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Tim Gunn, Block Party on Deck at First Parsons Festival

By Nicole Bode | May 5, 2011 3:55pm

By Nicole Bode

DNAinfo Senior Editor

MANHATTAN — Make it work, Parsons.

Fashion cheerleader Tim Gunn of "Project Runway" will feature among the speakers, projects and creative events for the Parsons New School for Design's two-week festival beginning this weekend.

The school’s first annual Parsons Festival kicks off on May 7 with an MFA exhibition at Chelsea eatery The Kitchen, where graduating students’ work will be on display through May 16.

The festival will also include more than 100 events, including interactive art classes, lectures, street installations, jazz, and a day-long block party May 21st on West 13th Street between Fifth and Sixth avenues. Most of the work and displays will be by students, with some special guests.

Gunn will be part of a May 10th panel called Fashion Cuts: Public Media and the Fashioning of Reality along with "the Sartorialist," Scott Schuman, about the cultural significance of contemporary fashion.

"We are opening our doors to the public to showcase the talent found here at Parsons, but also to celebrate the future of art and design," said Joel Towers, executive dean of the school.

"The Parsons Festival will comprise a number of exhibitions and installations featuring cutting-edge and critically engaged work in a wide range of disciplines."

The block party on May 21 runs from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will feature a large-scale printmaking, an interactive fashion photo booth, food from EATS, a community food initiative, live jazz and urban garden design street projects.

The festival runs through May 23.