Explore the minds of New York City youth through five groups’ workshops, showcases, performances and more at this free youth-led fair hosted on Governors Island.

WORKSHOPS

**Workshop selection is part of the registration process. You will choose your workshops during registration, subject to availability.**

Sign up for hands-on workshops that combine art, mechanical engineering, storytelling and design. Each workshop invites you to transform simple materials into something uniquely yours. Throughout the day, engage in our partner Street Lab’s drop-in workshops that explore the concept of play.

KALEIDOSCOPE:See the world change in front of your eyes as you build your own customizable, light-up kaleidoscope. 

WOODEN PUPPETS: Learn hands-on woodworking skills to create a magnetized, moveable, character wooden puppet perfect as a fridge magnet, action figure or whatever else your mind conjures.

STOP MOTION ANIMATION GAME:‍ ‍Step into your own world and tell a story with this hands-on gamified animation workshop. Explore design, storytelling and stop-motion with unexpected narrative twists.

COLLAPSIBLE PAPER LANTERNS: Use circuitry and construction skills to make glowing collapsible paper lanterns to hang in your bedroom or take on a night walk!

FASHION

Step into a gallery of garments that tell stories of culture, identity and change in fashion over time. See the talent of NYC youth as they showcase their technical skills in pattern making, sewing, and garment design.

Exhibiting alongside the fashion cohort, participants from our partner organization Sew So Fresh will display collections rooted in creativity and craftsmanship. Each collection showcases the sewing and textile techniques they have developed over the past six weeks, bringing their ideas to life.

STORYTELLING

Experience another world through a short film written, directed and produced by BSS youth participants. 

Dive into a creative film world that explores language, communication and the way it shapes relationships, identity and belonging. Get the behind the scenes of Beam Center on Governors Island through this documentary.  Hear perspectives from Beam Center staff, participants and Governors Island community across the island.  Stick around after for live Q&As hosted by the youth filmmakers!

Additionally, we are excited to feature films from Brooklyn Combine that tell stories of creative New Yorkers, their communities and more.

MUSIC & MOVEMENT

Experience a narrative story brought to life through both modern dance and original music enjoyable for all audiences. Move your body and join in on line dance lessons with our movement team throughout the day!

Be front row to DJ sets and music performances in partnership with Building Beats. Hear original tracks, and digital production created by NYC youth.

FOOD LABS

Come and see how everyday natural materials like sand, straw and clay turn into something extraordinary– a Cobb pizza oven, created by the Food team!

Explore youth-created cook books inspired by heritage and participants' cultural backgrounds. Interact with food installations made from unconventional craft materials, we encourage you to explore all these spaces in shifting perspectives on food.

Special thanks to GrowNYC and Earth Matter for their contribution of ingredients and expertise that helped bring the cookbooks to life.

DESIGN

Inspired by television and film, the Design Studio combined RFID technology, mechanics, coding, fabrication and storytelling to create an interactive sculptural piece: a large-scale Demogorgon and an enchanted garden.

Wander through the narrative story of ‘Grim Garden’ as you become part of the narrative of exploring a garden of natural disasters in our ecosystem today and ways to combat these changes in the community.

Join us for our Fifth Annual Benefit Brunch as we gather in celebration of Building & Belonging at Beam Center.

This year we honor the spirit of learning as a living community of inquiry. At Beam, learning is rigorous and collective. Young people wrestle with complex questions alongside mentors who challenge and support them in equal measure. They leave with tangible work and a deeper understanding of their own capacity.

We are proud to honor Juliette and Aaron Adams, whose commitment to education and community leadership reflects the values at the heart of Beam. Their steady belief in young people and in shared learning has strengthened the spaces where creativity and responsibility meet.

We hope you will join us as we celebrate the young people, educators, artists, and supporters who make this work possible.

End Of School YearBlock Party!

We invite youth, friends, vendors, supporters and the local community to our block to enjoy a day celebrating the creations of Beam Center youth from all our programs.

Learn more about us through youth-produced installations, workshops and performances highlighting their creativity and commitment to learning new skills!

Play Club Night 3: Hosted by Tamra (Laser cutting) & Zeli (Animation)

Join us for fun every week learning from skilled young people that’ve honed their crafts and want to share with YOU! Take a look at the schedule and sign up today.*

RSVP BELOW!

*Tickets are on a sliding scale, all donations make every Play Club event possible for materials and future youth led event planning. We appreciate all your support.

Play Club Night 2: Hosted by Zeli (Wood burning & carving) & Lehica (Printmaking)

Join us for fun every week learning from skilled young people that’ve honed their crafts and want to share with YOU! Take a look at the schedule and sign up today.*

RSVP BELOW!

*Tickets are on a sliding scale, all donations make every Play Club event possible for materials and future youth led event planning. We appreciate all your support.

Play Club Night 1: Hosted by Tamara (3D Printing) & Lehica (Sewing)

Join us for fun every week learning from skilled young people that’ve honed their crafts and want to share with YOU! Take a look at the schedule and sign up today.*

RSVP BELOW!

*Tickets are on a sliding scale, all donations make every Play Club event possible for materials and future youth led event planning. We appreciate all your support.

Join Beam Camp at the Brooklyn Museum on Sunday, January 26th 2025! We will be partnering with the Brooklyn Museum to celebrate their Brooklyn Artists Exhibition and give participants a chance to make their own Brooklyn-born masterpieces inspired by the 200+ works of art on display in the museum, all created by local artists. Participants will be invited to learn stained glass, mosaic, and contribute to a collaborative crochet project.

Sign-up for free on Eventbrite!

Join Beam Camp in Brooklyn to get a taste of Beam Camp in New Hampshire! During our Try it Day events, we step into role as Beam Campers and have the opportunity to meet camp staff, learn about daily life at camp, and learn new skills! This time around, we will be learning about stained glass making and cyanotypes!

Sign-up for free on Eventbrite!

Beam Camp is coming to Cranford, NJ! On Saturday, January 4th, join us at the Cranford Public Library for a stained glass making workshop. Together we will design and create beautiful stained glass creations using multicolored geometric glass pieces, soldering irons and copper wire. Can’t wait to see what you create!

Sign-up for free on Eventbrite!

As Beam branches out, we extend our practice of collaborative project-making to a multitude of communities in Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Manhattan, reaching over 6,000 youth (ages 13-21) and their families each year. Our programs are tailored to serve NYC youth and their educators and take place in public school classrooms in all five boroughs, at the Beam Center in Red Hook, at Beam Camp City in Governors Island and at Beam Camp in Strafford, New Hampshire.

This May, we’re inviting you to support this work through our “Branching Out with Beam” celebratory brunch. Learn more about our honorees and sponsors!

Join us as we continue to celebrate public art sculpture BEACON and pay tribute to pioneer electrical engineer and Brooklyn resident, Lewis Howard Latimer.

BEACON artist, Shervone Neckles; Brooklyn historian and scholar, Prathibha Kanakamedala; Lewis Latimer House Museum Director, Ran Yan; Beam Center Director, Brian Cohen; and Downtown Brooklyn Partnership President, Regina Myer together explore Latimer's life, work, and activism in Brooklyn during the turn of the 19th century.

Event will be virtual, taking place on Zoom.

Register today!

Learn more about the panelists and watch the recording via the Beam Center YouTube channel.