NEW YORK, NY.- The New Museum announced today the Festival of Ideas for a New City a major new collaborative initiative between scores of downtown organizations, from large universities to arts groups and community organizations, working together to affect change. The Festival is a first for New York and will demonstrate the power of the creative community to imagine the city of the future. The Festival will serve as a platform for artists, architects, designers, and other thought leaders to exchange ideas, propose solutions, and invite the public to participate in improving urban life.

The Festival of Ideas for a New City will take place during the weekend of May 7 and 8, 2011, and will include panels, roundtables, symposia, and workshops; an innovative outdoor "street fair"; and dozens of projects, performances, and events, opening simultaneously at multiple downtown venues. The Bowery will serve as the spine of the Festival, with Cooper Union and the New Museum acting as anchors and hubs for conversation, discussion, learning, and action.

The New Museum conceived the Festival over a year ago, and quickly involved a core group of organizing partners (listed below). Together, they have been developing the Festival and have expanded it to include a wide range of participants. The Festival is partially funded through generous grants from the Rockefeller Foundation and Brookfield Properties.

Organizing Partners:
The Architectural League • Bowery Poetry Club • C-Lab, Columbia University • Center for Architecture • The Cooper Union • The Drawing Center • New Museum, Founding Partner • New York University/Wagner School Public Policy • PARC Foundation • Storefront for Art and Architecture • Swiss Institute

The first project of the Festival opened last week as a part of and prelude to the May 2011 weekend. "Paul Rudolph: Lower Manhattan Expressway" is a historic, unrealized project that presented an ambitious urbanistic vision for the future of New York City, organized by The Drawing Center in collaboration with The Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture of The Cooper Union.