On Thursday, Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams and Brooklyn Arts Council awarded $1,500 mini-grants totaling $45,000 to 30 local cultural organizations seeking to advance tourism in the borough.
The name of the grant award is "Destination: Brooklyn," and the purpose of the funding is to support the promotion of local arts and culture groups.
"Every neighborhood has a unique culture and style all its own, and you haven't experienced our borough until you've experienced every one of them," said Borough President Adams. "Our goal at Brooklyn Borough Hall is to make sure our tourism industry embraces all that we have to offer. Outreach is everything, and Destination: Brooklyn allows these groups to be seen, be heard, and be appreciated by Brooklyn and the rest of the world."
These funds specifically supported expenses incurred in the development, production, and distribution of promotional materials for their organizations and their arts and cultural programs and events. Over 115,000 pieces of marketing materials have been designed, distributed and created through this grant.
"Brooklyn Arts Council is pleased to have worked with Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams to enhance tourism to the borough," said Ella J. Weiss, president of Brooklyn Arts Council. "As the artistic epicenter of NYC, Brooklyn's arts and cultural scene is thriving. Through the Destination: Brooklyn grant, each of the 30 recipients will continue to enrich our community and keep the county of Kings vibrant and rich with artistic expression and creativity."
Awardees of 2014 Destination: Brooklyn mini-grants in Central Brooklyn:
Fort Greene/Clinton Hill
- Elders Share the Arts, an arts organization for older adults
- JACK, an multidisciplinary arts center
- Make Music New York, a festival of free citywide concerts
- NY Writers Coalition, Inc., a literary organization
- The TEAM, a theater ensemble
Bedford Stuyvesant
- Bailey's Café, an intergenerational community-based arts and culture programming organization
- KowTeff School of African Dance, an African dance organization
Crown Heights
- FiveMyles Gallery, an exhibition and performance space
- Haiti Cultural Exchange, a Haitian cultural arts organization
- Thelma Hill Performing Arts Center, a dance presenting organization
"Destination: Brooklyn gives our small Clinton Hill arts center, JACK, the opportunity to create marketing materials on par with big arts organizations, with postcards and posters designed by a professional designer that look fantastic," said Alec Duffy, artistic director of JACK, based in Clinton Hill.
"The grant even provides funds for us to pay members of our youth theater program to distribute the materials, so that we can maximize coverage. It's a real game-changer for us."
