Things to do in NYC: Seeing Your New Neighborhood with an Artist’s Eyes

One way to develop an understanding and appreciation of your community is to experience your new neighborhood the way an artist would. New York City is filled with sights and sounds that spur the creative process into overdrive – look at how many painters, photographers, writers, composers, and visionaries have made their mark here. You don’t have to be a great artist to benefit from the artistic process. Exploring, observing, capturing and curating your impressions of your new neighborhood will help you see the area in a whole new way, and can strengthen the emotional connection you have with your community.

Sketching is one of the most accessible art forms. A sketch isn’t meant to be perfect or precise. Most sketches take only a few minutes to make. To make a sketch, you simply draw your impression of what you see. You can go old-school and do this in a sketchbook or use an app like Adobe Illustrator Draw to create artwork on your phone.

Photography Speaking of your phone, use your phone’s camera to connect with your inner Alfred Steiglitz. Exploring your neighborhood on foot, searching for things to photograph, can go in several directions: some people choose to focus on the people or animals they see, some pursue urbanes – images of old or abandoned buildings, and some people love photographing the City in action – whether that’s new construction, community events, or just the normal daily activity of the Big Apple.

Journaling New York City provides writers with plenty of material to work with. The streets throng with characters to observe, scenery to capture, and plot twists that are just too good to be true. Grab a seat with a view and record your observations. Many poems, short stories and novels start this way. Prefer non-fiction? Check out Google’s new Citizen Journalism project.

Make Music There are many songs that have been inspired by New York City. If you’re a songwriter, try creating compositions based on what you see and hear as you travel through your new neighborhood. Discovering performance opportunities is another way to learn about the community.