Each year The Park Slope Civic Council awards community service grants to local organizations. Grants award the work of local community groups and non profits for their work and commitment to improve the health, vitality and diversity of our community. Awards are given for projects in the arts, education, youth programs and civic improvement.
Community grants are funded by the Civic Council’s annual House Tour.
This year The Council is delighted to support the following organizations for greatly contributing to our community’s diversity and vitality:
Brooklyn Youth Music Project
The Brooklyn Youth Music Project (BYMP) is an independent, community-based, 501(c)3 organization serving musicians ages 5 to 18 which incorporated as a non-profit in 2011. We are dedicated to extending the reach of musical training to young musicians in Brooklyn and beyond, to supporting the development of life-long learners and to contributing to a culture of youth musicianship. The organization got its start under the auspices of the Brooklyn Heights Music Society with one year-long youth orchestra of 25 string players and a one-week summer music program for string orchestra with 20 participants. We currently offer three programs which include our orchestra program, jazz ensemble program and summer camp program.
The Brooklyn Youth Music Project is requesting funds for our free community orchestra concert scheduled to take place on June 9, 2019. The performance is scheduled to take place at the newly restored sanctuary of Old First Reformed Church located at 729 Carroll Street. We are excited to have the opportunity to perform in this beautiful church and are hoping that Rev. Dr. Daniel Meeter, Pastor, who is an oboist, will play with the kids for this concert. This concert will bring classical music to the Park Slope community via some very talented local young musicians.
Dancewave
Dancewave provides NYC youth access to a supportive dance experience that embraces and encourages individuality, equipping students with the life skills to unlock their full potential as people and community members. The foremost goal of Dancewave programming is to provide students of all socioeconomic and cultural backgrounds with the chance to study dance. Comprehensive programming helps students gain confidence and technical proficiency through pre-professional training, rehearsals, and performances.
Dancewave funds will go support a Moving Together class and Dancewave Company performance at Old Stone House and JJ Byrne Park in Park Slope, Brooklyn in
June 2019 to coincide with the opening of the new Dancewave Center. Dancewave’s Moving Together program hosts free, all- accessible level dance classes for youth and adults in the community by providing world-class dance instructors to expand awareness of various dance disciplines. Dancewave’s professional teaching artists lead movers of all ages and abilities through an integrative dance experience focusing on traditional African, Kukuwa, Soca or
Hip Hop dances, showcasing a large range of rhythmic dynamics and patterns. The Dancewave Company program exposes young dancers to world renowned choreographers. Our dancers are taught best practices in youth development and grow as self confident young citizens and artists.
Old Stone House
Old Stone House asked for a PSCC grant to support its Community Art Exhibition Program. At least two exhibitions will be mounted in 2019: Race and Revolution: Reimagining Monuments and a two-person show featuring artists Tahil Carl Kamali and Justin Sterling. These exhibitions will be accompanied by various public programs, including artist talkbacks, workshops and performances, further engaging audiences in the themes of the exhibitions.
One Breath Rising
One Breath Rising is an “improvisational arts” company featuring poetry, Jazz and dance performances. Since 2016, they have had a partnership with 440 Gallery, on 6th Ave. between 9th and 10th Streets, that brings spoken-word artists and musicians to the gallery on one Sunday a month for ten months. Funding from other sources supports the writers and poets, and One Breath Rising has asked for a PSCC grant to increase the number of musical performances and to provide musical accompaniment for spoken-word presenters.
Opera on Tap
Since its inception in 2005 Opera on Tap has partnered with The Old Stone House on various music projects. Opera on Tap has requested a PSCC grant for A Musical Walk Through America’s Volatile Political History, which it describes as “an immersive musical experience exploring our nation’s current political divide and how it relates to our history.” Opera on Tap is partnering with famed American song archivist Paul Sperry and historian William Parry on developing a narrative and curating a collection of American song dating from and focused on moments in our history when politics has led to heightened violence in our nation. This will be presented free of charge to the public at The Old Stone House on four evenings in July 2019. If approved, Opera on Tap would be a first-tine grantee.
Piper Theater
Piper Theater has brought free, outdoor, professional theater productions to Park Slope since 2000. Piper also runs a summer education workshop for 150 young people. Piper asked for a PSCC grant to support expansion of its Brooklyn Writers Group. The project will commission new plays from five local Brooklyn writers and showcase the plays for one night each in free performances at the Old Stone House. Piper describes the project as “an opportunity for emerging playwrights, actors, directors and stage managers who are eager for exposure, and creates a forum for young members of our education company to be exposed to new work.”
PS 282
PS 282 is a District 13 school located on Sixth Avenue, between Berkeley Place and Lincoln Place. Our grant will support the PTO’s project “Green Zone,” which maintains three grade-specific gardens on school grounds that not only teach about “land beneath the cement” but are also used to teach natural science concepts. Our grant will contribute to the installation of new infrastructure including a drip irrigation system, cinder blocks to prevent rats from burrowing through the sides of raised gardens, and the completion of a “Pollinator’s Garden.”
Spellbound Theatre
Spellbound Theatre, founded in 2011 as artists-in-residence at the Old Stone House, is a company devoted to creating original, multi-disciplinary performance for the very young. Spellbound produces original plays for audiences ages 0-5 and conducts early childhood education programs and community events for families with young children. Our grant will support their family outreach Pop-Up Performance series at the Old Stone House which is presented 10-12 times over the year for families with children ages 2-5.
Spoke the Hub
Spoke the Hub Dancing Inc. is a not-for-profit dance and community arts organization in the Park Slope and Gowanus. They have requested a PSCC grant for administrative outreach and securing local business sponsorship to help sustain Gilligan’s Comedy Showcase and The Salon at the Spoke the Hub Re-Creation Center at 748 Union Street. Gilligan’s Comedy Showcase is described as a monthly comedy club-variety show organized by comic-writer Gabe Pacheco “featuring the hottest young funny people currently making the New York comedy circuit.” The SALON at Spoke the Hub is described as “an informal cultural and social ‘gathering’ loosely modeled after the informal turn-of-last-century European salons where artists of all types and at all stages of their careers share their works-in-progress in an informal and supportive setting,” including a variety of new dance, music, theater, film, music, clowning, and storytelling by local performing artists.