You may remember this setup on Doyers Street last fall. The Department of Transportation and the Chinatown Business Improvement District teamed up to create temporary seating and activities on one of Chinatown’s most unusual blocks. The “seasonal street” closure is happening again, and this time around the BID is adding a public art project to the mix.
The Doyers Street project will debut in early July and continue until mid-September. The street closure will last from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily The idea is to draw pedestrians to Chinatown by making the winding block feel a bit more welcoming (Doyers used to be called the Bloody Angle, after all).
The Chinatown BID today came out with a Request for Proposals. Here’s a summary:
The Chinatown District Management Association (Chinatown BID) welcomes artists from the community to submit proposals for an upcoming public art project on Doyers Street. This project seeks to commemorate the life and accomplishments of Mabel Lee, a suffragette and the first female Asian-American graduate of Columbia University, after whom the Doyers Street Post Office will soon be named. The proposal should include a public art element that will be placed directly on the street using pre-approved materials… The street closure will last for 3 months, so all proposals should include designs that will last that long.
The submission deadline is May 30. More details here.
