Gateway signs five-year agreement with Rockaway Artists Alliance

A Gateway park ranger helps students in RAA's after-school program learn how to compost garbage.

Photo courtesy of Rockaway Artists Alliance. Used by permission.

News Release Date: January 19, 2012

Contact: Dave Taft, 718-338-3338, #238

Gateway National Recreation Area and the Rockaway Artists Alliance (RAA) signed a new cooperative agreement to expand programs offered within Gateway's Fort Tilden area. Programs will be consistent with the mission and values of both organizations. The agreement was executed December 16.

Throughout development of the new agreement, RAA has shown an impressive spirit of cooperation and partnership with the NPS that benefits both parties and, most importantly, the park visitor.

"This agreement serves everyone," said Superintendent Linda Canzanelli. "RAA brings the arts to the Rockaway community while they help Gateway preserve historic structures." Canzanelli looks forward to similar agreements between the park and other cultural and recreation organizations at Fort Tilden.

The agreement will foster arts-based education addressing conservation of natural and historical resources. RAA arts education and outreach programs help Gateway interpret and convey the importance of the park's natural and recreational features and foster stewardship for future generations.

Formed in 1994, RAA is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 arts organization which has had a presence at Gateway for almost two decades. RAA views the arts as vital to the health of the Rockaway community, especially mentoring local youth in art projects that beautify public spaces. RAA events and activities are publicized in Gateway's seasonal program guides and can be found on GATE's website at https://www.nps.gov/gate/planyourvisit/this-week-at-jbu.htm

RAA provides educational outreach programs in the form of field excursions, after-school arts programs, curricula developed for classroom use and programs utilizing Gateway's resources as a basis for learning. These include: 

• Lectures led by RAA members and historians in period costume who portray historic preservation leaders such as Theodore Roosevelt;
• Digital photography classes including a special tour of Fort Tilden led by an RAA historian;
• A young artistic instructors class that allows students to replicate natural surroundings and historic structures of Fort Tilden using child-friendly art materials.

About Gateway National Recreation Area

Established in 1972, Gateway National Recreation Area offers more than 26,000 acres of marshes, wildlife sanctuaries and recreational athletic facilities, miles of sandy beaches; indoor and outdoor classrooms; picnicking and camping areas, as well as historic structures and military installations, airfields, a lighthouse, and adjacent waters around New York harbor. The park offers urban residents in two states a wide range of recreational opportunities year round. With more than nine million visitors a year, it is the third most visited national park in the country. For information about Gateway's upcoming public programs, see the park's Web site at https://www.nps.gov/gate/index.htm

--NPS--

PDF of this press release