OUR STORY
Polar Bear Fest Inspires Action
In February 2021, the artist Heide Hatry, affectionately known as Snowbanksy, built families of snowbears in Central Park, which seemed to raise the spirits of a Covid-weary community (New York Post , NY1, Fox 5 NY, Epicenter, Untapped NY, West Side Rag).
She tended the ever-growing pack for 3 entire weeks, working into the night to ensure that after the day’s melt the bears would be fresh and ready to greet passers-by in the morning. While building and maintaining them she’d invite kids and their parents to join her, and, as she answered their questions, she saw an opportunity to initiate discussion about the climate crisis.
OUR VALUES
Active Engagement to Show that We Care
Our Gatherings are demonstrations to raise awareness about climate change and spark discussions through the art we create. We would like our snowbears to become as iconic as people holding up blank signs in Moscow; no matter where they are built they will always mean: NO! STOP coal, oil, gas, the military, transportation, and agribusiness from polluting our planet.
Polar Bear Fest strives to create a mutually supportive environment for everyone who wants to attend, no matter their artistic or cultural background. We see snowbear-making as an artistic outlet whose conceptual underpinnings open space for creativity and imagination to be applied to everyday life in a precarious environment.
We see every person as a part of the team, whether they help for a few minutes or for days; whether they make bears, or bring tea, whether they document the event, are involved in discussions, entertain the bear-builders, or simply appreciate what the others are doing.
We exemplify the values of environmental conservation through our ideas, our treatment of nature, and the products and resources used at our Gatherings.
CLIMATE COMMITMENT
We Want Snow
Polar bears depend on Arctic ice for their habitat. Global warming has caused the Arctic ice to melt at a devastating rate.
The purpose of Polar Bear Fest is to establish a community to change the paradigm of helplessness into an interactive, participatory, shared experience of creative expression that might also lead to creative solutions for a better, more sustainable tomorrow. We partner with local businesses and organizations with the planet in mind.
We want to encourage our community members to make their own supportive gear out of things they already have, to gift, share, exchange, or keep for themselves in order to assist the movement. We will have a PBF logo stamp in different sizes available at the Gatherings for builders or passersby to use.
We encourage people to be mindful when it comes to the use of plastic cups or disposable, single-use items in Central Park (and in their lives). Snowbear builders are encouraged to collect and properly recycle or dispose of any trash they come across.