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Daily News
'Gates'
funding enviro program
BY OREN YANIV
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
As merchants around Central Park count the money they made
during "The Gates" exhibit, a college campus 13 miles away
in Flushing is perhaps reaping the largest benefits from the
much-touted art display.
A foundation set up to distribute proceeds from the sale of
"The Gates"-licensed products helped start an environmental
institute at Queens College, pledging $1 million in funding.
"In a way, the institute grows out of 'The Gates,'" said Jake
Kheel, project director for Nurture New York's Nature.
It all began in 1979, when artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude
first tried to erect "The Gates." They hired renowned labor
lawyer Theodore Kheel to represent them, but their idea was
repeatedly rejected until 2003, when Mayor Bloomberg gave
the green light to the orange portals.
"It only took 24 years," Theodore Kheel said last week.
Christo and Jeanne-Claude first offered the licensing rights
to the city, but in lieu of the licensing rights, the Parks
Department asked for and received a fee from the artists.
That money was turned over to the Central Park Conservancy,
and the artists gave the worldwide royalty license to lawyer
Kheel, who by then had become a close friend.
Theodore Kheel, who said he's "90 and just getting started,"
established the Nurture New York's Nature Foundation to promote
environmental studies of the city's urban surroundings.
After introducing a successful course at the City University
of New York, the foundation helped establish the Institute
to Nurture New York's Nature at CUNY's Queens College. It
promised $1 million over four years, with the first installment
paid last November.
"People don't understand that damage to the environment damages
their own health," Theodore Kheel said, explaining the importance
of the institute. "We're assisting the faculty and the students
and they will help city agencies." During last month's two-week
display of 7,500 gates across 23 miles of park walkways, the
foundation raised as much as $2 million, said Jake Kheel,
Theodore's great-nephew.
Part of the profits from online sales of signed posters and
shares of proceeds earned elsewhere will end up at the Flushing
campus.
"Everybody is very excited, very grateful," said Queens College
biology Prof. John Waldman, who is involved with the institute.
He said that they are looking for a director and a physical
location will be made available soon.
"We're thrilled to have it based here and intend to have a
strong Queens component," he added. And what do the artists,
who made it all possible, think of the institute and the foundation?
"They're very pleased," Theodore Kheel said.
Originally published on March 10, 2005
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