Art and Community
Investing in our communities
Community Development
Our mission is to improve our neighborhoods, give back to the community, and create places and spaces where art and community thrive.
Two Trees is commited to supporting initiatives that further the creative, cultural, educational, and civic discourse that is at the core of progress and growth for New York City. Two Trees and the Walentas family have long supported the arts and community development through fiscal sponsorship of leading and emerging cultural institutions, commissions of public art, and generous subsidies and donation of space to artists and community groups.
Investing in our communities
The programs and fiscal contributions offered by Two Trees reflect the Walentas family's commitment to the steadfast stewardship of Brooklyn's neighborhoods, the borough's waterfront revitalization, and leadership initiatives in civic engagement.
Two Trees partners with government and civic agencies to develop cultural spaces and community resources.
Two Trees has a long track record of supporting creative tenants and engaging in public-private partnerships to fund and construct neighborhood infrastructure and amenities. We feel that we have a civic responsibility to contribute to the prosperity of the neighborhoods where we develop and that developers and property owners have a responsibility to support uses that lead dynamic and sustainable neighborhoods.
Public Art
Two Trees believes in the transformative power of art.
Two Trees believes that the arts represent a vital part of New York’s social fabric and seeks to enliven public space in the communities where we live and work. Through the installation of diverse public artworks, Two Trees celebrates creativity, invests in art as a civic resource, and brings contemporary art to a wide audience.
Cultural Space Subsidy Program
We support the community of artists and institutions that make Brooklyn, and New York at large, the center of the creative world.
As the founding developer and steward of DUMBO, Two Trees is dedicated to maintaining a diverse group of commercial tenants that exemplify the neighborhoods identity as a place where creativity, entrepreneurship, and community engagement are celebrated. Recognizing that market rents are not feasible for all, the Cultural Space Subsidy Program makes 50,000 RSF available at below market rent to be awarded to applicants that best demonstrate their capabilities and intent to provide a social benefit to DUMBO and the broader Brooklyn community.
The program us open to arts, education, and community focused groups—primarily, but not limited to, 501c3 nonprofit organizations, as well as professional artists with a strong exhibition history or community focused practice.
Neighborhood School Grants
Vibrant and successful schools are a fundamental part of any thriving community.
Two Trees is committed to the cause of public education in New York City. The Neighborhood School Grants program was founded on the belief that vibrant and successful schools are a fundamental part of any thriving community – and that the community in turn plays a critical role in the success or failure of our schools.
Two Trees believes that individual schools themselves know best how to assess their needs and how to address them given their unique capabilities and resources. Through the Neighborhood School Grants program, we seek to support those projects that do the most to enrich students' learning experiences and help a school to achieve its central mission, but which are not supported by a school's existing budget allocation. We believe this can best be achieved through initiatives that draw on the creativity, vision, and energy of the entire school community—from students and their families, to faculty and staff, and even beyond to the neighborhood at large.
Since the Neighborhood School Grants Program was founded in 2013, 40 schools have received grants representing a total of more than $1,250,000 distributed to support innovative programs in Districts 13 and 14 in Brooklyn.
Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program
Annual studio residency program provides free studio space to visual artists in DUMBO.
The Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program awards rent-free non-living studio space to 17 visual artists for year-long residencies. Its mission is to provide working studio space and community for artists. Artists are selected annually based on merit from a competitive pool of applicants by a professional jury comprised of artists and members of the SWSP Artists Advisory Committee.
The Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program is the new face of the Marie Walsh Sharpe Art Foundation Space Program, developed for artists, by artists in 1991. In 2014 the program was renamed the Sharpe-Walentas Studio Program to honor the legacy of Marie Walsh Sharpe.
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