Fabrication & Interactive Installation Specialist (Summer Youth Program)

At Beam, we've spent the last 20 years coalescing multi-ethnic and intergenerational learning communities of youth, artists, and teachers who work together to construct spectacular projects big and small - that highlight the magic of creative cooperation.

In the summer of 2024, Beam Center debuted a new program and festival experience: Otherworlds Fair. In this program, youth staff work collaboratively to imagine a new world for themselves and create artifacts and interactive experiences that they share with others in a culminating festival entirely run by youth. Summer 2026 will be the third iteration of the program.

At Beam Summer Studios, youth will be split into teams that cover different aspects of culture: fashion & textiles, food & science, music & performance, fabrication & interactive installation, narrative media & storytelling, and public programs & workshop development. They will work as a team in a studio-like environment to learn skills related to a discipline and create projects tied to the festival theme. Each year's theme relates to a new biosphere or natural process of the otherworld. This year, projects will draw inspiration from the overall festival theme of Change and Transformation.

Youth participants will be, on average, aged 16-22 and are paid to engage in the program at Beam Center's Governor’s Island location for 150 hours total over the course of six weeks beginning in July 2026. Experienced youth leads will guide in the advancement of project ideation and creation alongside specialists.

Job description:

The area specialist for each specialty team is the adult staff member who will guide in the creation of showcase projects and a form of public engagement of that project - they will be the main person responsible for creating the project structure and training their team on relevant skills and materials. The area specialist will work collaboratively with two youth leads: one group manager and one project manager, and should be willing to learn and offer knowledge toward a variety of skills to support participants in their unique design process.This person should be confident and well versed in a craft and willing to expand within it by engaging in behind the scenes prototyping and research on new tools and materials, based on youth interest.

The Fabrication & Interactive Installation Specialist should be experienced in one or more crafts, for example: design, woodworking, casting, construction, metalworking, circuitry, textiles, ceramics and/or other related making skills. The design specialist would be based in a woodshop and should have comfort using power tools and familiar with shop safety practices.

This group has access to a large outdoor festival stage, an indoor studio and outdoor spaces on Governor’s Island. This group’s role is to envision large, interactive public engagements that convey an idea, feeling or offer an experience related to the otherworld.

Responsibilities

• Training and Project Inception
  • Trains youth staff on specific tools and materials within their thematic area, has a birds eye view of what’s possible, provides idea inception to their group and acts as a critically engaged collaborator.
  • Takes charge of pre-determining what form the final project takes at the festival and what tools and materials could be used to develop the project (for example, determining that the group will make a fashion show / performance / large interactive sculpture that uses x, y and/or z materials but not predetermining what that project is or looks like exactly).
  • Supports the group to determine how their project will be activated at the festival and facilitate the public engagement.
  • Does due diligence to make projects durable, engaging, good looking and safe for a public audience of all ages.
• Scope and Pacing
  • Takes authority, with help from the Project Director, on discerning what their team can and can’t do, based on understanding of scale, time available, spatial constraints, festival scope and budget. Within the scope of what’s possible, they are also responsible for pushing their team to be ambitious in their creative vision.
• Cohesion and Group Dynamics
  • They are responsible for moving the project forward on a proposed timeline, maintaining cohesiveness of the group project, and adjusting according to realistic constraints.
  • Work with young people’s ideas in a process of back and forth.

Qualifications of strong candidates:

• Experience with project-based learning or other collaborative work, bonus if with young people.
• Experience in translating ideas or 2D designs into projects on a proposed timeline
• Specialization and passion for sharing a craft, process and/or material
• Imaginative, able to be flexible and resourceful in responsive to youth needs and input
• Highly collaborative, able to ask questions, offer insight, and celebrate teamwork

Compensation: $28/hr

Employment Type: Part-time Seasonal (In-Person)

Location: Beam Center, Governors Island

Dates of Employment: June 15th - August 20th, 2026

Hours: 30 hours/week during program

Work Schedule:

• June 15 - July 6: Training and planning, 60 hours total:
  • June 15, 17
  • June 22, 23, 24, 25
  • June 29, 30, July 1, 2
• July 6 - August 20: Implementation
  • Monday – Thursday, 9:45am - 4:45pm
  • Must be available Friday July 31 for Studio Day and Saturday August 15 for Otherworlds Fair