Call for Artists: 2026 Floyd Bennett Field! Public Arts Festival
Projection Mapping Exhibition on Hangars 3 & 4
Saturday, May 9, 2026 (Rain Date: May 16, 2026)
Floyd Bennett Field, Gateway National Recreation Area, Brooklyn, NY
Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC), in partnership with the National Park Service (NPS), Onassis ONX, and the Rockaway Artists Alliance (RAA), invites artists and creative teams to submit proposals for site-specific digital artworks to be projection-mapped onto the historic façade of Hangars 3 & 4 at Floyd Bennett Field during the 2026 Public Arts Festival in May 2026. This is a unique opportunity to produce a large-scale, site-specific artwork for a historically significant architectural canvas within a National Park Service site.
OVERVIEW
The 2026 Public Arts Festival will feature a playful version of the dinner and a show concept. As the sun sets over the landscape, neighbors and friends will gather for The Longest Table (and Picnic?), a collective outdoor dinner that turns dining into art and conversation into connection, accompanied by music and family-friendly lawn activities. When night settles, the hangars will come alive once more, washed in color, motion, and sound, with newly-commissioned digital artworks projected onto the unique brick and glass canvas of the building façade.
Rooted in themes of water, nature and innovation, the artworks will explore Floyd Bennett Field’s deep connection to the waterfront, a defining element of the site’s prominence in Jamaica Bay and proximity to the Atlantic Ocean – a stretch of New York City coastline where imagination and innovation have always converged. Artworks will reflect and reimagine this historic space, transforming architecture and light into a celebration of place and possibility.
This call seeks artists working across digital media, animation, video art, and experimental cinema, and XR who are committed to projection mapping as an exhibition format. Works should respond to or resonate with the extraordinary scale, aviation history, natural environment, and atmospheric quality of the site.
SITE HISTORY
Floyd Bennett Field is a place where history, culture, and imagination meet. Once part of a vast network of tidal wetlands fringing Jamaica Bay, the site held significance for the Indigenous Lenape people. It later became home to the working waterfront community of Barren Island, which was developed into New York City’s first municipal airport, dedicated in May 1931 as Floyd Bennett Field, gaining immediate recognition as the most modern air field in the world and a global hub for aviation pioneers such as Amelia Earhart, Charles Lindburgh, Wiley Post, Howard Hughes, and others. During World War II the site was transferred to the federal government and became the busiest naval air station in the country, before being decommissioned and transformed into America’s first urban national recreation area as part of Gateway National Recreation Area.
SCOPE OF WORK & REQUIREMENTS
Artists are invited to propose original, site-responsive digital artworks designed for large-scale projection onto the 11,000-square-foot façade of Hangars 3 & 4 at Floyd Bennett Field. Proposals should creatively engage the Festival’s 2026 themes of water, nature, and innovation, drawing inspiration from the site’s layered histories, aviation legacy, ecological significance, and relationship to the waterfront. Works should offer a compelling visual impact suitable for monumental projection, present a clear narrative or conceptual throughline, and be accessible, inclusive, and family-friendly.
Submitted artworks may utilize digital animation, film, motion graphics, interactivity or other projection-compatible media, and must be conceived with projection-mapping considerations in mind. Selected artists will collaborate with JBRPC and Onassis ONX throughout the development process and remain responsive to feedback related to historic and cultural context, narrative appropriateness, technical feasibility, and alignment with National Park Service guidelines. Final works must meet all technical specifications required by our audiovisual partners (ATD) to ensure a fully exhibition-ready, projection-mapped installation.
KEY DATES
Artists Call Released: December 2025
Expressions of Interest Due: January 19, 2026
Artist Selection: February 1, 2026
Production Period: February–March 2026
Technical Refinement & Projection Mapping: April 2026
Final Artwork Delivered: April 15, 2026
Festival Event: May 9, 2026
Rain Date: May 16, 2026
KEY TECHNICAL SPECS
Screen ratio
Total Pixel Resolution
Length or work?
Diagram of footprint (facade)
EXPRESSION OF INTEREST
Submit a single PDF (max 5 pages) that includes:
Artist Statement
A brief description of your proposed concept, addressing how it engages the Festival themes of water, nature, and innovation and how it connects to the site’s history, community, aviation legacy, public space, or spirit of experimentation. (Up to 500 words)Visual Concept Sample
A sketch, still image, or other representative visual that communicates the direction of your idea. (A full rendering is not required at this stage.)Portfolio Link
A selection of past work demonstrating your experience with digital media, animation, projection, or related practices.Short Bio and CV/Resume
A brief overview of your background, artistic practice, and relevant experience.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Proposals will be reviewed according to the following considerations:
Artistic Strength & Originality
Clarity of vision, creativity, and the quality of the proposed concept.Engagement with Festival Themes
How effectively the work explores water, nature, innovation, and the cultural or ecological histories of Floyd Bennett Field.Responsiveness to the Site
The work’s resonance with the architecture, landscape, and character of Hangars 3 & 4.Relevant Experience
Prior work in digital media, animation, projection mapping, or large-scale installations.
(Preferred but not required, emerging artists are encouraged to applyFeasibility & Reliability
Capacity to meet milestones, adhere to the production timeline, and deliver a technically sound, exhibition-ready artwork.Production Budget
Please also provide a proposed high-level budget for the delivery of this work. We anticipate awards ranging between $2,000 - $12,000, based on length and feasibility.
ABOUT THE FESTIVAL
The 2024 Floyd Bennett Field! Public Arts Festival drew more than 1,700 in-person visitors and over 23,000 virtual participants, transforming the historic airfield into a dynamic platform for digital public art. Twelve established and emerging artists premiered original projection-mapped works across the monumental façades of Hangars 3 & 4, turning the architecture itself into a canvas for vibrant storytelling. Featuring contributions from Derrick Adams, Peter Burr, Eto Otitigbe, Ryan Hartley Smith, and student artists from Brooklyn College and the Fashion Institute of Technology, the festival reimagined Floyd Bennett Field through bold visual narratives and cemented its role as an unexpected and unforgettable destination for contemporary public art in the heart of Gateway National Recreation Area.
ABOUT THE CURATORS
JBRPC
Jamaica Bay-Rockaway Parks Conservancy (JBRPC) is a public-private partnership established in 2013 dedicated to improving 10,000 acres of public parklands throughout Jamaica Bay and the Rockaway peninsula, 18,000 acres of open water and marshlands within Jamaica Bay itself, and 11 miles of Atlantic Ocean beaches along the Rockaway peninsula. With its partners at the National Park Service, the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, and the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, JBRPC works to expand public access to parks; increase recreational and educational opportunities; foster community stewardship and volunteerism; preserve and restore natural areas, including wetlands and wildlife habitat; enhance cultural resources; and ensure the long-term sustainability of the parklands for local residents and visitors alike.
Onassis ONX
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Onassis ONX is the Onassis Foundation’s global platform for art and advanced technologies. As a catalyst for creativity and digital cultures driving, it elevates innovative creators working in new media and immersive experiences through its studios in Athens and New York City. Artists are provided capacity-building programs, incubation and applied research initiatives, acceleration services, seed funding, exhibition opportunities, fellowships, partnership-driven collaborations, as well as presentation and distribution opportunities. This holistic engagement throughout the creative process enables artists to build worlds at the frontiers of AI, immersive, spatial computing, gaming, and other emergent time-based media. Onassis ONX provides a stage to imagine new futures by questioning the systems through which culture is produced, circulated, and remembered, actively fostering new forms of creative expression to meaningfully engage with audiences around the world.
RAA
Rockaway Artists Alliance (RAA) is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) arts organization headquartered on the Rockaway peninsula. RAA’s mission is to encourage and engage residents of its community, particularly its youth and seniors, in the arts and cultural activities. RAA programs include visual art exhibitions, literary events, and art classes for adults. RAA partners with other NYC cultural institutions and arts organizations in a concerted effort to bring many art forms and experiences to the residents of the geographically isolated peninsula. RAA strives to offer artistic and cultural experiences to all community members.
GATEWAY NATIONAL RECREATION AREA
Gateway National Recreation Area, managed by the National Park Service (NPS), is a unique urban national park spanning more than 27,000 acres across New York and New Jersey. Established in 1972, Gateway protects diverse coastal landscapes, including beaches, wetlands, dunes, and historic airfields, while providing millions of visitors each year with accessible opportunities for recreation, environmental education, and cultural enrichment.
Composed of three major units, Jamaica Bay, Staten Island, and Sandy Hook, Gateway is home to critical wildlife habitat, nationally significant historic structures, and sweeping waterfront views within minutes of one of the world’s largest metropolitan areas. The park balances preservation with public engagement, supporting activities such as birdwatching, paddling, hiking, swimming, and historic interpretation.
Within the Jamaica Bay Unit lies Floyd Bennett Field, one of Gateway’s most historically significant sites. Opened in 1931 as New York City’s first municipal airport, Floyd Bennett Field became a hub for early aviation innovation, record-setting flights, and later military operations during World War II and the Cold War. Its expansive runways, hangars, and maritime setting reflect a unique intersection of aviation history, coastal landscape, and urban development. Today, under NPS management, Floyd Bennett Field has been reimagined as a dynamic public resource, supporting recreation, wildlife habitat, historic preservation, environmental education, and community programming. Its monumental architecture and layered histories offer a powerful backdrop for contemporary interpretation and creative placemaking within Gateway National Recreation Area.
CONTACT
For questions, please contact: