This weekend my son got a taste of what it’s like to be an engineer- well, a really cool one who gets to build rocket balloons, mini catapults and tables out of newspaper. PBS’ Design Squad Nation (a series debuting locally on WNET on Sunday, Feb. 6th), was on hand at the New York Hall of Science to show hundreds of kids how to problem-solve using everyday materials and their own noggin’. The kids were bonkers over it, which is why I am sure the Brooklyn Inventgenuity Festival this weekend will be pretty cool too.
The Brooklyn Inventgenuity Festival is a weekend of “collaboration, craft and creativity” for kids aged 7- 16 and their parents who can work together over two days of workshops and on-going collective projects in design, building, technology, mechanics and art. The festival is presented by Beam Camp, a New Hampshire summer camp for the applied arts, technology and collaboration. For the weekend’s ongoing big Project, kids will explore perpetual motion with Kinetic Artist Joseph Herscher as they construct one of Herscher’s gravity-defying Rube Goldberg Machines.
Attendees may also sign-up for one of the rotating slate of 45-minute workshops. Among the scheduled presenters and workshops: the Lockpicking Village by The Open Organisation Of Lockpickers (TOOOL); Light Painting by Will McFarlane and Katie Gradowski of parts and crafts; the Snerko handwritten t-shirt making technique by Dan Rollman; Rhythm Maker Automatons by Eun Jung (EJ) Park, and an experiment in extreme drawing called ‘The Complicater’ led by Tom Bubul. The weekend also marks the New York Premiere of the summer 2010’s Beam Project, A Trip To The Sun, a solar-powered film about a journey to the sun that was recently selected for entry in the Seattle Children’s Film Festival.
Details:
Beam Camp Presents the 2nd Annual Brooklyn Inventgenuity Festival
At The Invisible Dog Art Center on Saturday, January 22 and Sunday, January 23 from 11am – 5pm.
51 Bergen Street
Cobble Hill
Festival admission is free, but advance sign-up is required. Required advance registration can be done here. All workshops will repeat throughout the day. Most workshops will take place both days of the festival.
Workshop registration will take place at the Festival. There is a $5 materials charge for some workshops. No charge for the ongoing Rube Goldberg Project and some workshops. Families can also view video presentations about Beam’s summer programs and learn more about summer registration.
Contact: Brian Cohen / (718) 569-0332 / brian@beamcamp.com