BP Adams Allocates Millions For Local Dance, Arts And Cultural Groups

Heather Chin -
Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams presented honorary checks to organizations that are helping to build the “Brooklyn brand” throughout the borough. (Photo Credit: Malcolm McDaniel/Brooklyn BP’s Office)

A massive windfall in funds is coming in 2016 to dozens of Brooklyn cultural institutions and libraries thanks to an investment of over $8 million in funds from Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams. Locally and within the 35th Council District, those benefiting include:

  • the Brooklyn Museum ($1 million),
  • Brooklyn Botanic Garden ($1 million),
  • Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM, $500,000),
  • Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA, $500,000),
  • Brooklyn Children’s Museum ($337,000),
  • ISSUE Project Room ($281,000),
  • Weeksville Heritage Center ($189,000),
  • Gallim Dance Company ($41,000),
  • BRIC Arts House ($35,000)

The Gallim Dance Company, an award-winning ensemble in Clinton Hill, will use the funds for technology upgrades to their performance space, while BAM will make headway on building the BAM Cinema, History, and Education Center. For their part, MoCADA will fund the interior space of their new building, BRIC will purchase a new “concert-quality” Steinway grand piano, and the ISSUE Project Room in Downtown Brooklyn will renovate their 199-seat theater.

Other investments were made in the Brooklyn Public Library ($3,225,000 for the Saratoga, Spring Creek, Sunset Park, Highlawn, Ulmer Park, and Coney Island branches), Brooklyn Historical Society ($50,000), Brooklyn Arts Council ($45,000), Green-Wood Historic Fund ($130,000), St. Ann’s Warehouse in DUMBO ($200,000), Dancewave in Park Slope ($250,000), Prospect Park Zoo ($175,000), New York Aquarium ($500,000), STREB Lab for Action Mechanics in Williamsburg ($250,000), and the Eyebeam art and technology center in Sunset Park ($39,000).

“Culture is what makes Brooklyn; our diversity, our creativity, and our unique blend of lifestyles have birthed a quality-of-life that is second-to-none,” said Borough President Adams. “We have to preserve, promote, and produce high-quality cultural experiences to keep us firmly planted as the center of the cultural universe. Investment in cultural institutions and libraries is good for Brooklynites in ways that are not always visible to the naked eye; studies show their positive impact on public health, small businesses, civic engagement, and youth development.”