On June 13th, Side Street Projects is embarking on an exciting 6,500 mile cross-country road trip from Pasadena, to Boston, and back to retrieve The Armadillo — an actual FEMA trailer deployed after Hurricane Katrina that MIT students and faculty transformed into a vertical (and mobile) community garden. MIT awarded The Armadillo to Side Street Projects after a nation-wide search. A companion for our renowned Woodworking Buses, The Armadillo is the newest addition to our fleet of mobile art education classrooms for kids in LA County.

1. Side Street Projects & MIT Visual Arts Program presents...
The Armadillo
Alternate Routes: The Armadillo | US Tour - Summer 2009
MIT turned a FEMA Trailer into a garden.
Side Street Projects is gonna go get it.

2. What is The Armadillo?
?

3. Side Street Projects & MIT Visual Arts Program presents...
The Armadillo
‣ MIT awarded The Armadillo to Side Street Projects after a nation-wide search.
‣ An actual FEMA Trailer deployed after Hurricane Katrina.
‣ Turned into a mobile, vertical community garden by MIT Visual Arts Program.
‣ Includes composting drum, irrigation system, and permaculture library.
‣ Clean interior is ideal meeting & work space (community digital lab).

4. Side Street Projects & MIT Visual Arts Program presents...
The Armadillo
Exterior Vertical Planting Walls
Modular metal racks & 2-liter plastic bottles, with self-contained irrigation system
Interior Meeting Room/Workspace
New home of Side Street Projects’ Community Digital Lab
Composting Center
With retractable “armadillo” shell cover

5. ?
What is Side Street Projects?

6. ‣ Founded in 1992, Side Street Projects is
a completely-mobile, artist-run nonprofit
organization based in Pasadena, CA.
‣ We teach artists of all ages how to roll
up their sleeves and do things themselves.
‣ Education programs encourage self-
reliance and creative problem solving in
a contemporary art context.
‣ The only sustainable, mobile, urban
community art center in the USA.

7. Mobile Headquarters
Strength Through Mobility
‣ Affordable office space is a serious problem for 80%
of America's nonprofits. We became a completely
mobile, self-sustaining organization in 2008.
‣ Off-the-Grid: vintage trailer offices on a vacant lot,
100% solar powered, with satellite Internet uplink.
‣ We plug into spaces no other organization could
conceivably occupy, ironically achieving stability
through mobility.
‣ In partnership with the City of Pasadena, we will
remain permanently mobile and continue to transform
vacant lots into thriving community art centers.
Featured in:

8. Mobile Art Education
The Alternate Routes Program
‣ Wood shops on school buses where kids
learn about art, design, and engineering
using only hand tools, raw materials,
and their imagination.
‣ Integrates art, math & science in a
100% hands-on environment.
‣ More than 10,000 children in LA County
have thrived in the program since 1997.
‣ Expanding Alternate Routes fleet with
new mobile classrooms for different types
of art media. The Armadillo is the first
such vehicle.
Featured in:

9. The Armadillo
US Tour | Summer 2009

10. Side Street Projects & MIT Visual Arts Program presents...
The Armadillo
Alternate Routes: The Armadillo | US Tour - Summer 2009
‣ 6,500 mile trip round trip from Pasadena to Boston to retrieve The Armadillo.
‣ Return trip: 20-day, multi-city goodwill educational tour.
‣ Stops include New Orleans & Houston — cities affected by Katrina.

11. Side Street Projects & MIT Visual Arts Program presents...
The Armadillo
Alternate Routes: The Armadillo | US Tour - Summer 2009
‣ The Tow Vehicle: 2008 Chevy Silverado 2500 HD Diesel.
‣ 3/4 ton truck, Alison Transmission, 38,000 pound tow capacity.
‣ Fuel efficient “green diesel” gets impressive 22 mpg highway.
‣ Runs on regular diesel & bio-diesel (B5).
‣ Gift from the Pasadena Community Foundation.

12. Side Street Projects & MIT Visual Arts Program presents...
The Armadillo
Alternate Routes: The Armadillo | US Tour - Summer 2009
Travel Itinerary
Public Presentations & Free Family Art Workshops
‣ Present The Armadillo at art museums, educational institutions, and large public parks.
‣ Additional programing in small towns, trailer parks, and truck stops along the way.
‣ Scheduled stops in major media markets (times TBA).
June 13 Pasadena, CA * DEPART FOR BOSTON *
The Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy
June 18 Boston, MA Greenway Conservancy
Official quot;hand-offquot; ceremony
Baltimore, MD Patterson Park Community Gardens
June 22-23
Washington, D.C. The National Mall (TBA)
June 26 Atlanta, GA Atlanta Contemporary Arts Center
June 28-30 New Orleans, LA The Louisiana State Museum
July 2 Houston, TX Discovery Green
July 8 Pasadena, CA * RETURN TO PASADENA *

13. Side Street Projects & MIT Visual Arts Program presents...
The Armadillo
Alternate Routes: The Armadillo | US Tour - Summer 2009
Free Family Art Workshops
Recycled Vertical Planters
‣ We’ll use The Armadillo as a mobile classroom
to offer free hands-on projects at most stops
along the tour.
‣ Project: Create your own vertical planter made
entirely from 100% recycled materials, inspired
by The Armadillo's ingenious 2-liter bottle
planting system.
‣ Projects are appropriate for all ages— children,
adolescents, adults, and seniors.
‣ Side Street Projects staff will facilitate with
volunteer support from host venues.
‣ Materials needed: plastic bottles, plastic
grocery bags, old phone lines, computer cables...
anything that can be woven or braided.

14. Side Street Projects & MIT Visual Arts Program presents...
The Armadillo
Alternate Routes: The Armadillo | US Tour - Summer 2009
Who’s Involved?
Much thanks to our sponsors, partners, & advisors
Congressman Adam B. Schiff
California’s 29th District
Cultural Affairs Division
Planning & Advancement

15. Side Street Projects & MIT Visual Arts Program presents...
The Armadillo
Alternate Routes: The Armadillo | US Tour - Summer 2009
Activation
How are we getting the word out?
‣ Follow The Armadillo on , , , and .
‣ Coordinated PR effort between Side Street, MIT, & host venues in 6 media markets:
- Los Angeles, Boston, D.C./Baltimore, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Houston
‣ Daily blogging w/ videos, photos uploaded from the road at AT&T Hotspots across USA.
‣ Trailer signage, banners, sponsorship truck decals, branded stickers & print collateral.
‣ Staff and board expertise with PR, marketing, production, and social networking.

16. Side Street Projects & MIT Visual Arts Program presents...
The Armadillo
Alternate Routes: The Armadillo | US Tour - Summer 2009
Contact Info
Media, sponsorship, and tour inquiries:
‣ Jon Lapointe, Acting Executive Director .
Side Street Projects
(626) 798-7774
jon@sidestreet.org
‣ Emily Hopkins, Programs Director
Side Street Projects
(626) 798-7774
emily@sidestreet.org
Side Street Projects
PO Box 90432
Pasadena, CA 91103
http://www.sidestreet.org

17. THANK YOU!
Side Street Projects would like to recognize the
talent, generosity, hard work, and vision of the
MIT FEMA Trailer Project Team:
> Project Directors > Team Members > Alumni
Jae Rhim Lee Gena Peditto Allison Dee
Visiting Lecturer, MIT Visual Arts Program Project Manager UROP Management Sciences
Dept of Architecture, School of Architecture and Planning
Tarick T. Walton Maryann Chu
Sally Susnowitz UROP, Project Coordinator UROP Civil Engineering
Assistant Dean, Student Life
Director, MIT Public Service Center Caitlin Berrigan Jason Rockwood
Teaching Assistant Grad. Student,
Comparative Media Studies
> Project Advisors
Gina Badger
Colin Kerr Priyanka Shah
Ute Meta Bauer Teaching Assistant,
Assoc. Professor and Director Samuel Kronick
DUSP/Architecture
MIT Visual Arts Program, Dept. of Architecture Lisa Schlect
School of Architecture and Planning Alyssa Wright
Jegan Vincent De Paul
Mike Shafran Teaching Assistant,
Lars Hasselblad Torres Christopher Taylor Visual Arts Program
MIT IDEAS Competition Kari Williams
MIT Public Service Center
Lucille Ynosencio
Visit http://fematrailer.mit.edu:1000 for the whole story.