100%
about this project
After 5 years of working with our Fort Greene and Clinton Hill neighbors and local industrial design talent at Pratt Institute in a collaborative community design process, MARP fabricated and installed twenty custom-designed tree guards and twenty tree guard benches on Myrtle Avenue between Washington Park and Classon Avenue in September 2011.
These are not your everyday, run-of-the-mill tree guards. The tree guards were created with a modular design that allows for customization – the four panels that make up the sides of the guards are unique to each piece and were designed by local artists. We sent out an open call for panel designs in 2010, and selected 20 artists (including the prototype designers) from the submissions to participate. Designs range from doilies to graphic patterns to skylines to maps, and some even reference the former Myrtle Avenue elevated train.
Click here for photos of the installed street furniture and additional project history.
We are serious about protecting Myrtle Avenue's street trees. Street trees not only bring an aesthetic appeal to the revitalizing commercial strip, but also play an important role in filtering the air and providing shady respite from the afternoon sun. Myrtle's new tree guards are both functional and durable, providing opportunities to sit for the avenue's pedestrians, and also serve as our latest public art project, offering a 'canvas' that reflects Fort Greene and Clinton Hill’s creative spirit.
Please consider supporting further efforts to green Myrtle Avenue, and to protect and maintain our street trees, by adopting one of our tree guards or tree guard benches. Each full adoption commitment is for 5 years, and costs $2,500 for a bench and $1,500 for a tree guard. Sponsors will be acknowledged on bench plaques or guard signage, as well as on our website. We also welcome small contributions to help us raise funds toward our goal, and once we reach our goal of securing funds for maintaining all 40 tree guards and benches for 5 years, we'll work toward raising funds for the design and installation of another 40! We've helped to get Myrtle Avenue fully planted, so we now have over 200 street trees on the corridor, so we have a lot of work to do.
Resources raised through this program will provide supplemental maintenance funding for the street furnitute, the tree bed, and the tree itself, including:
- Replacement of damaged bench planks,
- Painting of panels and posts,
- Tree bed weeding and mulching,
- Tree fertilizer,
- Pruning,
- Special tree care, as needed, and
- Tree bed plantings.
This is a great opportunity to support our work on Myrtle Avenue, and to have your contribution acknowledged on Myrtle Avenue's new street furniture. Full details of the program and a list of available tree guards and benches awaiting adoption can be found on our website or within the PDF program brochure.
Please help us to maintain our new street furniture and our street trees by adopting a bench or tree guard today!
All of the listed prizes come with the MyrtleBag. Click here to learn more about our reusable Myrtle shopping bags.
GALLERY
FAQs
No FAQs available for this project.
The funding period
for this campaign has ended
help with$25
Your Prize for this Level:
Your donation of $25 is acknowledged with a gift of a MyrtleBag, a reusable shopping bag with our "Home Grown & Locally Owned" branding campaign.
0 helpers chose this
help with$25 |
Your Prize for this Level: Your donation of $25 is acknowledged with a gift of a MyrtleBag, a reusable shopping bag with our "Home Grown & Locally Owned" branding campaign. |
help with$100
Your Prize for this Level:
Your donation of $100 is acknowledged with your name listed on our website, www.myrtleavenue.org, and a gift of a MyrtleBag, a reusable shopping bag with our "Home Grown & Locally Owned" branding campaign.
0 helpers chose this
help with$100 |
Your Prize for this Level: Your donation of $100 is acknowledged with your name listed on our website, www.myrtleavenue.org, and a gift of a MyrtleBag, a reusable shopping bag with our "Home Grown & Locally Owned" branding campaign. |
help with$1500
Your Prize for this Level:
Your donation of $1,500 is acknowledged with your name, listed on the laser printed signage built into each tree guard, on the tree guard of your choice for 5 years, and on our website. Tree Guard signs have space for up to 30 characters.
0 helpers chose this
help with$1500 |
Your Prize for this Level: Your donation of $1,500 is acknowledged with your name, listed on the laser printed signage built into each tree guard, on the tree guard of your choice for 5 years, and on our website. Tree Guard signs have space for up to 30 characters. |
help with$2500
Your Prize for this Level:
Your donation of $2,500 is acknowledged with a personalized plaque on the bench of your choice for 5 years, and on our website. Plaques may list multiple donors or be in honor of or in memory of an individual, with space for up to 120 characters.
0 helpers chose this
help with$2500 |
Your Prize for this Level: Your donation of $2,500 is acknowledged with a personalized plaque on the bench of your choice for 5 years, and on our website. Plaques may list multiple donors or be in honor of or in memory of an individual, with space for up to 120 characters. |
project creator
