As part
of the June 2004 “Summer in Long Island City” event, the
Design Trust's
Connecting
the Arts project
organized six tours to take visitors from
cultural organizations to local factories
and crafts studios. Arts institutions served
as gathering points for the start of the tours. Local
factory owners were amenable to the idea
of showing their methods and products as
long as it didn’t
interfere with their production process.
By linking factories to the
arts, the tours brought participants
in touch with the hybridity and dynamism
of Long Island City and provided connections
between those who appreciate objects and
those who make them. The arts-and-industry
tours also emphasized the need to maintain
Long Island City's light manufacturing
and craft industries — essential
makers and supporters of New York — and highlighted the potential
in Long Island City for increased collaborations
between industries, artists, and art
institutions.
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