On Sunday (June 9), Manhattan’s Lower East Side was privy to the 31st Annual Loisaida Festival. The event normally highlights song, dance, theater, activism, food and drinks on Loisaida Avenue but thanks to a partnership between Loisaida Inc. and Create Labs Ventures, it featured technology for the first time.
Grady Spivey III’s, a friend and business partner of Swizz Beatz, Create Labs Venture kept spirits light by incorporating its interactive STEAM zone into the event. STEAM stands for science, technology, engineering, arts, math, and other aspects were featured at the festival. The STEAM zone included virtual reality, robotics, coding, digital music production, tablet-based art, gaming, circuity, and even a mobile science lab powered by vegetable oil.
The purpose of the collaboration was to provide the L.E.S. community with experiences that they may not be able to get elsewhere. “Besides the possibility and the science of it, bringing an experience to someone who otherwise might not even leave this very neighborhood is incredible…It broadens the horizons of anyone that tries it,” said Carlina Rivera, New York City’s District 2 Council Member.
Create Lab Ventures has future plans to establish “immersive technology activations in underserved communities.” Its minority founded team plans to make pit stops in Boston, Houston, and overseas to London in hopes to create more diversity and inclusion in the tech world.
