Home » More About BBG » Annual Report » 2006
Brooklyn Botanic Garden 2006 Annual Report
Government and Community Affairs
Brooklyn Botanic Garden 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 to continue to realize significant public support over the past year.
In 2005–06, BBG again received critical operating support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, under the leadership of Commissioner Kate Levin. The Brooklyn delegation of the City Council was able to allocate $200,000 to the Garden, with special support from Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who was instrumental in helping to sustain BBG's programs in our community. Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz also played a significant role in advocating the continuation of these community services. The commitment of $9 million in additional city capital funds in 2005–06 has enabled the Garden to move forward with several priority projects in its master plan. Major funding from the Mayor's office, City Council, and the Brooklyn borough president, through the city capital budget, will help fund construction of a new Visitor Center building at the Garden, which is being designed as a green building with a living roof and other environmentally friendly elements.
The extraordinary support of the New York State Assembly and Senate played a key role in securing a grant of $482,500 to BBG from the Zoos, Botanical Gardens, and Aquariums Program of the state Natural Heritage Trust. In addition, BBG was fortunate to receive a $12,500 grant from the New York State Council on the Arts to examine the history of women botanical artists, including BBG staff artist Maud Purdy, in preparation for a major exhibition of this work. A special grant of $235,000 for renovation of the Rose Garden was also received from New York State.
The Garden continued to thrive in the federal arena as well. BBG received the third and final year of funding of $75,000 from the Institute of Museum and Library Services to support BBG's role in the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment, the high school that the Garden helped found in 2003. In 2005–6, the Garden received $103,000 from the National Science Foundation as part of a three-year grant to catalog the holdings of its Herbarium and to make the data for the entire collection accessible through the Internet. And BBG was very pleased to receive funds from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to support its work with community gardens to develop sustainable gardening projects.