Brooklyn P.S. 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 550+ 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.

Instructors: We have 2 amazing Green Arts instructors. This is the biggest cost of our Green Arts program. With your support, we will be able to continue funding gardening and arts classes for every child in our school. During this crazy pandemic year, we were able to maintain our in person gardening classes, providing some much needed outdoor time to our children.

Bees: thanks to your support in the last 2 years and to our local partner, City Growers, we set up 3 beehives on the rooftop. Unfortunately, winter hazards have jeopardized our bees and we need to replace a few beehives. This mishap happens frequently, especially with younger beehives, but the team is determined to make it work.  We need 3 beehives and ongoing training for our in-house beekeepers. 

Garden maintenance: we need to upgrade our irrigation system.

March:

• Order 3 beehives

April:

• Install new beehives and continue ongoing volunteer training

May/June:

• Get material for new irrigation system
• Upgrade irrigation system

September - June:

• Deliver gardening classes

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.