Collective Unlocking of Vacant Storefront: miLES Spring Pop-Ups in NYC's LES by Creatives & Entrepreneurs
New York, NY (PRWEB) April 12, 2014 -- Made in the Lower East Side (miLES) is unlocking and activating the vacant storefront at 37 E 1st Street for two months of short-term uses shared by 10 entrepreneurs and creatives on the rise. The pop-ups, put on by artists, designers, hardware lovers, sewers, financial advisors, foodies, educators, and non-profits, vary in length from just one day to just over a week.
What: Two months of short-term pop-up activations
Where: A (formerly vacant) storefront at 37 E 1 St.
When: April- May 2014
Why: Collaborative consumption! Showing, prototyping, testing & sharing unique ideas and experiences! Bringing activity to a vacant storefront!
In the spirit of collaborative consumption, miLES is coordinating a collective unlocking of the storefront. While each individual pop-up wouldn’t be viable or affordable on its own, the sharing of space, along with the activation of an otherwise vacant storefront, allows miLES to lower the entry barrier of access to space in one of the world’s most expensive cities (NYC). Not only will pop-uppers be sharing the same space, but they will also be using the same set of modular furnishings. The Storefront Transformer — a modular set of furnishings and amenities — will be used to transformed the space from an empty storefront into a variety of creative uses: a design innovation lab masquerading as a taco shop, a gallery for international street art that hosts Jeffersonian dinners and morning yoga in the garden, a live gallery of beautiful people that invites New Yorkers to people watch, a social workroom for sewers, a dairy-free ice cream shop, a philanthropic restaurant experience, a home to financial empowerment and education, and a smart-house inspired market for indie electronics.
miLES designed and prototyped the Storefront Transformer, which was manufactured by Machine Made. With the backing of 301 Kickstarter backers, miLES produced the Storefront Transformer and used it for a seven-week rotation of pop-ups in the fall of 2013. The 2014 spring pop-up series is comprised of a combination of kickstarter backers, winners of miLES Free Pop-up Contest, and new clients looking to showcase their projects and ideas. Piloting its educational program, miLES offered four free classes in March to help its pop-up clients to prepare for, and optimize, the success of their pop-ups.
The confirmed schedule can be found below. In addition to the pop-ups listed, there are a couple more on the horizon and miLES will open the doors for office hours on the in-between days. miLES invites community members to come share their ideas of what they’d like to see in the neighborhood, and / or to learn more about popping-up and how to create their own pop-up experience.
Beyond the April and May pop-ups, miLES will continue to unlock and activate spaces based on demand. The team is also working to innovate new, more scalable ways to pop-up and is exploring how creative commerce can be used to drive community.
Pop-up Schedule:
4/12-4/13 Sat.-Sun. | Conscious Magazine Pop-up
Featuring our favorite socially conscious brands located in the bustling neighborhood of the LES
4/17- 4/20 Sat.-Sun. | Grand St. Pop-up
An Indie Electronics Pop-Up
4/26- 4/27 Sat.-Sun. | The Museum of Beautiful People by Lily & Tanner Cusick
A live gallery of beautiful people. Look and stare without reservations.
5/3- 5/4 Sat.-Sun. | Workroom Social Manhattan Pop-up
Sewing classes and workshops
5/5- 5/11 Mon.-Sun. | Dine Generously with Give Half & Alchemy Creamery
A restaurant experience that invites New Yorkers to fight hunger with every meal, and with every scoop of dairy-free ice cream.
5/12- 5/18 Mon.-Sun. | Design Taco by Design Gym (& Los Perros Locos)
New York's most delicious place to hatch new ideas and collaborate in bold ways. A design innovation lab masquerading as a taco shop.
5/19- 5/27 Mon.-Tues. | The Allies Pop-Up Exhibition | Imagination In Space & We Are Pop-Up
An international street art pop up, with 12-top dinners and morning yoga in the secret garden.
5/28 Wed. | Financial Independence Day Pop-up by Creative Planners Group, Ltd.
An empowering financial planning educational event.
5/29-5/30 Thurs.-Fri. | The Museum of Beautiful People by Lily & Tanner Cusick
It's back: A live gallery of beautiful people. Look and stare without reservations.
More information about each pop-up and its organizer can be found at storefronttransformer.com/events and additional details are available upon request.
miLES: made in the Lower East Side
We open storefronts to possibilities by creating short-term, multi-use spaces as community hubs. Think of us as the airbnb for storefronts with a community incubator twist. We lower the entry barrier for entrepreneurs, and local communities to use storefront spaces, while providing an additional revenue stream for space hosts.
miLES latest initiative, "Storefront Transformer", is a set of pop-up toolkits designed to make the conversion of space as easy and seamless as possible.
http://storefronttransformer.com/about-sftf/
http://madeinles.org
Contact: Heidi Sloane
Communications & Community
+1 516 659 4877
heidi(at)madeinles(dot)org
http://www.storefronttransformer.com
Eric Ho, Made in the Lower East Side, http://madeinles.org, +1 5514827795, [email protected]
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