Open Studios at the Navy Yard

A friend and neighbor explored the Navy Yard on a few Saturdays ago for Open House NY.  She was kind enough to send me a synopsis with some photos!  Thanks, Jen! After the last ship was built in 1964 and the yards officially closed in 1966, they re-opened in 1971 the Brooklyn Navy Yards (BNY) as an industrial park, owned and managed by a private non-profit company (that got the property from the city). This past week, the Navy Yards participated in Open House NY (www.ohny.org), inviting the public in to roam around the yards and meet artists in their working studios. If you missed it this weekend, BNY is partnering with the Brooklyn Historical Society to create a vistors center/museum and tours.

I went down to BNY with a neighborhood friend, and had a fantastic time taking pictures and checking out art studios.  The variety of artists was amazing, and you could tell that many were inspired by the views and essence of the location.  Of course we didn't get to all the studios, so we are looking forward to going back again.

In another venue, I learned there is a current debate over what to do with the ignored and dilapidated "Admiral's Row".  The BNY Development Co (BNYDC) will somehow magically will "get" the property from the city received it in 1988 from the Army National Guard and Marine Corp.  According to BNYDC rep Richard Drucker, "the public" wants a gorcery store there.  When asked how they polled "the public" it was revealed that this is input from a few of the local tenement associations.  Preservationists are involved in the debates and a solution of if and how they can preserve partially or in whole any of these Admiral houses (on Flushing Ave, at Navy), along with city ordinances on the amount of parking required for businesses of varying sizes, etc., are in progress. The best way I recommend to get involved is through the Clinton Hill and/or Fort Greene Societies.

(www.brooklynnavyyard.org) - about renting space, what movies have been filmed here, tenants, (www.bnyarts.com) - info on the artist tenants who participated in BNY Open Studios