Aug 27, 2015 2 min read BRIC Arts Media

$17.15M In City Council Funds Are Allocated To Fort Greene-Clinton Hill After-School And Arts Programs

Council Member Laurie A. Cumbo (center) joins Aaron Zimmerman, the founder and executive director of the NY Writers Coalition and Nancy Weber, the program director for the Fort Greene Summer Literary Festival.

Even more funds are coming down the pipeline to local after-school arts programs and cultural institutions, courtesy of the New York City Council, with support from the mayor’s office and Brooklyn Borough President’s office. Specifically, a total of $17.15 million is allocated for the coming year for the 35th Council District.

The money comes on the heels of Borough President Eric Adams’ allocation of $8 million in funds for Brooklyn groups, many of them again listed here as beneficiaries. The money breakdown is as follows:

Getting $20,000 each from the Cultural After-School Adventures Program Initiative:
The Brooklyn Music School, Girl Be Heard Institute, Scenarios USA; Irondale Productions, Inc., the Noel Pointer Foundation, NY Writer’s Coalition, The Brooklyn Steppers, Inc.; and the University Settlement Society of New York, Inc.
BRIC Arts Media – $130,000
Brooklyn Academy of Music, Inc. (BAM) – $500,000
Brooklyn Botanic Garden – $1,000,000
Brooklyn Museum – $3 million
Brooklyn Navy Yard – $2.5 million
Dancewave – $320,000
Fort Greene Park – $1.5 million
Gallim Dance Company, Inc. – $82,000
Irondale – $60,000
Issue Project Room – $250,000
Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) – $3,500,000
Prospect Park Alliance – $3,200,000
Theatre for a New Audience – $913,000

Councilmember Laurie Cumbo welcomed the investment by noting that “in communities across this city, there is no greater way to bring the diverse communities of New York City together than through the arts. . . [These] incredible and deserving organizations make Brooklyn, New York the greatest place in the world for cultural creation and exchanges.”

Brooklyn Music School Artistic-Executive Director Piruz Partow thanked the Council for seeing “the big picture in that arts empowers our youth to find who they are through self-expression; deterring them from engaging in gang and gun violence” while also supporting local students and teaching staff who work in the district and borough.

“[These funds will] allow us to harness the power of writing to heal, transform, build community, and create audience for New Yorkers from all walks of lives,” added Aaron Zimmerman, founder and executive director of the New York Writers Coalition.

“Girl Be Heard is honored to have received a CASA grant to continue our after school program at Susan McKinney and deepen our work with young women in the community who are rising above adversity — from bullying to systemic racism — each and every day by sharing their stories of courage and resilience,” said executive director Jessica Greer Morris.