by on Sep 7, 2018
Center serves 60,000 Students and Families with FREE Environmentally Themed Programming, Offering Visitors Interactive Opportunities to Learn about The Park’s Ecology, History, and Sustainable design.
BROOKLYN, NY SEPTEMBER 7, 2018 — Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy is pleased to announce the third anniversary of the Environmental Education Center. To celebrate the occasion, the Conservancy invites the public to special open hours on Sunday, September 16th from 12:00 – 5:00 PM. The day will feature several FREE activities appropriate for all ages including a guided nature walk with our specially curated Cove Kits. These kits are filled with family-friendly items such as an activity booklet and crayons, nature field guides, binoculars, and other items to help visitors explore and discover. In the addition to the Center’s interactive exhibits, there will also be puppet shows featuring nocturnal animals, public feeding of the Center’s animals such as turtles, seahorses and monarch caterpillars, and the creation of seahorse masks.
The Environmental Education Center serves as the home base for the Conservancy’s innovative and immersive education programming in Brooklyn Bridge Park. In its first three years, it hosted over 27,000 students from school and camp programs. Taking advantage of its unique waterfront location, the Center offers students and teachers one-of-a-kind experiences such as Seining the River Wild, a program designed to offer students the chance to examine East River estuary creatures hands on. The Center’s Sustainable Landscapes program empowers children to be urban park planners through an introduction to the park’s sustainable features.
Outside of school programs, the Center hosts open hours for the general public. During these free sessions, visitors can participate in hands-on activities that correspond with monthly park-related themes. Past themes have included sustainability, pollination, birds, and the working waterfront. Currently, the Center’s estuary theme gives participants a chance to classify fish found in the East River, identify the parts of a seahorse and make a paper plate jellyfish. Over the past 3 years, the Environmental Education Center has educated and inspired over 32,000 children and families that have visited Brooklyn Bridge Park.
Major support for the Environmental Education Center has been generously provided by New York City Council Member Stephen Levin and Con Edison.
“The Environmental Education Center has been a great resource for visitors,” said Nancy Webster, Executive Director of Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy. “With its rotating exhibits, new displays, and original programming, you learn more about the Park and its natural environment with every visit.”
“The Brooklyn Bridge Park Conservancy plays a vital role in providing signature programming for the Park, including their wonderful education programs. Over the past three years, the Environmental Education Center has welcomed thousands of children and families to the Park to learn about our coastline,” said Eric Landau, Brooklyn Bridge Park President. “We are grateful to the Conservancy for all they do in providing these programs and look forward to many more years of park users taking full advantage of all the programs offered here.”
“We’re excited to celebrate the Environmental Education Center’s third anniversary,” said Isa Del Bello, Director of Education at the Conservancy. “We’ll have special activities and crafts to mark the anniversary of this incredible learning space.”
In addition to its Environmental Education Center, the Conservancy provides over 600 free cultural, educational, and recreational events in the Park each year.