Community Newsletter

Dear Neighbors,

Fall is here, and NYU is already busy with the new semester! We are excited to bring you our first NYU Community Newsletter of the 2024-2025 academic year. In this edition, you will find information about: NYU's Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center in Brooklyn, a new public art installation at Astor Place’s South Plaza, and an exciting slate of events in the coming weeks.

With October approaching quickly and Halloween slowly making its way to us again, we are excited to remind you that one of our favorite events of the year is coming up — Community Board 2 and NYU's Annual Children’s Halloween Parade! Join us on Thursday, October 31, for a festive parade around Washington Square Park, followed by free trick-or-treat bags, games, rides, and performances on LaGuardia Place. We can't wait to see you there!

Best wishes,
NYU Community Engagement

NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts has welcomed students to the Martin Scorsese Virtual Production Center, the best-in-class facility in Brooklyn that will train undergraduate and graduate students on cutting-edge technology and provide opportunities for collaboration and internships in one of the city’s media hubs.

Named for the famous filmmaker and NYU alum, the center is one of the first facilities of its kind on the East Coast. Occupying the top floor of Building 8 at Industry City on the Brooklyn waterfront, it further establishes NYU Tisch as a global leader in cinematic arts training.

Since 1972, Visiting Neighbors has been a trusted life-line, helping seniors in lower Manhattan as they face the challenges of aging, most often alone, to remain independent and safe in their own homes while also staying connected, informed and a vital part of the New York Community.

Through programs of “neighbors helping neighbors,” volunteers, supported by Visiting Neighbors’ professional staff, help older adults, 60 - Centenarians plus, alleviate loneliness and isolation, provide mental stimulation and emotional security, share information about wellness and health-related concerns, and encourage physical independence and quality of life at home.

America Reads, a national campaign started in 1997, challenges every American to help our children learn to read well and independently. Building on the success of America Reads, America Counts was initiated in 1999 to improve young students' achievements in mathematics.

NYU's chapter of America Reads and America Counts (ARAC) is the largest America Reads/Counts program in the nation. Currently, NYU ARAC employees between 800-1,000 undergraduate and graduate federal work-study students each academic year to serve as tutors in 75 New York City public schools across 13 school districts."

In academic year 2023-2024, NYU's ARAC tutors provided approximately 120,000 hours of free tutoring services (up from 80,000 in prior years.)

On May 12, 1857, the nation’s first hospital employing an all-female staff opened in a red brick building at the corner of Crosby and Bleecker Streets. The New York Infirmary for Indigent Women and Children was founded by the first woman in the United States to receive a medical degree, Elizabeth Blackwell, and her sister Emily. The Blackwells’ mission for the infirmary was to “allow women to consult doctors of their own sex, free of charge; to provide the growing number of female medical students with the practical experience denied them by established hospitals; and to train nurses.”

“What About Age?”, an exhibition examining our stereotypes, attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors towards ourselves and others based on age, will be on display for public viewing from October 1, 2024 through March 18, 2025 at NYU's Kimmel Windows Galleries at the corner of LaGuardia Place and West 3rd Street. 

An opening reception will take place on Tuesday, October 1, from 4:00 to 6:00 p.m., in the lobby of Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at 566 LaGuardia Pl. This event is free and open to the public. Enter through the Skirball Lobby. Click here to register for the event.

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