The Brooklyn Academy of Music Local Development Corporation is seeking
arts groups to inhabit the first phase of its planned cultural district
in Fort Greene.
The property, bounded by Ashland Place, Rockwell Place, Fulton Street
and Lafayette Avenue currently holds a parking lot, the Mark Morris Dance
Group studios and a liquor store. The BAM LDC’s Request for Expression
of Interest (RFEI) is a means for interested arts and cultural organizations
to apply for some of the 250,000 square feet of non-residential space
that will be built there.
The entire site makes up a 60,000-square-foot block. The four parcels
that the BAM LDC has been charged with developing are city-owned, and
in the press release it issued, the LDC reported “some capital subsidy
will be available” to artistic organizations chosen to “create
facilities” in the site.
Known as the “North Site” under the BAM LDC plan, the block
will also be developed with 350 units of mixed-income housing. The housing
is not a subject of the RFEI and its development will be determined through
a Request for Proposals down the road.
“The goal was to cast as broad a net as possible and see what could
be out there,” said Jeanne Lutfy, executive director of the BAM LDC.
She said the LDC reached out by mass mailings and press releases to “close
to a thousand groups.” On Jan. 5, the LDC will hold a public information
session for interested applicants from 9:30 am to noon at Long Island
University. Those interested in attending need to call (718) 907-4403
by Jan. 3. The deadline for all submissions is Feb. 7.
“We basically took a page from the Lower Manhattan Development Corporation
when they were soliciting proposals for the World Trade Center site,”
said Lutfy.
Indeed, the RFEI and recent efforts by BAM LDC’s partner in the project,
the city Economic Development Corporation, to consult with neighborhood
groups seem to have assuaged some fears that a longstanding and ethnically
diverse community arts movement would be supplanted by more well-connected,
predominantly white Manhattanites.
The Concerned Citizens Coalition, a Fort Greene neighborhood group that
formed in response to the BAM LDC plan, has been the most vocal in expressing
that concern.
Now the CCC, which in October was shopping around proposed plans of their
own for the North Site that considered everything from theater and dance
space to an affordable housing scheme for residential condos, seems to
be suddenly on the same page as the BAM LDC.
“The CCC is trying to help,” said the Rev. Clinton Miller, chairman
of the group. “We’re not trying to develop the land, but trying
to ensure the process is one in which full participation is offered.”
Miller said his group has met with both the BAM LDC and the EDC.
“We know that some of the meetings we’ve attended have helped
and influenced the process,” he said. “We want to make sure
the outcome consistently reflects the wishes of the community.”
Fort Greene Councilwoman Letitia James sounded concerned that more specifics,
like an RFP, had not been issued.
“It’s only for cultural organizations, it does not deal with
the rest. It’s for arts programs, but only the arts,” James
said.
But to many local arts groups, even having the option to give input on
what is needed is a pleasure.
Diane Jacobowitz, whose youth dance organization Dancewave has been operating
out of space leased from the Berkeley Carroll School, in Park Slope, said
the group is not confined by lack of interest, they just need more room
to move.
“We’ve been on the market for a while,” said Jacobowitz,
executive director of the 25-year-old organization. “It’s a
long, hard struggle looking for a space.”
She said they need “a minimum of two full-size studios” for
their programs, which facilitate up to 200 kids, ages 11 to 18, every
weekday afternoon.
“It’s a fantastic location,” she said, noting the proximity
to the Mark Morris studio.
“We have a very good relationship with them and we like them,”
said Jacobowitz. “It would make downtown this incredible dance place.”
Persons or groups interested in submitting a proposal for space can call
(718) 907-4403 or e-mail to info@bamldc.org. The Web site is www.bamculturaldistrict.org.
