For the last 10 years Broadway Stages has been actively committed to and involved in environmental sustainability, leading the green rooftop movement in New York City with the help of some amazing experts. A commitment to community and sustainability is a cornerstone of Broadway Stages’ business philosophy. This was demonstrated in 2009 when Broadway Stages launched its first green roof, Eagle Street Rooftop Farm, located at our studio facility on Eagle Street in Greenpoint. We partnered with Goode Green, a New York City based green roof company, and urban agriculture expert Annie Novak. Together with co founder Ben Flanner (who moved on from Eagle Street in 2010 to found the Brooklyn Grange farm), Novak established an internationally acclaimed organic rooftop farm that produces a variety of vegetables and herbs, along with a few chickens and bees — all part of the ecosystem that helps to make our environment thrive. 

At first glance one appreciates the harvest of fresh produce and natural beauty the green rooftop farm provides to the local community, wildlife and insects. However, the benefits are much more far-reaching. Utilizing urban architecture to host green spaces helps to advance ecosystem services that are critical to our habitat and community — by improving the air, making buildings more temperate and reducing storm water runoff.  And these green spaces have an added bonus — they provide educational and volunteer opportunities, host regular farmers markets during the growing season and provide fresh produce to local restaurants, and all with an incredible view of Manhattan. “Thanks to the Argento’s and support from Broadway Stages, we were able to create the Eagle Street Rooftop Farm. Over the last ten years we have trained over 125 young urban farmers, hosted hundreds of school kids and thousands of neighborhood volunteers,” says Novak. “In true New York City fashion, the farm has served as a set for everything from Saturday Night Live to the Martha Stewart Show. It’s been an amazing decade and I look forward to everything the next ten years brings.”

A sincere thank you to our green partners for their support and commitment to make environmental sustainability more than a movement, but a way of life.  Congratulations to Growing Chefs’ Annie Novak and the success of Eagle Street Rooftop Farm for 10 years of innovative urban farming. Here’s to a fruitful harvest in 2020. We can’t wait to see what the next decade will bring.