In addition to drawing from Miss’ long career developing collaborative arts projects, BROADWAY: 1000 STEPS also benefits from important MM/CaLL precedent projects. In 2007, in Boulder, Colorado, Miss worked with climate scientists to map the “500 year” flood that has been predicted to occur in the heart of the Boulder. With a great economy of means—300 simple blue metal discs installed on trees, fences, sides of buildings and other structures—Miss illustrated the predicted high water levels. It was the first time that the public could experience the potential threat of the waters on a visceral level. The scientists were awakened to the power of art. For years the data they had been presenting to the public and civic leaders fell on deaf ears; but armed with the skills of an environmental artist, their data was made visible, palpable, and compelling.

BROADWAY: 1000 STEPS also builds on the recently completed precedent project along the White River corridor through Indianapolis entitled, FLOW (Can you See the River?) made possible via the collaboration of over 20 organizations, including the Indianapolis Museum of Art (IMA) which commissioned the work, and with major funding support from the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Endowment for the Arts, and others. FLOW includes the installation of over 100 markers and mirrors along a six mile stretch of the White River, with corresponding dial-up narrations, and an interactive website (www.flowcanyouseetheriver.org), and a smart phone app (http:// trackaraindrop.org/). FLOW’s multi-platform approach reached viewers  utilizing  visual  cues,  technological  communication, and direct personal experiences to convey the multiple layers of interconnection between this Indiana waterway with the actions and lives of Indiana residents as well as its industries, agriculture, and businesses. FLOW has been so successful that Miss has been invited back to extend the project to six tributaries of the White River.

Encouraged by public officials to bring this type of work to New York City, Miss came up with the concept to use Broadway as a demonstration project for the MM/CaLL framework, turning the City’s oldest and most celebrated avenue into a “green corridor.”