Boating enthusiasts citywide will soon get a chance to experience a Brooklyn environmental group’s labor of love that made a splash this past summer.
The Urban Divers Estuary Conservancy will be wheeling its 48-foot traveling urban nature center and maritime museum called Enviromedia Mobile to the New York Boat Show.
The vehicle offers a host of exhibits meant to inspire discovery and learning about the urban estuary and watershed, as well as the chance to learn about diverse maritime heroes and history. Over the summer, the travelling museum touched down across the borough, from Bensonhurst to Red Hook as part of the celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Hudson River.
The Urban Divers, along with its youth urban marine explorers, will provides public activities in a hands-on way, teaching environmental investigation and scientific exploration.
The show will be held Jan. 20-24 at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, 655 West 34th Street in Manhattan. Red Hook resident Ludger Balan, the executive director of the Urban Divers, said his group is seeking volunteers to help with the exhibit. While tickets to the show are $12, volunteers will receive free admission, “and will have time to enjoy the spectacular New York Boat Show.” Hours are flexible. The group is seeking volunteers to fill in slots from 1 hour up to three hours bet 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Balan said volunteers would work as “mobile museum docents, and reception booth monitors.”
In February, the Divers will present exhibitions in the travelling museum as part of its annual maritime exhibit in conjunction with Black History and African Heritage Month. The group will honor naval hero Carl Brashear, and offer exhibits on a broad range of other important maritime people and happenings.
Funding for the vehicle came from a grant from Assemblyman Bill Colton, the Hudson River Foundation, New York City Environmental Fund, Senator Velmanette Montgomery and East New York Assemblywoman Inez Barron, along with the support of Gowanus Canal’s “old timer and diver” Charlie Christie, Balan said.
For more information, or to find out how to bring EnviroMedia Mobile to your school, call 347-224-5828.