STAR is partnering with New York City artists, property owners and neighborhoods to activate vacant storefronts and enliven our streets as New York City recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic. Here’s what the initiative does:
STAR sites are street-facing storefronts that are currently vacant. Spaces are activated in a number of ways, all accessible to the public and passersby:
See map below with the first projects launching in collaboration with the Times Square Alliance.
Selected artists will receive $5000 participation fee, and a stipend for materials.
The registry is the basic tool to match New York City artists with property owners. Artists will be contacted by the STAR team when a property owner is interested in their work, at which point artists may be asked to submit a preliminary proposal. Selected artists will receive $5000 participation fee, and a stipend for materials. Projects will be on view for a minimum of one month.
Submit your work through the STAR Submission Page
If you own property in one of the many Business Improvement Districts, contact your local BID staff and let them know you’d like STAR to launch a program in your neighborhood. Or you may contact us for more information about how you can participate.
If you want to support local artists and NYC’s cultural and economic resurgence, please consider contributing to STAR. Donations of any amount in support of our participating artists will be gratefully received.
| ← | Move left |
| → | Move right |
| ↑ | Move up |
| ↓ | Move down |
| + | Zoom in |
| - | Zoom out |
| Home | Jump left by 75% |
| End | Jump right by 75% |
| Page Up | Jump up by 75% |
| Page Down | Jump down by 75% |
Contact Us if you would like to partner with the following artists to display their work at your property.

With the theme of heal and restore, Your flowers are so lovely they have made me well again unites 19 artists who teach in ART YARD BKLYN’s programs for kids, teens, and adults. Each artist identifies a plant with healing properties and brings it to the fore in an inspired painting. Together the installation communicates resiliency and interdependence, qualities that are essential for a healthy community. The installation brightens up the busy downtown Brooklyn sidewalks and reminds us that we are part of nature.
The exhibition title is inspired by a telegram that the writer Oscar Wilde sent to his friend and fellow writer Ada Leverson in 1894 which read “Your flowers are so lovely they have made me well again.” This speaks to the beauty of flowers and their healing properties, as well as to the essence of support and comradery.
Participating artists and the plants they selected

ART YARD BKLYN offers art education programs for kids, teens, adults, and practicing artists, providing direct access to contemporary visual art. Art is a holistic endeavor to delve into any topic imaginable. The practice of learning, creating, thinking, and discussing art nourishes people of all ages in body, mind, heart, and spirit. In addition, the creative act of looking outside oneself fosters a sense of civic responsibility and an awareness of social justice. ART YARD BKLYN is a safe haven where everyone is treated with kindness and respect. It is a community of creative thinkers, expansive dreamers, and well-educated art makers. The instructors are a stylistically, culturally, and generationally diverse group of working artists. Practicing artist Meridith McNeal is Director, Dennis Buonagura is Managing Director.




