Thought you’d find this email from a fellow Renegade (thanks Lydia) of interest:
You may have noticed the cabs around the city decorated with flower-power decals. Today, Jennifer was the third person to ask me if I knew what they were and I finally got curious enough to do a little research. Feels like marketing for good. Not really marketing since it is not-for-profit, but refreshingly non-commercial nonetheless.
*About*
The taxis hit the streets on September 12th and are part of a Portraits of Hope project called Garden in Transit. It is a community public art undertaking that was initially conceived as creative therapy for seriously ill and disabled children. It was approved by the city last year and has spread to adults, schools and after-school programs to create one of NY’s biggest public art projects ever. It’s a little mass-produced and not necessarily an exercise in creative expression, but definitely a way to help children learn about what it means to participate in something bigger than themselves, feel pride in an accomplishment and brighten up NY city streets at the same time. I’ve always been a sucker for flower-power, so I think it is cool.
*Logistics*
A flower template is provided and children color in the flower outlines. A decal company provided a deep discount on the stickers that are affixed to the cabs. Taxi drivers volunteer to have the decal affixed. Enough flowers have been made for every cab to have two stickers (some 27k) and will be on cabs until the end of the year.
*Quick facts:*
* 3,000+ people have participated in Garden in Transit.
* 90% of participants are from NYC public schools, hospitals and
youth programs.
* 200+ NYC area schools and hospitals are involved.
* Youth in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Georgia, and Ohio
have also participated.
* 750,000 square feet of floral panels have been painted for the
taxis, including 80,000 flowers
* Using our 1″ brushes as a base, the GIT participants have painted
the equivalent of a 1″ straight line from NYC to Vail, Colorado, a
distance of more than 1,700 miles
Based on the NY Times blog posting, the response seems to be overwhelmingly favorable although a few nay-sayers call it a waste of time and money and a false exercise in creativity.
Drew’s Notes: For what it is worth, my 17-year-old daughter thought the flower cabs were pretty silly. I’m a little more neutral, happy that the kids who painted these (including some from Children for Children) felt a little “flower power”–empowered to make their city a little more colorful.