For one night, the historic hangars of Floyd Bennett Field will become a massive canvas, as art, history and the future of the former airfield come together for the return of the Floyd Bennett Field! Public Arts Festival.
On Saturday, October 3, the Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) will host its second free public arts festival at Floyd Bennett Field, featuring projection-mapped digital artwork illuminating the 8,640-square-foot façade of historic Hangars 3 and 4.
“The ultimate goal is to raise awareness of the amazing and unique history of the site and how that relates to its future,” JBRPC Executive Director Terri Carta said. “So really storytelling, right? Telling the story of Floyd Bennett Field through this spectacle of digital art projected onto Hangars 3 and 4.”
Like in its inaugural 2024 Public Arts Festival, inspired by similar displays around New York City, the key component of the evening will be a projection mapping display, using the historic hangars as a canvas, without leaving a trace behind. “The projections can tell the story of Floyd Bennett Field in a spectacular way and really engage the community without any kind of physical impact or damage to the historic buildings,” Carta said.
With projection mapping, the 21 selected artists were tasked with creating work specifically designed for the architecture of the hangars, using them as a blueprint. At Floyd Bennett Field, that means incorporating the hangars’ brick, gridded glass, sunrise and propeller reliefs directly into the artwork. And the artists were given a theme: nature and flight. “It’s about our connection to nature and leaning into the history of Floyd Bennett Field and telling that story,” Carta said.
For instance, in the first show, Derrick Adams “took the propeller that’s at the top of the middle building and animated that right on top of the actual propeller on the building but turned it into this animation of a plane flying towards you,” Carta said. “He made the propeller spin, and then a plane appeared as if it was flying towards the audience.” Adams will be a returning artist for this year’s show, as well as Ryan Hartley Smith, among several newcomers, including Rockaway-based artists Camila A Morales and Armon Naeini.
Different from the inaugural event, this evening will bring together the community in the historic space with dinner and a show. Beginning at 6 p.m., all are welcome to bring a blanket or chair, as well as dinner to enjoy picnic-style ahead of the show. Food will not be sold, so guests are encouraged to bring a meal from home or pick up takeout on the way to Floyd Bennett Field. Then at 7:30 p.m., as the sky gets dark, Hangars 3 and 4 will illuminate in art. “You come with your friends, family, whoever, bring your dinner, and we’ll provide you with the entertainment,” Carta said.
The dinner-and-a-show premise came from the idea behind The Longest Table, a global movement to bring people together at a shared table, and one of the event partners. JBRPC’s event will include its own Longest Table, and as we go to press, all seats are reserved, but people are still welcome to join in the blanket or chair areas. “We think this is going to be one of the largest picnicking, communal dining kinds of experiences in this part of the city, which is very fun and exciting,” Carta said.
Speaking of fun and exciting, the reason Hangars 3 and 4 will be highlighted is to build excitement for what’s to come for the historic buildings. For the last decade, JBRPC has been working with the National Park Service to plan on bringing the long-underutilized Hangars 3 and 4 back to life. NPS will handle renovations of the exterior of the buildings, while JBRPC has been tasked with planning the programming inside. Over the last few years, they’ve conducted surveys, stakeholder interviews and public engagement sessions to consult with the surrounding communities about what they’d like to see happen at Floyd Bennett Field.
The results of that planning are starting to take shape. “The things that have bubbled to the top of all of that outreach include food and beverage service and other visitor services like bike rentals and tours and a shuttle bus, and then education programs and workforce development,” Carta said. “People really wanted family and community programs of various kinds, including arts and cultural and environmental education. Another thing that constantly came up was green jobs, in terms of training and workforce development, but also jobs that are available in this nature-based field. So all of those things are what will come to Hangars 3 and 4.”
And those plans are moving full speed ahead. Carta says NPS is in the process of reviewing bids for the exterior work, while JBRPC is in the design stage of interior programming and seeking out partners for laboratory space and food and beverage service. NPS expects to begin rehabilitation construction in early 2027 or even late 2026. JBRPC will begin developing the interior in 2028. The hangars are expected to be open to the public in 2029. “It’s very exciting. It’s actually happening. It’s been an idea and a vision for a very long time, and now it’s starting to become reality,” Carta said.
For JBRPC, being able to plan the interior uses of the hangars will allow the organization to expand their programs. “It gives us a platform, a facility, to expand what we’ve already been doing and add even more. For instance, we already have educational programs that serve more than 6,000 students a year, and this will allow us to do more school field trips and reach a lot more students. Our workforce development program, the Wetlands Fellowship, currently serves 18 individuals, and we’ll be able to expand all of that. Our Park Pals program for early childhood development will expand. And we’ll get to bring all these new experiences like bike rentals and stand-up paddleboarding or bring things back like the learn to sail program. It’s really exciting.”
To help in their efforts, JBRPC is inviting the community to be a part in supporting it all. At the Public Arts Festival, they’ll officially launch their “Fifty for Floyd Bennett Field” campaign. Much like the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty was supported through community funding, JBRPC is hoping the community will be a part of building the hypothetical pedestal for programming at Hangars 3 and 4, so they’ll be collecting donations of all amounts. For those who can’t make the event on October 3, donations can be made online.
“This is all about building awareness about what’s to come, building momentum,” Carta said. “We’re getting people excited about it and also giving them a way to take part.”
The free FBF Public Arts Festival is Saturday, October 3 at 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. For more info, see: https://www.jbrpc.org/arts
