Welcome to Broadway Stages’ Spotlight, where we feature local shops, restaurants, organizations, individuals, and venues. We encourage our readers to join us in supporting these establishments and advancing local economic growth. Today we shine the light on a local organization that believe arts and culture are at the heart of vibrant and healthy communities. We could not agree more. 

One night in 1966, Charlene Victor invited some friends and neighbors to meet in the basement of her Flatbush apartment. The one thing they all had in common was a passion for sustaining Brooklyn’s artistic heritage. That night, Victor led them in founding the Brooklyn Arts Council (then known as the Brooklyn Arts and Cultural Association).

Victor envisioned a platform to support individual artists in Brooklyn through vibrant arts programming and services. In addition, she was dedicated to creating equity in access to arts experiences for Brooklyn residents. Today, the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) embodies Victor’s vision through Creative Experiences, Creative Ecologies, and Creative Equations.

Creative Experiences | By championing the power of art, BAC seeks to amplify expression, enrichment, and diversity in the communities of Brooklyn. They do this by empowering artists and audiences in art-making, art-sharing, and art-learning. One way they connect is through local schools. BAC employs professional artists and instructors to provide classroom instruction in music, dance, theater and visual arts, creative writing, architecture, graphic design, and folk arts in public schools in all five boroughs.

Creative Ecologies | The Council is working to build bonds between artists and the public. The Council believes that artists and communities thrive when they are connected to one another. Given the strength of Brooklyn’s diversity, they integrate language needs and have created programs in Chinese, Italian, and Spanish. Also, most programs are publicly funded and thus free or offered at a low-cost, thus integrating the specific needs of those participating.

Creative Equations | BAC understands that art spurs innovation. To nurture creativity, they actively advocate for sustainable development strategies that include art, artists, and arts institutions to optimize social innovations and solutions to inequity. The BAC sponsors free professional development seminars, computer and Internet access in its Resource Room, fiscal sponsorship, and ongoing phone, e-mail, and in-person consultations.

In 1980, Charlene Victor further expanded the organization’s mission to provide grants to artists. With funds provided by DCA, NYSCA, and JPMorgan Chase, BAC awards over 100 grants to artists and small cultural groups for creation, presentation, and capacity-building projects every year. These grants include:

• Creative Equations Fund - A grant that leverages the Brooklyn Arts Council’s 40+ years of grant-making expertise to invest in arts for social justice.

• Brooklyn Arts Fund- A grant for arts and cultural projects that contribute to creative experiences for audiences in Brooklyn.

• Local Arts Support Grant - Support for nonprofit organizations and artist-nonprofit partnerships developing high-quality local arts projects and programs focusing on community engagement.

• Charlene Victor and Ella J. Weiss Cultural Entrepreneur Fund - A grant designed to support the professional development of Brooklyn’s emerging and mid-career women artists and arts administrators.

The Brooklyn Arts Council is the go-to service group for Brooklyn’s independent dance, music, film, and visual artists and for discovering the wide array of cultural groups and projects in Brooklyn. You can follow them online via Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. In addition, you can financially support their efforts by clicking HERE.

As Broadway Stages looks back on our own humble beginnings 40 years ago, we cannot help but think about that gathering in the basement of Charlene Victor’s apartment building. Some may have scoffed at her dream that night, but we know that with vision and passion, there is no limit.