Our Pop-up Programs

Our pop-ups allow people of all ages and abilities to gather, learn, and create right on the streets of New York City. Everywhere we go is by request and in partnership with local community groups. We rely on custom designs, high quality materials, and experienced staff to create experiences that communities love. Here’s our calendar. To bring us to your neighborhood, please contact us!

Special Initiatives

New Public Spaces

Street Lab is working with the NYC Department of Transportation and communities across New York City to create new public spaces in historically underserved areas of the city. To do this, we’re helping grassroots groups, schools, and other community-based organizations pilot and establish new Open Streets in their neighborhood, which provides immediate benefits to the community while also laying the groundwork for permanent changes.
This work started in 2022 with ten locations, added 12 more in 2023, and is expanding in 2024. Learn more here.
A teacher explaining how to assemble a table to elementary school students on a street in NYC.

Equipment Library for Public Space

Street Lab offers an Equipment Library for NYC Public Space—the city’s first. Thanks to founding support from NYC Dept. of Small Business Services and in-kind support from NYC Dept. of Transportation, community groups can now borrow and deploy street furniture, equipment, and programming kits from Street Lab. Free, with pick-up and drop-off included, this new service aims to put resources in the hands of groups that are working to create inclusive and inspiring spaces across the city. Learn more here.

Streets Alive for Small Business

​Street Lab is activates streets along commercial corridors in low/moderate-income areas to help these areas thrive for small-business owners and residents alike. This initiative includes our “Meet a Small Business” program, and an Equipment Library that lets Business Improvement Districts borrow Street Lab’s custom-designed gear to host their own activities. With initial support from the NYC Department of Small Business Services, we’re expanding this initiative in 2024 including with new programs and designs. Learn more here.

Street Lab Teens

Street Lab Teens offers New York City youth a chance to support and shape Street Lab’s mission of bringing community-oriented programming to neighborhood public spaces across New York City. Working closely with Street Lab staff, the team helps develop and lead select Street Lab programs, all of which take place outdoors and have been re-designed for COVID. Learn more here.

Past Initiatives

Inside Out

During COVID, we’ve expanded our partnerships with NYC arts and cultural institutions to bring programming out from behind walls into a safe, open-air setting. Queens Museum, The Drawing Center, SoHo Memory Project, and most recently the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs New York City Artist Corps. Thanks to NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund at the New York Community Trust for initial support. Learn more here.

Street Lab Artist Partnerships

During COVID, we’ve expanded our partnerships with NYC artists and musicians and developed new ways to connect them to audiences in a safe, open-air setting. Visual artists, classical and jazz musicians, and more—all on the streets of NYC. Now featuring street exhibitions by NYC Artist Corps Grant recipients. Learn more here.

100 Activations for NYC

In the second half of 2021, Street Lab added more than one hundred new activations on the streets of NYC to support neighborhoods hit hard by COVID. Activations featured Street Lab’s signature programs as well as Street Lab Teens leading community chalk murals and partnerships with artists and other cultural groups. We are committed to using challenging moments like these to activate public space in ways that include, connect, and lift up every New Yorker. Learn more here.

Learning Hubs

As part of our COVID response, we launched pop-up, open-air meeting places for NYC students. At Learning Hubs, students of all ages can meet up with classmates, find a book to read, and do homework together, all while staying safe, socially-distanced, and outdoors. Our staff and volunteers will be on-hand to offer help. Learn more here.

In 2021, in support of the city’s recovery efforts, Street Lab created open-air street venues for sharing the work of hundreds of NYC artists who were recipients of City Artist Corps Grants. The City Artist Corps was a $25 million recovery initiative intended to support NYC-based working artists who were disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Over 3000 artists received grants, and Street Lab provided them with places to exhibit their work and also engage with the public.

The Uni Project

When we launched a portable reading room called the Uni in 2011, we understood the impact it could could have for kids in low-income neighborhoods who are at risk for “summer slide” and achievement gaps. Thus began our work to transform the street-level environment of the neediest NYC streets with pop-up reading rooms, drawing studios, and more. All of that work continues today and is embedded in the ongoing work of Street Lab, where a majority of our work serves mid to low-income communities. Learn more about the Uni Project here.

Where we work

Learn more about our circuit across NYC.