TESTIMONY
Masuki Glover on the Need for a Free and Accessible Cultural Arts Center in Brownsville, Brooklyn
1:00:57
·
123 sec
Masuki Glover, a resident of Brownsville in Brooklyn, speaks in support of establishing a free and accessible cultural arts center in his neighborhood to enrich children's lives.
- Glover emphasizes the significance of access to diverse, cultural experiences for children, citing his personal efforts to provide such opportunities for his two kids.
- He notes the challenges many neighbors face in accessing cultural and arts programs due to costs or distance, underlining the importance of a local, free center.
- Glover shares anecdotes of neighbors whose children missed out on arts experiences, including one who had to travel far to the Bronx, underscoring the community's need.
- He envisions the cultural arts center as a place for children to engage in both creative and technical learning, illustrating his strong support for the project and its potential benefits for the community.
UNKNOWN
1:00:57
Hi.
1:00:57
I'm Masuki Glover, and I live in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
1:01:03
Close to where the project's gonna be.
1:01:04
So let me start with, say, I have 2 children.
1:01:07
They're aged twelve thirteen.
1:01:09
And I'm speaking in favor of the cultural arts that are we very much do want it.
1:01:14
My kids attend charter schools, in downtown Brooklyn.
1:01:17
I chose to do that when they started kindergarten because I wanted access to diversity and to cultural things.
1:01:24
And so I've slept them to Downtown Brooklyn.
1:01:27
They've had access to brick, to backs, which is in Park Slope.
1:01:31
They've been to Bam Programs and anticipated and all kinds of art programs because I schlepped them there.
1:01:36
And so many of my neighbors don't do the shlepping, and I think that we do need such a space If it's truly free, if it's truly accessible, we just say all that because it has to be affordable.
1:01:49
You know, if we can't I get my kid's scholarships, to be honest, I write, and I get some scholarships so they could participate in these programs.
1:01:56
So if these programs are gonna be in the all culture arts center, they should be free.
1:02:01
Several of my neighbors have gone far off into the Bronx when they were thinking in particular to participate in programs that were full of theater and dress rehearsals and of that nature and having to slip to the Bronx.
1:02:15
She wasn't able to continue to keep that up.
1:02:18
And her daughter's now pregnant or just had a child.
1:02:20
I have neighbors who have children that are jailed or dropped out of high school.
1:02:26
And so we need spaces that our kids can go to and engage in and learn from and feel like it belongs to them.
1:02:34
And that there's something they can do technical besides just creative.
1:02:39
I was thinking about technical skills you can learn in theater and of that nature.
1:02:42
And so I'm in favor of this greatly.
1:02:45
I obviously want you all to work with the developers.
1:02:47
The things you're saying are absolutely true.
1:02:50
So we do want spaces, my daughter would die for her own bedroom with some space.
1:02:54
And, honestly, she would die for a closet if it was just all alone to herself, so I will say that.
1:02:58
But Thank you for your time.