Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

(Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, October 12, 2005) - The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, in cooperation with Pratt Institute and Danny Simmons, will hold the first annual Myrtle Main Street Festival from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, October 15, rain or shine. The festival will take place simultaneously with the second annual Pratt Art Fair, with the events spanning the blocks of Hall Street between Dekalb and Myrtle Avenues and Myrtle from Hall to Ryerson Streets. Both events are free and open to the public.

The Myrtle Main Street Festival, featuring a sampling of local food and products, carnival games, arts and crafts for kids, and a moonbounce, plans to celebrate both the avenue’s past as one of Brooklyn’s historic commercial main streets, and its promising future with the launch of its new Business Improvement District (BID). The BID was signed into law by Mayor Bloomberg after three years of community organizing, and began services in April of this year. The festival will be concentrated at the intersection of Myrtle Avenue and Hall Street, with additional sidewalk sales taking place up and down Myrtle.

The Pratt Art Fair, which will be held on Hall Street between DeKalb and Willoughby Avenues near Pratt’s Brooklyn Campus, will serve as a showcase for the wealth of artistic talent in Brooklyn. Work to be on display and for sale will include fine art, glass, ceramics, photography, handmade paper, home accessories, jewelry, and apparel. All exhibitors are Pratt students, Pratt alumni, Brooklyn residents, or representatives from Brooklyn-based galleries. The fair will coincide with Pratt’s Alumni and Family weekend, and PrattStore at 550 Myrtle Avenue will offer special discounts.

“The chance to experience some of Myrtle’s new merchants and Pratt’s artistic talent is a great opportunity for those in our community and surrounding neighborhoods to check out what all the buzz is about,” says Michael Blaise Backer, executive director of the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership. “A lot of people in the neighborhood still tell me that they haven’t had a chance to venture north to Myrtle Avenue to see all of the changes they’ve heard about. And many from other neighborhoods in Brooklyn have yet to witness our beautiful historic districts, Fort Greene Park, or Pratt campus’ sculpture park. Well this would be a great weekend to pay us a visit.”

Pratt President Thomas F. Schutte, along with local dignitaries and elected officials, will welcome the attendees, artists, and vendors at a press conference at 2 p.m. “The Pratt Art Fair will bring together Pratt students and Brooklyn’s local artists and galleries creating an intriguing blend of those who are studying art and those who are practicing artists. The fair also enables the public to view and buy art from a range of artists, at one location,” says Schutte. “We look forward to a very exciting day on campus and in the neighborhoods surrounding Pratt.”

Pratt Institute has long been a leader in guiding the neighborhood’s resurgence, and has served as a cultural anchor to Clinton Hill since 1887. Myrtle Avenue spans the neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, and has experienced a significant economic renaissance in recent years. In early 2000, the Myrtle Avenue Revitalization Project LDC (MARP), chaired by Pratt’s Schutte, began its work resuscitating the avenue by cleaning up garbage and graffiti, and recruiting local businesses and new entrepreneurs to fill the many vacant storefronts lining the avenue. The Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Business Improvement District (BID) began providing regular sanitation and beautification services in April of this year to the merchants and property owners on Myrtle from Flatbush to Classon Avenues. Together MARP and the BID work under the umbrella name Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership, sharing offices and some senior staff.

Support for this weekend’s events has been provided by Con Edison and the Associated Supermarket at Myrtle Avenue and Hall. Media sponsors for the event are the Brooklyn Daily Eagle; The L Magazine; INBrooklyn; and the WB11.

Directions to Myrtle Avenue can be found at www.myrtleavenue.org. For directions to Pratt Institute’s campus or parking information, call 718-636-3600 or visit the Pratt Web site at www.pratt.edu/directions.