Festival of the Building Arts

October 2009

Join building and arts professionals at the National Building
Museum’s annual Festival of the Building Arts and take part in
a variety of fun-for-all-ages, hands-on activities celebrating
the built environment. 2008's festival explored the
practical and artistic, the traditional and innovative, 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 the 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 Box City or create a small sculpture from nuts and bolts to take home.
SIT behind the wheel of real construction vehicles

With a variety of hands-on activities, the Museum’s annual Festival of the Building Arts is always popular.

Photo by F.T. Eyre

2008 Festival attendees watched 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.

FREE. $5 donation suggested. Most appropriate for ages 5–13. Individual registration is not required.

Sponsors

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.