ART-ROOTED
Saturday, October 3, 11am-5pm
Exhibition, Workshops, & Performances for City of Forest Day!
6/15 Green, Corner of 6th Ave & 15th St, Brooklyn, NY
Location: https://maps.app.goo.gl/WpNaVDdLUi9VbYLWA
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 14 at 5:00PM
Artists, educators, and performers are invited to submit proposals for artwork installed throughout the garden, workshops, or performances celebrating trees! Art-Rooted at 6/15 Green for City of Forest Day on Saturday, October 3, 2026, will explore our ecological, historical, botanical, and cultural roots embedded in trees that require our collective care and love to preserve. How can we re-imagine a world rooted in regeneration and reciprocity with nature, equally accessible to all, rather than extraction and consumption? Themes could include, but are not limited to, benefits of the tree canopy, inequity of access to the tree canopy, community health, or sustainability. Trees cool neighborhoods during heat waves, prevent flooding by absorbing stormwater when it rains, clean our air, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve mental health and quality of life, and create vital habitats for plants, birds, and other animals. 6/15 Green straddles the inequitable divide in tree canopy cover between Park Slope and the nearby industrial waterfront, compounded by proximity to pollution from the Prospect and Gowanus Expressways. 6/15 Green is one block away on both the south and west sides from an Environmental Justice area. Expanding and preserving the tree canopy requires awareness, advocacy, and action not only from residents in Environmental Justice areas, but from adjacent neighborhood residents as well. Bringing all neighborhoods surrounding 6/15 Green together serves to draw awareness to impacts of low tree canopy cover in adjacent neighborhoods on pollution and flooding in the broader area, ways to help advocate for funding and policies to mitigate unequal distribution of environmental resources, and proactively including diverse voices in community planning.
This one-day, highly visible and well-attended community event is free and open to the public. Funding has been made possible by The Puffin Foundation.
PROPOSAL REQUIREMENTS: Interactive, participatory, or artworks created on-site are highly encouraged. Sustainable materials, such as found objects, rescued wood, and recycled or re-used objects are encouraged whenever possible. Artworks All media will be considered, but electrical access is not guaranteed, so proposals should include reliable solar power. Artists will be responsible for installation and de-installation. Artists are encouraged to visit 6/15 Green in person prior to submitting a proposal, or view photos and garden map online: https://www.615green.org/map
TIMELINE:
Artists will be notified by Tuesday, September 15 if their proposal was accepted. Proposals will be selected by a community Advisory Committee in collaboration with the curator, Alyssa Fridgen. For any questions, contact: alyssa4art@gmail.com or 347-804-8336.
SUGGESTED FURTHER READING FOR INSPIRATION:
2026 NYC Urban Forest Plan: https://report.urbanforestplan.nyc/NYC-Urban-Forest-Plan-2026.pdf
Environmental Justice NYC (EJNYC) Plan: https://www.nyc.gov/content/climate/pages/environmental-justice
COMMUNITY PARTNERS
6/15 Green in South Slope, Brooklyn, is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization committed to promoting a cleaner and safer neighborhood through the creation and maintenance of a community open space for cultural, agricultural and educational purposes. As well as, to stimulate and encourage community participation in the planning, development, use & maintenance of other green spaces. For more information: https://www.615green.org/
City of Forest Day is an annual day of activities across the city to raise awareness of the importance of the New York City urban forest, and the essential role New Yorkers play every day in caring for the “lungs” of our city, presented by Forest for All NYC in partnership with the Parks and Open Space Partners coalition and NYC Department of Parks and Recreation (NYC Parks). For more information: https://forestforall.nyc/city-of-forest-day/
The Puffin Foundation, Ltd. seeks to open the doors of artistic expression by providing grants to artists and art organizations who are often excluded from mainstream opportunities due to their identities or social philosophies. The Puffin Foundation supports environmental activism by funding artists and creative projects that address climate change, ecological crises, and environmental justice. For more information: https://www.puffinfoundation.org/
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Curator: Alyssa Fridgen is an independent curator and art historian based in Brooklyn whose practice focuses on social justice issues. Formerly Chief Curator of the Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum and Alexandria Museum of Art, Vice President of the Board at Art for Change in East Harlem, and Archivist at Spanierman Gallery and Moti Hasson Gallery, she received a national curatorial award for an exhibition selected by the American Alliance of Museums and presented at the Southeastern Museums Conference.
Luz LeStrange is a landscape designer based in Brooklyn and member of 6/15 Green’s steering committee.
Christina Baute is a creative director and designer, and former Director of Creative Environmental Content at EDF (Environmental Defense Fund) featured in Graphic Design USA as a “Responsible Designer to Watch.”
Claudia Plaza is an upper-grade and special education teacher in Brooklyn, and previously Programs Co-Chair at Art for Change in East Harlem, curating art exhibitions by emerging immigrant artists and artists of color focusing on social change.
Tema McMillon is a Brooklyn-based fine art appraiser and advisor with over 10 years of experience valuing fine and decorative arts as well as collections management.
Emily Marte is a Bilingual Safety and Public Health Specialist at NY Committee for Occupational Safety and Health (NYCOSH) passionate about building resiliency and promoting wellbeing among communities, volunteer with WE ACT For Environmental Justice, and certified youth trip leader for Sierra Club’s NYC ICO (Inspiring Connections Outdoors).
THANK YOU FOR YOUR INTEREST - WE LOOK FORWARD TO REVIEWING YOUR PROPOSALS!