Inside Industry at the Brooklyn Navy Yard: Women Welders, Past and Present, Mar 8

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Celebrate International Women’s Day by exploring the past and present of women’s labor at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Learn about the history from the early nineteenth century, when women sewed flags and uniforms, to World War II, when women had the opportunity for the first time to work in the shipbuilding professions, as welders, shipfitters, and machinists. As we explore the Yard, we will visit the studios of two female metal artists who have worked in the Yard for a combined 60+ years, and see how Susan Woods and Michelle Greene welding in the Yard today, carrying on the traditions of the “Rosies” that came before them.

Inside Industry: Love Stories and Letterpress at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

icon-calendar  SUN, Mar 8, 2020
icon-clock-o 2 hours
icon-ticket $35 per person
icon-male Walking tour
  BLDG 92, Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Inside Industry at the Brooklyn Navy Yard: Love Stories and Letterpress, Feb 9

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Typeface collection at Woodside Press at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Get ready for Valentine’s Day on this special Sunday Inside Industry program at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. We will first delve into the archives of the Yard to share stores of sailors, seamstresses, shipworkers, and entrepreneurs that have fallen in love at the Yard as we visit some of the most iconic sites of the shipyard. We will then head over to Woodside Press, a traditional letterpress printing studio, where participants will get a tour of their equipment and process, and then get to use these methods to print their very own valentine to take home.

Inside Industry: Love Stories and Letterpress at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

icon-calendar  SUN, Feb 9, 2020
icon-clock-o 2 hours
icon-ticket $35 per person
icon-male Walking tour
  BLDG 92, Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Inside Industry at the Brooklyn Navy Yard: Digital Fabrication, Jan 31

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Sitting at his desk using a mouse and looking at a screen with a chair on it, Scott Jordan builds a chair, virtually.

Many of the businesses in the Brooklyn Navy Yard bring together traditional handcrafts and advanced manufacturing techniques to create unique, high-quality products. On this tour, we will go “inside industry” with designers and fabricators that use both digital tools and traditional handcrafts to make everything from furniture to tech hardware, and we will learn how companies are integrating 3D printing, digital imaging, CNC machining, and other techniques and tools in order to survive in competitive (and expensive) New York City.

Inside Industry: Digital Fabrication at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

icon-calendar  FRI, Jan 31, 2020
icon-clock-o 2 hours
icon-ticket $35 per person
icon-male Walking tour
  BLDG 92, Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Special Tours Mark 75 Years Since the End of World War II at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

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World War II came to a close in 1945, and looking back 75 years, it is hard to believe that Americans on the cusp of war in 1940 were as removed from the Civil War as we are from World War II today. Imagine veterans of that war, fought with horses and muskets, still alive to share their memories in the Atomic Age.

Today, we have a dwindling number of World War II veterans, all now well north of 90 years old (unlike the Civil War, there were no 10-, 11-, and 12-year-old drummer boys or powder monkeys). So throughout 2020, we are offering special content on our World War II Tours of the Brooklyn Navy Yard on the first Sunday of each month that will focus on different aspects of the human story of the war, utilizing our vast archive or oral histories and other personal stories of life on the home front and on the front lines.>> Continue reading

Special Brooklyn Navy Yard Tour with Jennifer Egan, Mar 1

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8-10 female workers lining up at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to punch in wearing heavy smocks for welding.

Take a special World War II history tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard co-led by Jennifer Egan, author of the award-winning novel Manhattan Beach, and our own resident historian, Andrew Gustafson. As we explore the Yard, visiting many sites mentioned in the book, we will delve into the Jennifer’s research process, discuss the materials she used to bring the Yard of the 1940’s to life, and listen to selections of oral histories of real women war workers that inspired many of the characters and incidents in the book. Jennifer will also reach excerpts from her book and answer questions about her remarkable work. 

Brooklyn Navy Yard Tour with Jennifer Egan

icon-calendar  SUN, Mar 1, 2020
icon-clock-o 2 hours
icon-ticket $39 per person
icon-truck  Bus and walking
  BLDG 92, Fort Greene, Brooklyn

Teacher Professional Development at Brooklyn Army Terminal, Nov 5

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This Chancellor’s Day, explore the history, architecture, and people of the Brooklyn Army Terminal with Turnstile Tours and Brooklyn Connections of the Brooklyn Public Library. Located on Sunset Park’s waterfront, we’ll tour this awe-inspiring complex with the history experts from Turnstile Tours to unearth the stories of the Terminal’s vital role during World War II and its transformation into a 21st century industrial park. Take home primary sources and lesson ideas that help students create fascinating connections between major historical themes and local history through the Brooklyn Army Terminal. 

Brooklyn Connections workshops are intended for educators and school administrators, and priority will be given to K-12 classroom teachers. All others will be accommodated pending availability. Brooklyn Connections is an approved NYSED Continuing Teacher and Leader Education (CTLE) sponsor. This special accreditation enables educators to utilize Brooklyn Connections professional learning workshops toward fulfilling their mandated 100 hours of approved CTLE credits. 

Chancellor’s Day at Brooklyn Army Terminal

icon-calendar  TUE, Nov 5, 2019
icon-book Guided tours, lectures, and lesson planning
  Brooklyn Army Terminal

National Manufacturing Day Tours, Oct. 4

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Ferra Designs metal design and fabrication workshop at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

Celebrate National Manufacturing Day on Friday, Oct. 4 on a guided tour at the Brooklyn Navy Yard focused on interior design and fabrication The tour will begin with an introduction to the Yard’s story, with an emphasis on the diverse array of products, goods, and objects designed and manufactured on-site over the last two centuries. Next, visitors will walk the 30,000-square-foot factory floor of Ferra Designs, a company that specializes in custom-built architectural metalwork, and visit the studio of textile maker AVO, and speak directly to some of the craftspeople redefining manufacturing and making at the Yard today. This tour is great for anyone interested in art, design, craft, and manufacturing as well as those interested in history and the continued social and economic impact of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

Metalworking and woodworking is one of the largest manufacturing sectors in New York City, but it is eclipsed by food production, processing, and packaging, which employs more than 17,000 New Yorkers. On Oct. 4 we will also be hosting a tour of de Royal Dinges Factory, a commercial kitchen and food truck commissary that produces more than 7,000 waffles daily for Wafels & Dinges, one of the most successful street food businesses in the city (and finalist at this year’s Vendy Awards). Visitors will learn how commissaries work to support the thousands of food carts and trucks around the city, walk through the production line, and even get to put their hands in some dough to make their own authentic Liège wafel.

National Manufacturing Day Tours

icon-gears  Brooklyn Navy Yard: Inside Industry // FRI, Oct 4, 9:30am 
icon-truck  Wafels & Dinges Factory Tour // FRI, Oct 4, 10am

Join the Final Vendy Awards, Sep. 21

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The best day of the year is fast approaching: Saturday, September 21, 2019, the day of the 15th – and final – New York City Vendy Awards. For 15 years, the Street Vendor Project has been convening carts, trucks, and pop-ups to serve up the best street food New York City has to offer, in order to raise awareness about the plight of vendors and raise money for their vital mission. Started in 2005 with just four vendors gathered in commissary garage in the East Village, and attended by just 250 guests, the Vendys have grown into one of the city’s premiere food events, featuring two dozen vendors and 2,000+ attendees flocking to Governors Island.

This year’s competition will feature three categories instead of the usual five: Best Dessert, Best Freshman (for first-time Vendy competitors), and the All-Star Vendy Cup, featuring 15 vendors that have collectively earned 25 nominations, nine Vendy Awards, and three Vendy Cup championships, including two finalists from the first Vendys in 2005, Tony Dragon’s and NY Dosas (see the full list of 2019 nominees). The event is all-you-can-eat-and-drink, and all of the proceeds benefit the Street Vendor Project. This may be the final Vendys, but SVP will continue to support and celebrate the vendor community, so stay connected, and you can prepare for the Vendys by joining one of our Food Cart Tours.

 

15th Annual Vendy Awards

icon-calendar  SAT, Sep 21, 12pm
  20+ street vendors, all you can eat and drink
  Governors Island

Archtober in Prospect Park

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Prospect Park Meadowport Arch

Presented by the Center for Architecture, Archtober is an annual festival of lectures, tours, exhibitions, and films that celebrate all things architecture in New York City. These special tours of Prospect Park will focus on the park’s historic design and contemporary restoration, including an Art & Architecture Tour, a close look at the park’s water system and recently-restored 1869 Wellhouse building, and a tour with a special focus on the park’s east side, including the Rose Garden, Flatbush perimeter, Children’s Corner, and Lakeside.

Tour Programs

icon-gears  Art & Architecture Tour // FRI, Oct 11, 4pm 
 Waterways & Wellhouse Tour // SUN, Oct 13, 10:30am
icon-leaf  Exploring the East Side Tour // SAT, Oct 26, 1:30pm