BROCHURES ARE TYPICALLY noteworthy for the news they hold, but the in-house designers at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) have produced a beautiful summer catalogue as enticing to flip through as to read. Led by Director CLARA CORNELIUS, a longtime Brooklyn resident who lives in Midwood, the design squad shows us again that there is a heap of local talent operating behind the scenes.
“Leading the BAM design team is an incredibly positive, creative experience,” says Cornelius. “We have a lot of fun, and I think that’s reflected in our materials. We’re committed to excellence in showcasing the performances at this institution and are always looking for new and innovative ways to do that.”
EVENTS:
KATE KERRIGAN, new executive director of the DUMBO BID, has given the neighborhood its first greenmarket. Residents are saying ‘thank you!’ for filling this grocery niche that has been distinctly lacking. The Father’s Day debut drew a crowd of about 2,000, twice the number the market needed to survive. Market organizers hope that people who flock to Olafur Elliasson’s waterfalls will stop by the market at Plymouth and Main streets, to make up for those would-be shoppers who will be away in the Hamptons.
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MARGARET CUSACK, president of the Hoyt Street Association, says the schedule of volunteer readers for the ever-popular “Free Stories in the Garden” summer program is full. Children have been gathering to listen to stories and nibble cookies at the Hoyt Street Garden (Atlantic Avenue at Hoyt Street) since Cusack’s 28-year-old daughter Kate was small. Kids (with their adults), blankets and books are welcome to meet Tuesdays from June 24 through July 29 at 7 p.m. For more information, call (718) 237-0145.
HONOREES:
NEWLY APPOINTED FRANK G. MONTES will direct the Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) facilities planning and management. He will be responsible for management of all of BBG’s capital projects, including the new Visitor Center and new “gardens within the Garden.” He has a background in both construction and conservation, most recently with Mitsui Fudosan America, Inc., where he held a similar title. Montes also has held positions with the Rockefeller Group Development Corporation and the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission … In other news, BBG President Scott Medbury was honored Sunday by the Society of Old Brooklynites at the Bay Ridge Manor.
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WHEN KIESHORNE DENNIE of Crown Heights became a peer helper in Brooklyn High School of the Arts’ peer mentoring program, he knew he would be helping others, but didn’t know he’d be helping himself, too. In the SPARK (Supportive Peers as Resources for Knowledge) program, Dennie was one of the students who led discussions and made presentations on topics such as relationships, drugs and the prevention of STDs. When he was 10, Dennie lost his father to AIDS. He didn’t talk about it much until he became a peer mentor and began supporting other students in what they wanted to talk about.
His volunteerism — along with good grades, extra-curricular activities and an essay on civic responsibility — earned him a $2,500 Spirit of New York Scholarship to The City University of NY (CUNY) school of his choice. He wants to be a teacher, to continue listening and helping students.
OUT OF TOWN:
BROOKLYN MADE TURKISH NEWS YESTERDAY — in a Turkish Daily News article the author lauded the amiable co-mingling of cultures in Brooklyn, as unlike anywhere else: “Brooklyn, one of the most famous districts of NYC of the state of NY, today is one of the few neighborhoods known worldwide. What makes Brooklyn interesting is neither its location within NYC nor its famous Brooklyn Bridge [but] its being a rare settlement center where people from 160 different countries around the world live together without any problem.”
The author commends Brooklyn’s success in fostering multiculturalism and coexistence between groups that are distinctly unfriendly — to put it mildly — elsewhere. “One wonders why these people who live here in peace and tranquility cannot manage to live together in the Middle East.”
