Three Brooklyn cultural institutions are receiving nearly $14 million in new state funding, money that Gov. Kathy Hochul says will help expand a television production facility at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, fund repairs at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, and build a new Earth Science Garden at the Brooklyn Children's Museum. State officials say the funded projects will create jobs, expand educational opportunities, and improve community spaces across the borough.
As reported by News 12 Brooklyn, Hochul's office tied the funding to three distinct projects: an expanded TV production facility at the Navy Yard, a new Earth Science Garden at the Children's Museum, and repair work at BAM. A snippet from the governor's office breaks the investment down as $5 million for the Hispanic Information and Telecommunications Network, $7 million for the Children's Museum's Earth Science Garden, and $2 million for BAM, though that state breakdown comes from a low-confidence source and has not been independently confirmed in full.
A Broadcast Hub Already Built at the Navy Yard
The Navy Yard investment lands on ground HITN has already put to heavy use. According to a release from globenewswire.com, organizers selected HITN's 23,000-square-foot rooftop terrace at the Navy Yard to support a large-scale live broadcast operation during FIFA World Cup 2026 coverage. Roughly 40 international broadcast professionals operated out of the Brooklyn facilities during that project, the release notes, underscoring why state officials see further investment in production capacity there as a natural next step.
Children's Museum Garden Already Broke Ground
The Earth Science Garden project at the Brooklyn Children's Museum isn't starting from scratch. The Crown Heights museum broke ground on its $15 million garden renovation in August, per Brooklyn Paper, with city officials on hand for the ceremony. The project's first phase will create a 20,000-square-foot outdoor space for exhibits, programs, gatherings and interactive learning, the outlet reports, with the Earth Science Garden itself designed to engage visitors in exploring geology, soil science, ecology, hydrology and meteorology through hands-on activities.
BAM's Long-Running Maintenance Burden
Less detail is available about exactly what the reported BAM allocation will cover, but the nonprofit's own financial disclosures offer some context for why repair funding matters. BAM, founded in 1861 as a performing arts center in Fort Greene, carries responsibility under its long-term agreements with New York City for all services, ordinary maintenance and repairs at three Brooklyn premises, according to the organization's fiscal year 2022 financial statements. Those same statements show BAM received $3,275,718 in total appropriations from the city for the year ended June 30, 2022, and separately estimated $14.1 million remained to complete construction projects, including the BAM Strong Project, as of that date.
Part of a Broader State Push for Brooklyn Arts
The Brooklyn funding follows a pattern of state investment in the borough's cultural institutions. A state announcement from June framed such cultural capital projects as a way to increase employment capacity and advance cultural venues as tourism destinations, strengthening hospitality, food and beverage and retail sectors, according to the governor's office — though that broader economic framing is also drawn from a lower-confidence announcement. Separately, the Brooklyn Museum was reported to be receiving $10 million in state funding last November to upgrade its 120-year-old building, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, a sign that this latest round of funding is not an isolated move but part of a wider state effort touching multiple Brooklyn institutions.
