Assemblymember Robert Carroll joins Al Oerter Foundation/Art of the Olympians for Brooklyn Student Art-in-Sport Awards Program at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Program funded at Assembly District 44 schools through state grant secured by Assemblymember Carroll
Assemblymember Carroll has been a strong advocate for culture and sports helping to secure millions in state funding for organizations across New York State. He recently introduced the “Sporting Event Promotion Act” (A.10105) which will keep New York competitive with other states by providing sales tax exemptions to small and amateur sporting events and his legislation making Team USA athletes training for the Olympics in New York eligible for in-state tuition at SUNY and CUNY schools was signed into law by Governor Hochul this past November. He has been the leading voice calling for an exploratory committee for a joint New York City – Lake Placid bid for the Winter Olympics.
Brooklyn, NY –– Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D/WF - 44) joined the Al Oerter Foundation/Art of the Olympians (AOTO) and District 44 students, parents, and teachers for an awards ceremony at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden yesterday. Assemblymember Carroll secured $40,000 in state funding for this initiative. More than 400 elementary and middle school students from eighteen Brooklyn public school art classes participated in a four-week program led by the Al Oerter Foundation/Art of the Olympians’ Olympian and Paralympian art instructors. Leading the AOTO member Olympian/Paralympian artists contingent is AOF’s Roald Bradstock, a two-time Olympian known for his impressionist art.
“This event is the capstone of a great educational program as well as a celebration of the student’s work and the spirit of international cooperation and shared humanity that is at the heart of the Olympic tradition,” said Assemblymember Carroll. “I was happy to have secured state funding for this innovative initiative that timed nicely with the excitement around theMilan Cortina Winter Games and the Paralympic Games happening right now.”
Al Oerter CEO Cathy Oerter thanked Assemblymember Carroll for his support in bringing the organization’s educational program to Brooklyn. “He has been the driving force for the program’s creation that provided youth of this Brooklyn area the opportunity to learn the essence of Olympism while engaging in an art-in-sport program,” she said.