The North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition has announced the artists selected to participate in the India Street Mural Project. Six local artists, whose proposals best “captured the essence of the site as public art space, as well as the unique character of community,” were chosen to install a new public mural on an India Street building, between West Street and the East River.

The next public meeting will be held May 11th at 6:30pm at 303 Grand to discuss possible locations for future projects and any other ideas and suggestions the public may bring.

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Few things are more fulfilling than walking a dog in the park on a beautiful Brooklyn day. Alas, I personally don’t own a pooch because I’d feel bad leaving an animal in my apartment all day long only to come home and subject it to a steady diet of reality TV. But thanks to the Brooklyn Animal Resource Coalition (BARC), a rescue organization that runs a volunteer dog walking service, busy, city-dwelling dog lovers like myself can still scratch that behind-ear itch for a little puppy love.

Located at 253 Wythe Ave. at the corner of North 1st, BARC has been around since 1987. 90 percent of the dogs they care for are mid-to-large sized breeds, and 70 to 80 percent are pit bulls or pit bull mixes.

“People just seem to abandon pit bulls,” said Holly, one of the shelter’s managers. Between handing dogs off to volunteers and running pups around the block herself, Holly mentioned she was the only employee on duty that day, with about 40 (!) dogs to care for.

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The North Brooklyn Public Art Coalition was organized by council member David Yassky as a means to collaborate with community artists to beautify North Brooklyn through public art. The India Street Mural Project is the first of a number of upcoming projects working with Open Space Alliance and other organizations to commission five artists to create a mural on the side of a building on India between West Street and the East River. The deadline for artist proposals was this past Friday and the jury panel, which includes Marisa Sage of Like the Spice and artists Karin Tehve and Linnaea Tillett, will announce the  winning artists on May 1st. The artists will receive a stipend of $700 each to build the mural during the month of June which will then be on view until the end of the year. A general meeting will be held May 11th at 303 Grand to discuss suggestions and ideas for future projects and necessary funding strategies for the mural project.

[Full disclosure: I’ve helped organize and created their blog which you can check out for more info.]

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Arguably one of the most effervescent neighborhoods in New York, residents of Greenpoint and Williamsburg have some great stories to tell. Whether it’s flying a kite in McCarren with a homeless poet or learning the history of the USS Monitor, these stories need to be archived. Enter the North Brooklyn Story Project. The goal of the project, organized by NAG, is “to get residents talking and listening to each other to build a vibrant and friendly North Brooklyn community.” In order to create a dialogue between older and younger residents, the project will record residents stories for a digital archive, to better help understand the history of North Brooklyn, and, in turn, the present and its future.

Because recording equipment isn’t exactly cheap (unless you’re willing to donate some equipment to the project!), NBSP is throwing a fundraiser tonight at Union Pool. For a suggested donation of only $5(!), attendees will be treated to performances from The Roulettes, Rebecca Schiffman, as well as The Blue Album Group, who will play Weezer’s seminal debut in full. For more information on tonight’s benefit, click here.

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P.J. McKosky stopped sorting the laundry of 60-something cats for a quick break in the back of Blackbird Parlour Cafe. As the 28-year-old cofounder of Empty Cages Collective drank his coffee with soy, one of the volunteers for his animal advocacy organization was carting two cats to the veterinarian. Another was rescuing a mother and her litter from being euthanized at Animal Care and Control. A third was feeding felines back at the shelter, all while McKosky sat drinking his coffee, searching for words to answer the question, “Why cats?”

“Ethics,” “justice,” and “responsibility” came to his mind, but ultimately McKosky, who began his activist lifework as a 12-year-old volunteer for a Pennsylvania wildlife rescue center, settled on “compassion.”

“Compassion isn’t a finite resource,” he suggests. “Compassion goes around. The more you do it, the better at it you are. In our community, in our world, if animals are treated with compassion, inevitably, humans will be treated better.”

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