Digital Capital Week

We’re giving a big DCWEEK shout-out to the amazing people who are hosting the events, managing the projects, building the robots and sharing the big ideas that make DCWEEK such an terrific festival!

(Note – If you see any of these folks on the street during the festival, give them a high five! They deserve it!)

1. Who are you?

I’m Laurenellen McCann, but you can call me Elle. In the world outside of DC Week, I work for the Sunlight Foundation as an Organizer/Jane of All Trades, run an art mapping website, and make mischief. But, for this project, I’m working with a group of fantastically creative one-time strangers who came together through a project brainstorming session and a number of accidental connections to create something magical.

2. What are you doing for DCWEEK?

My crüe and I are doing a wild something called “The Re-Cycle” — a bike ride/art installation-thing celebrating DC sustainability and DIY culture, funded in part by a 24Hour City grant. (The other part? Scrap, sharing, n’ salvage.) We’re working on a neat-o bike float made out of recycled materials and we’re asking people to ride with us from BicycleSPACE (in the Mt. Vernon-ish area) down to the DC Week closing party (at the Arena Stage/waterfront). Along the way, we’ll be your pied pipers, hosting a “junk band” — a band whose instruments are made of junk — to serenade the journey. Once we get to the venue, we’ll be taking over the Arena Stage’s terrace (which looks out over the water!) and turning the space into our own found world. Even if you don’t ride with us (which, of course, you should), come visit.

Also, bikers, fear not! We will provide bike parking at the event, for those looking to stick around. (Party attendance is not mandatory, but is awesome.)

3. Event Details

The Re-Cycle will launch from BicycleSPACE at 7PM on November 11th. We’ll arrive at the DC Week closing party around 8PM and will set up camp on the terrace for the duration of the evening. You can check out our route and get more details about volunteer opportunities (and all the mischief we’re making) at http://there-cycle.org.

4. What does being part of DCWEEK mean to you?

This is actually my second year participating in DC Week. The art mapping site I run (ArtAround) is a spin-off of a project I started and took AWOL last year, so I’ve got some history with the potential of DC Week project seedlings. The Re-Cycle is a whole ‘nother animal compared to ArtAround, but I dig that from the same idea fount can spring such disparate, yet similarly public-commons-focused initiatives. That’s not yer average takeaway from a conference or festival.

5. What impact do you hope this will have on DC?

DC has some amazing people and organizations working on local sustainability issues ranging from restoring our urban canopy and improving slow food access to securing room for alternative transit (biking!) and green building solutions. The focus of the Re-Cycle is raw fun, but the source of that merriment — shown in everything from our mode of transportation to the artwork we create (including the flags we’ll wave for the District’s do-gooders) — is in thanks to those fighting to keep the District green and livable for the future. There needs to be more activities like this in DC that celebrate what we’re doing right and draw awareness to the groups working hard on these issues. If The Re-Cycle can help with that, in any way, then we’ll have done a great job.

6. Why should people get involved in your project?

First of all, how often in life do you get to participate in an art bike gang/promenade? Seriously: The Re-Cycle is going to be some straight up, wacky fun. You’ll get some light exercise, hear some sweet tunes, and participate in a pretty darn unique experience — with a good cause at heart — and ya won’t have to pay a cent. If you were already planning on going to the closing party, why not start your evening stoked with energy? And if you weren’t planning on the DC Week party? Well, consider that a little bonus for an epic ride that ends with a view of the waterfront. (And if you have an art bike already? Bring it out and show it off!)

If you’re interested in getting involved, learning more, and/or in tricking out your wheels/helmet to be part of the show, check out http://www.there-cycle.org/get-involved/. We’ll post details on an open craft jam at our float soon.
7. What are you looking forward to most about DCWEEK?
The Re-Cycle, connecting with people, geeking out, and having adventures — not necessarily in that order.
8. Anything else we should know?
We’re running a scrap drive both to benefit our partner SCRAP DC, a local non-profit focusing on creative reuse, and to gather materials for Re-Cycling into our float. If you’ve got some junk you want to see unjunkified, check out http://www.there-cycle.org/scrap-collection/.

Also, the Re-Cycle is a free event and walk-ups are welcome (!!!!), but as a little treat to riders, the first 50 folks to sign-up get a free ticket to the DC Week closing party. Incentives. Just sayin: http://www.there-cycle.org/register/