Home » More About BBG » Annual Report » 2007
Government and Community Affairs
BBG works closely with government agencies and elected officials to sustain funding for operating expenses and capital improvements. The Garden wishes to acknowledge and thank these friends for their leadership in helping BBG continue to realize significant public support over the past year.
In the 2006–07 fiscal year, BBG again received critical operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, under the leadership of commissioner Kate Levin. With special support from council speaker Christine Quinn and members of the Brooklyn Delegation of the City Council, this funding was instrumental in helping to sustain BBG's educational programs in the local community. Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz also played a significant role in advocating the continuation of these community services. The commitment of $8 million in additional city capital funds in 2006–07 enabled the Garden to move forward with priority projects in its master-site plan. Major funding from mayor Michael Bloomberg's office, the City Council, and the Brooklyn borough president, through the city capital budget, will help fund the redesigned Flatbush Avenue entrance and school group orientation area at the southern end of BBG, and to recirculate the water in BBG's pond and stream system.
The extraordinary support of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation helped in securing a grant of $609,200 to BBG from the Zoos, Botanical Gardens, and Aquariums Program. The Brooklyn Delegations of both the New York State Assembly and Senate provided legislative grants for BBG educational programs, and the Garden thanks them for their ongoing support. BBG was fortunate to receive a grant of $15,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts to support the fall 2007 exhibition "Drawing From Life: Maud H. Purdy and 90 Years of Women Artists at Brooklyn Botanic Garden," in addition to generous support from the New York State Council on the Arts in previous years to support exhibition planning. The Garden also received a $20,000 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts and a $10,000 first-time grant from the Metropolitan New York Library Council for the digitization of the Elsie May Kittredge collection, 1,000 lantern slides and glass plate negatives by New York State photographer Elsie May Kittredge (1870–1954).
The Garden continued to thrive in the federal arena as well. The Garden gratefully received ongoing support from two major federal agencies through multi-year grants. Funding from the Institute of Museum and Library Services supported both the development of a Garden-wide interpretation plan, which will strengthen efforts to convey to visitors the importance of plants, and BBG's role in the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment, the high school that BBG helped found in 2003. With major support from the National Science Foundation, BBG catalogued the holdings of its Herbarium and made the data for its entire collection accessible through the internet.