For Immediate Release: October 2, 2008
Media Contacts: Sara Kabakoff
2008 Festival of the Building Arts
WHAT
Join building and arts professionals at the National Building Museum's 15th Festival of the Building Arts and take part in a variety of fun-for-all-ages, hands-on activities celebrating the built environment. This year the festival will explore the practical and artistic, the traditional and innovating, as it highlights the many different and dynamic aspects of the building arts.
- Try practical skills such as bricklaying, nail-driving, and drywall finishing.
- Speak with experts including plumbers, roofers, carpenters, timberwrights, architects, and designers.
- Explore new construction techniques and materials, such as green roofs, straw bales, and lime putty.
- Work with artisans and designers who supply the finishing touches: woodworkers, furniture makers, gilders, art-glass designers, blacksmiths, and sculptors.
- Build a model to add to the Box City or create a small sculpture from nuts and bolts to take home.
- Sit behind the wheel of real construction vehicles.
NEW THIS YEAR!
Watch Pas de Dirt, a site-specific dance performance that examines the relationship between movement, architecture, and the tools we use to build our environment. Choreographed by Liz Lerman Dance Exchange and set to music from Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake, the cast includes propane-powered backhoes, their licensed operators, professional dance artists, and ballet students. Performances on F Street at 11:00 am, 12:30 pm, and 2:00 pm. (approx. 15 minutes)
The Festival of the Building Arts is presented by The Associated General Contractors of America, with generous support from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, an agency supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. FAMILY Magazine is the official media partner of the 2008 Festival of the Building Arts.
WHO
Most appropriate for children ages 5 – 13; accompanied by an adult.
WHEN
Saturday, October 11, 2008
10:00 am – 4:30 pm
Free; $5 donation suggested. Individual registration is not required. Scouts and other large groups should visit www.nbm.org to register.
WHERE
National Building Museum
401 F Street NW, Washington, DC 20001
(Judiciary Square Metro, Red Line)
IMAGES
Images available upon request
For more information, contact Sara Kabakoff, skabakoff@nbm.org, 202.272.2448, ext. 3201.
The National Building Museum is America’s leading cultural institution dedicated to exploring and celebrating architecture, design, engineering, construction, and planning. Chartered by Congress in 1980 and open to the public since 1985, the Museum has become a vital forum for exchanging ideas and information about the built environment through its exhibitions, education programs, and publications. The Museum is located at 401 F Street NW, Washington, D.C. Museum hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 am to 5 pm and Sunday from 11 am to 5 pm. Admission is free. Museum Shop. Café. Public inquiries: 202.272.2448 or visit www.www.nbm.org.
