Brooklyn PS 20 Green Arts Program

PS 20 Green Arts is an interdisciplinary hands-on educational approach that broadens student’s thinking and problem-solving abilities thanks to Art and Gardening. The Arts and Gardening instructors work closely with the class room teachers to ensure that what the children do outside in the garden and in the art studio informs and complements the work that is done in the classroom. While the kids are digging in the dirt and expressing themselves in the art studio they are also building on what they have learned in social studies, science, and other core subjects. Green Arts is also a great way to build student’s awareness about sustainability, what they can do to protect the Earth and how art and science mingle.

Thanks to the ongoing support of the PTA and local partners, the 400+ kids of PS 20 can now dig in the dirt, plant seeds they helped save in the fall, and then sample the fruits of their labors in the form of herbs, mixed greens, pea shoots, tomatoes, and much more. Students experience this outdoors, in spaces that are open to the community, providing the opportunity for environmental education and urban farming to jump the fence into the wider community.

We need your support to sustain and expand our Green Arts program.

Bees: thanks to your support last year and to our local partner, City Growers, we set up a beehive on the rooftop. The beehive is going really well and we should have honey to collect next year (it takes two years before the first harvest). That said, we need to add more beehives to make our bees stronger, as well as pursue the training of our 2 in-house beekeepers. 

Gardens: we will have additional space to plant this spring. We need to build more garden beds,get new plants and seeds, but also mulch and grass to make it look stunning!

Tree pit enhancements: we have beautiful trees next to our school. We have very skilled dads, who would love to help enhance them with tailored benches and planters.

Instructor: this is the biggest cost of our Green Arts program. With your support, we will be able to fund gardening and arts classes for every child in our school. 

March:

• Order 2 more beehives 
• Build garden beds
• Design tree pit enhancers

April:

• Build garden beds and tree pit enhancers
• Plant grass / new areas
• Start gardening class with all children (until December)
• Earth Day @Habana Outpost: bee related arts & craft activity

June:

• Bee day: students and community will be able to see the inside of the hive

September / October:

• Bee workshops with students
• Composting workshops with new students

Ignorance is the single largest environmental problem facing us today. Lack of direct connection to farming and exposure to fresh, local food are a common problem in urban areas.  This disconnection is one of the biggest challenges to the environment, because if people can’t see the interconnectedness of the planet, they will not move forward in greening it.

At Green Arts we are dedicated to providing environmental education to the diverse student body of PS 20: The Clinton Hill School, located in the heart of Brooklyn. We have already provided some of our students with this exposure over the last seven years, and with your help we want to do more. Learning about the food cycle and experiencing it first hand through sprouting, growing, harvesting, seed saving and composting gives students an invaluable opportunity. They are empowered to teach their parents and their neighbors about fresh, local food, interconnectedness and sustainability. Seeing the fruits of students’ labor growing in the school grounds surrounding PS 20 will not only expose students to this, but also draw our larger community into the process, providing informal environmental education to neighbors and passersby.