazanno Narrows Bridge, take the Gowanus Expressway to the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. Follow westbound signs to 11th Avenue.

Over 12’ 6”:
Manhattan Bridge: Follow westbound signs to 11th Avenue.

New Jersey Approach:
See directions from George Washington Bridge.

Public Transportation

Please keep in mind that the public transportation fare is $2.25. The subways accept MetroCards. Buses accept MetroCards and exact change fares. With MetroCards you can transfer from subway to bus and bus to subway for one fare. MetroCards are available at local stores.

Buses

M34:
Runs east/west on 34th Street. Stops on 11th Avenue outside the Javits Center and at Penn Station.
M42:
Runs east/west on 42nd street. The closest stop to the Javits Center is 42nd Street and 11th Avenue.

Port Authority
New Jersey Transit and other buses arrive at the Port Authority terminal at 42nd Street between 8th and 9th Avenues. The M42 bus will bring you from there to the Javits Center.

Trains/Subway
The following trains stop at 34th Street/Penn Station:

  • Amtrak
  • New Jersey Transit
  • The Long Island Rail Road
  • 8th Avenue Subway:
  • 7th Avenue Subway:
  • 6th Avenue Subway:

The following trains stop at 42nd Street/Times Square (Broadway):

  • 8th Avenue:
  • 7th Avenue:
  • 6th Avenue:

The following trains stop at Grand Central Station at 42nd Street at Lexington

  • Lexington Avenue Subway:
  • Metro North Railroad

For further information, call MTA Travel info: 718.330.1234

Ferry Service

The NY Waterway operates a ferry from Weehawken, NJ. In just 8 minutes the ferry takes you across the Hudson River to 39th Street and 12th Avenue, just one block from the Javits Center. Just park at the convenient lot adjacent to the ferry terminal in Weehawken and take a ferry which leaves every 10 – 15 minutes during peak hours.

Call 1-800-53-FERRY for schedule and information

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2013 Calendar

American International Toy Fair ▪ February 10, 2013 – February 13, 2013 – www2.toyassociation.org

THE VOICE Casting ▪ February 16, 2013 – February 17, 2013 – http://www.nbcthevoice.com/

MMA World Expo ▪ February 16, 2013 – February 17, 2013 – http://www.mmaworldexpo.com/

CURVENY ▪ February 24, 2013 – February 26, 2013 – http://www.curvexpo.com

JA New York Winter Show ▪ February 24, 2013 – February 26, 2013 – http://www.nationaljeweler.com

Fashion Coterie ▪ February 24, 2013 – February 26, 2013 – http://www.enkshows.com/coterie/

Sole Commerce ▪ February 24, 2013 – February 26, 2013 – http://www.enkshows.com/coterie/

MODA Manhattan ▪ February 24, 2013 – February 26, 2013 – http://www.modamanhattan.com

The Accessories Show  ▪ February 24, 2013 – February 26, 2013 – http://www.accessoriestheshow.com

FAME ▪ February 24, 2013 – February 26, 2013 – http://www.fameshows.com

New York Wine Show ▪ March 1, 2013 – March 3, 2013 – http://www.wine-expos.com

International Restaurant & Food Service Show of New York ▪ March 3, 2013 – March 5, 2013 – http://www.internationalrestaurantny.com/

American Diabetes Association Diabetes Expo ▪ March 8, 2013 – March 9, 2013 – http://www.diabetes.org/in-my-community/expo/2013/new-york-expo-2013

Coffee Fest New York ▪ March 8, 2013 – March 11, 2013  http://www.coffeefest.com/

New York City First Robotics Competition ▪ March 8, 2013 – March 10, 2013 – http://www.nycfirst.org

20th Original GLBT Expo ▪ March 9, 2013 – March 10, 2013 – http://www.originalglbtexpo.com/

Children’s Club ▪ March 10, 2013 – March 12, 2013 – http://www.enkshows.com/

World Floral Exposition Expo ▪ March 13, 2013 – March 15, 2013 – http://www.hppexhibitions.com/floriculture/2013/nyc/

20th Original GLBT Expo ▪ March 9, 2013 – March 10, 2013

Children’s Club ▪ March 10, 2013 – March 12, 2013

World Floral Exposition Expo ▪ March 13, 2013 – March 15, 2013

ADVANCE Job Fair for Healthcare Professionals ▪ March 14, 2013 – March 14, 2013

International Vision Expo ▪ March 15, 2013 – March 17, 2013

New York International Automobile Show ▪ March 29, 2013 – April 7, 2013

American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery Annual Meeting ▪ April 13, 2013 – April 15,

Amazon Web Services User Summit ▪ April 18, 2013 – April 18

Interphex ▪ April 23, 2013 – April 25, 2013

Buildings New York ▪ April 24, 2013 – April 25, 2013

College Fair (NACAC) ▪ April 28, 2013 – April 28

Advanced Energy ▪ April 30, 2013 – May 1

SUPPLYSIDE MARKETPLACE 2013 ▪ April 30, 2013 – May 2, 2013

Moda Manhattan ▪ May 5, 2013 – May 7

Accessories The Show ▪ May 5, 2013 – May 7

FAME ▪ May 5, 2013 – May 7

ASIS New York City Chapter Trade Show ▪ May 8, 2013 – May 9

Robin Hood Dinner Dance ▪ May 13, 2013 – May 13, 2013

International Contemporary Furniture Fair ▪ May 18, 2013 – May 21

Love Fellowship Tabernacle Services ▪ May 18, 2013 – May 19

National Stationery Show ▪ May 19, 2013 – May 22

Supply Side ▪ May 19, 2013 – May 22

Surtex ▪ May 19, 2013 – May 22

BookExpo America ▪ May 30, 2013 – June 1

Cloud Computing Expo ▪ June 10, 2013 – June 13,

International Franchise Expo ▪ June 20, 2013 – June 22

International Fancy Food Confection Show ▪ June 30, 2013 – July 2

Texworld USA ▪ July 16, 2013 – July 18

Home Textiles Sourcing Expo ▪ July 16, 2013 – July 18

International Apparel Sourcing Show ▪ July 16, 2013 – July 18

MRKET ▪ July 21, 2013 – July 23

Vanguard ▪ July 21, 2013 – July 23

JA Summer Show ▪ July 28, 2013 – July 30

Fashion 2 Go ▪ August 4, 2013 – August 6

Accessorie Circuit Intermezzo Collections ▪ August 4, 2013 – August 6

CURVENY ▪ August 4, 2013 – August 6

Accessories The Show ▪ August 4, 2013 – August 6

Moda Manhattan ▪ August 4, 2013 – August 6

FAME ▪ August 4, 2013 – August 6

IT Roadmap Conference and Expo ▪ August 7, 2013 – August 7

NY International Gift Fair ▪ August 17, 2013 – August 21

Value + Variety Expo ▪ September 8, 2013 – September 10

2013 Holiday Buying Show for Bars Restaurants and Retail ▪ September 9, 2013 – September 10

MODA Manhattan ▪ September 22, 2013 – September 24

AccessoriesTheShow ▪ September 22, 2013 – September 24

FAME ▪ September 22, 2013 – September 24

Meet the Breeds ▪ September 28, 2013 – September 29

Children’s Club ▪ October 6, 2013 – October 8

Audio Engineering Society ▪ October 18, 2013 – October 20

New York Business Expo and Conference ▪ October 25, 2013 – October 25

I Can Do It! ▪ October 26, 2013 – October 27

JA Special Delivery ▪ October 27, 2013 – October 29

ADVANCE Job Fair for Health Professionals ▪ October 30,

Chartered Financial Analyst Exam ▪ December 7, 2013

The 2013 CHEM SHOW ▪ December 10, 2013 – December 12

How To Commandeer a Tradeshow

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Don’t have $35,000 for trade-show real estate? No problem! These guerrilla marketing tips will get you noticed anyway.

Here’s a typical scenario faced by many young companies: You want to raise awareness of your company at an upcoming industry trade show, but you don’t have much money to spend. You know that participating in the tradeshow is the most effective option, but you can afford neither the high cost of booth space nor the booth needed to fill it.  Nonetheless, it is critical for your young company to join the fray and get in front of potential customers, partners and investors. So, what can be done?

In this situation, guerilla marketing can be a great strategy. All it takes is creativity and the ability to pull a stunt or two. No problem, right? Let’s get going.

1.    Understand the geography

Before the show, visit the main venues and surrounding hotels.  Figure out where people will walk, pick up buses, catch cabs, have lunch and meet for drinks. You’re trying to find the best locations for maximum visibility.

During this initial reconnaissance, make friends.  Meet the bell captain in the hotels that are nearby but aren’t part of the official show, say hello to the head of housekeeping and talk with the bar staff at local watering holes.  These folks are integral players in the guerilla marketing game and can often make or break your campaign.

2.    Know which assets the show controls and which it doesn’t

Think about all potential “logo real estate” around the show and find out what real estate you can take over that the show is not already using. Look at hotel key cards for non-show hotels ($250 plus the cards). Ask your new friends crucial questions: would the housekeeping, bar or bell staff don a free t-shirt, hat or button with your logo?  Do any of the hotels have in-room programming and can you be included?  A fundraising mantra comes into play here: If you don’t ask, the answer is always no.

Important note: stay clear of the things that are the purview of the trade show itself. You don’t want to get yourself blacklisted from future shows. You just want to take advantage of the larger ecosystem around a show to get some visibility for your company. There is a lot of room for everyone around a big event.

3.     Play the numbers game, to increase your chances of success

Sadly, despite your research, some of the gambits you use to sneak your way into the minds of potential customers will be spotted and removed immediately.  But others will succeed, as the hotel staff will naturally assume someone else authorized you to replace the hotel’s normal coasters in the bar with your logoed ones.  All it really took was a tip to the bartender ($50) and customized coasters ($125).  Try putting large buttons on the hotel maids ($100 tip/$100 buttons) and t-shirts on the bell staff ($200 tips/$150 t-shirts). Find the popular bars and tape posters in the bathroom stalls ($150) or put logoed toiletry baskets in the bathrooms ($250) that will draw attention to your company.

Timing is everything. You want to execute your ploys in close proximity to one another and throughout the run of the show.  As part of the action phase, expect some backlash.  If someone gets mad, apologize and move on. Expect some losses.

4.    Hijack the spotlight

Most tradeshows host large evening events. Think about how you can maximize this off-site exposure opportunity. Give out hats to the local taxi cab drivers who will be transporting party goers and offer a $100 prize to any driver seen wearing one.

Another idea is to hire a college drama group to stage a mock protest or a Flash Mob near the taxi and bus lines to highlight your product (as little as $300). Avoid impeding traffic flow and stick to public streets and you likely won’t run into any problems.

Celebrity impersonators wearing your logoed item and a photographer can attract a lot of attention. Be sure to capture the contact information from those who pose with your stars, so you can send the picture to them and begin building a more meaningful relationship. This is a perfect thing in Vegas.

While your company is starting off, these tips and tricks can make the difference between being remembered and being just another face in the start-up crowd.  Later, when you’re successful and the company has progressed, you’ll have the option of spending $30,000 – $75,000 to do the trade show “properly.” You’ll likely look back on these shenanigans with a private smile.  I still do.

Inc. Magazine – December 12, 2012

NOT THE CORNER OFFICE | Don Rainey

Obesity and Other Targets of Children’s Museums

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PLAY WITH A PURPOSE   EatSleepPlay at the Children’s Museum of Manhattan is intended to promote children’s health.

CHILDREN’S museums do not usually have exhibitions that involve crawling through a giant digestive system.

A child exits a maze designed to explain the function of the intestines in the digestive process.

But such an installation — along with a play center where visitors learn the power of pedaling, bouncing and jumping and a place to meet superpowered vegetable heroes — is part of a larger effort by the Children’s Museum of Manhattan to help prevent childhood obesity.

While children’s museums are primarily known as activity centers to divert the younger set and to help form future museumgoers, they are increasingly focused on social outreach. “Part of our mission is to provide access,” said Andy Ackerman, executive director of the Children’s Museum of Manhattan. “Social issues, education, health and creativity — it’s all a continuum, and we can connect those domains and reinforce each of them.”

The Port Discovery Children’s Museum in Baltimore has adapted museum exhibits and programming for children with special needs. The Young at Art Museum in Davie, Fla., has an afterschool arts program for homeless students. The Providence Children’s Museum in Rhode Island helps children in foster care find permanent families. And the Children’s Museum of the Arts in Manhattan provides a place for foster-care children to reunite with their birth parents by making art together.

“As resources become more and more scarce, everybody’s looking to children’s museums to fill varying kinds of needs for children and families,” said Janet Rice Elman, executive director of the Association of Children’s Museums in Arlington, Va. “These are places where families can learn through play — from science to early literacy skills to parenting — in settings that are joyful.”

Many of these programs involve collaborations with other organizations that have specific expertise. The Children’s Museum of Manhattan on the Upper West Side, for example, developed its so-called EatSleepPlay effort with the National Institutes of Health and collaborates with the City University of New York on training at-home child-care providers in teaching literacy, math and science.

The Children’s Museum of the Arts in SoHo has joined with Henry Street Settlement’s Urban Family Center to bring free weaving, printmaking and sculpture to children living in transitional housing, culminating with a children’s art exhibition and a reception for families and friends. And the Boston Children’s Museum is joining with Head Start, Boston Public Schools and the City of Boston to prepare students for kindergarten.

“We want to be relevant to our communities,” said Jeri Robinson, the vice president for early childhood and family learning at the Boston museum.

Museums are also developing continuing relationships with outside experts. The Children’s Museum of Manhattan, for example, has worked closely with health advisers like Dr. Judith Owens, director of sleep medicine at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington. Her research helped the museum develop the sleep section of the EatSleepPlay exhibition,  covering topics like preparing for sleep, what happens during sleep and how much sleep children need.

Rather than serving as just one more recreational option, children’s museums are recasting themselves as essential anchors in their communities — “the hub or the center,” Mr. Ackerman said.

“Educating through the arts,” he added. “That’s how you change behavior.”

The New-York Historical Society is seeking to educate with its new DiMenna Children’s History Museum, which opened last fall. Young visitors learn about prejudice by studying the life story of James McCune Smith, the first African-American to earn a medical degree. They learn about money and credit by visiting the Alexander Hamilton pavilion. “All of the exhibits we’ve developed are focused on teaching a skill or a behavior,” said Louise Mirrer, the president and chief executive.

The museums are also reaching beyond their walls to take their programming more aggressively into underprivileged neighborhoods. The Children’s Museum of Manhattan is replicating its exhibitions in East Harlem’s public housing. It sends two artists to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center every week to work with children. And it is running health and literacy programs in the Bronx and New Orleans.

And children’s museums are making a concerted effort to draw specific groups of people who might otherwise not come through their doors. On Mondays, the Children’s Museum of Manhattan is open to children with autism and their families, as well as to school groups. “They need a quiet venue,” Mr. Ackerman said.

The ARTogether program at the Children’s Museum of the Arts brings foster children together with their biological parents to create art, led by a clinically trained, licensed art therapist. The museum recently expanded the effort to include families with children at risk of being placed in foster care. It has hired staff members who speak Mandarin and Cantonese.

“You can come to our space and participate alongside other folks who maybe aren’t having the same challenges,” said David Kaplan, the museum’s executive director. “You want to be supportive of families in the program but you want to be empowering them — you don’t want them to rely on you forever. Eventually you want them coming to the museum on their own terms and on their own time.”

In opening a larger space last fall, the Children’s Museum of the Arts hopes to generate more revenue to benefit children at risk, to provide a “nice, safe environment for people to come to,” Mr. Kaplan said.

Not only are children’s museums seeking to educate, they want their visitors to feel comfortable entering cultural institutions for many years to come and to see exhibitions that affirm their own experience. “The audiences who are living here want to be able to come here and see their lives reflected,” said Ms. Robinson of the Boston museum.

In some cases, the exhibits also take the visitors to places they have never been. The museum now features a Japanese silk weaver’s house that was a gift from Kyoto. “Many of our kids will never go to Japan,” Ms. Robinson said. “But they can have an authentic Japanese experience by coming to our house.”

By Robin Pogrebin / Published: March 14, 2012 / on page F2 of the New York Times

Crain’s New York – The Displayers

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An article about our beginning.

 

Display maker puts together a solo effort

THE FAMILY BUSINESS CAN BE a frustrating place for a budding entrepreneur. Eager to make his own way, Greg Rathe abdicated his position as third-generation heir apparent at Rathe Productions, a big designer of trade shows and museum exhibits. Instead, four years ago he founded his own outfit, The Displayers.

“Growing your own company is something you don’t get a chance to do in a 55-year old family business,” says Mr. Rathe. Naming his company after his grandfather’s biggest competitor in the 1950s.

Mr. Rathe targeted an eclectic array of businesses, designing and installing trade show booths, exhibitions and showrooms.  Mr. Rathe says he made a specialty of fast turnarounds, calling on relationships he’d built up with suppliers during his years at the family business and assembling a melting pot of specializations on his staff.

The company balances display design with corporate identity work. Projects include in-store marketing materials for Apple Computer stores and acrylic logos for DKNY stores in Europe.  Museums may offer the most fertile ground for growth, as the size of The Displayers’ projects for that segment is increasing. The Displayers served as construction manager for the renovation of the Jewish Museum’s permanent exhibition and recently won a commission to create a 3,000-square foot exhibit at the New York City Police Museum.

The Displayers has grown to 1.4 million in revenues and eight employees.  That’s a far cry from Rathe Productions’ army of almost 100 architects, graphic designers, carpenters, metalworkers, engineers, computer specialists and artists, but Mr. Rathe says he has no regrets. “It’s like a fishing village – the sons go off and get their own boats,” he says. “There’s plenty of fish for everybody.”