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Traffic Safety Program

Groundswell Community Mural Project ©, www.groundswellmural.org

 


 

Community Mural Action Program, 2011

Lead Artists: Chris Soria, Yana Dimitrova, Nicole Schuleman

Youth Artists: 20-30 5th-8th graders per group

Community Partners: NYC Department of Transportation, PS 33, PS 345, PS 55, PS 105, PS 128, PS 310

 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The traffic safety sign residency program is sponsored by the NYC Department of Transportation (DOT) Safety Education in collaboration with Groundswell. Each residency consists of ten sessions that take place in NYC elementary and middle schools in each of the five boroughs of the city.  This year the program engaged New York City 5th – 8th grade students in exploring the traffic safety environment in their school communities. Through discussion of traffic safety issues and neighborhood observation, the students worked together to identify problems and provide solutions by creating unique traffic safety signs that speak to the local issues and help to prevent crashes and reduce injuries in locations around their school community.

Groundswell artists and DOT instructors are paired to facilitate each session.  The signs, designed collaboratively by students, are fabricated and installed by DOT’s Sign Shop in the locations identified by traffic professionals and school officials as most in need of traffic signage.

A special exhibition hosted by DOT will be on display at the Whitehall Ferry Terminal in Manhattan and the St. George Ferry Terminal on Staten Island through the end of 2011 entitled “Young Artists for Safer Streets.” The display features replicas of the dozen one-of-a kind traffic safety signs with messages such as “Be Aware/Cuidado” and “Stop, Look, Listen” and a 9’ X 12’ mural, which were created in 2009 and 2010 by fourth and fifth graders from 10 elementary and three middle schools citywide, including PS 4, Manhattan; PS 6, Brooklyn; PS 135, Queens; PS 73, Bronx; PS 35, Staten Island; PS 5, Manhattan; PS 99, Queens; PS 44, Staten Island; PS 65, Brooklyn; PS 56, Bronx; IS 77, Queens; MS 287, Bronx; and IS 78, Brooklyn, which created the safety mural.