James Black is one of the most talented, smartest, coolest kids we know. So happy for him and excited for his continued chess success!!
Check out the his NY Daily News feature:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/brooklyn/2011/06/02/2011-06-02_grandmaster_plan_for_champ.html
Check out the article about IS 318 in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
Shaun Smith of Chess-in-the-Schools says I.S. 318’s chess team “puts in more work than anybody in the country.”
Shaun works tirelessly to bring his love of chess to kids throughout New York City and has mentored a number of I.S. 318 players, including Justus Williams and Rochelle Ballantyne, both of whom are featured in Brooklyn Castle.
Chess-in-the-Schools is a New York City nonprofit educational organization dedicated to improving academic performance and building self-esteem among students in inner city public schools through the game of chess. There are more than 50 elementary and middle schools in New York City participating in this program, which means more than 13,000 students will learn to play chess in the 2010-2011 school year.
Support New York City public school students by donating to Chess-in-the-Schools on their website.
“Schools are preparing to lose more than $97.4 billion in federal stimulus funding from 2009’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. With the loss of that money, the profound fiscal wounds many urban school systems are already feeling from reduced state aid and sinking property tax revenues will only get worse”..
Read the rest of the April 11th Huffington post article
The girls came in 1st place in the 12&under section and 2nd place in the 14&under.
So proud of them. Check out some fun pics and a sing-along video here:
http://lizzyknowsall.blogspot.com/2011/04/hh-we-took-white-stretch-limo-from.html
(photo courtesy of elizabeth vicary)
that Brooklyn Castle is invited to participate in The Good Pitch on May 20th at the Ford Foundation here in NYC.
The Good Pitch brings together filmmakers with NGOs, foundations, philanthropists, brands and media around leading social issues – to forge coalitions and campaigns that are good for all these partners, good for the films and good for society.
Check out the press release here:
GOOD PITCH NY 2011
Check out the great article about the IS 318 chess team in “American Teacher”
http://www.aft.org/pdfs/americanteacher/at_marapr11.pdf
The Brooklyn Castle edit is humming along and we are in the midst of some fine tuning. As our outreach campaign gets under way please email us any ideas for potential partners (education orgs, community orgs, chess orgs) or screening event ideas. We’ve gotten some interesting emails lately from chess coaches and teachers that want to screen Brooklyn Castle to help build support for their clubs and afterschool programs. We love these requests. If you think Brooklyn Castle can help your school or chess club let us know.
Happy Birthday to Brian our Director of Photography/ Producer / Brother / Brother-in-law!!!
So happy for these kids, it’s crazy what this program has achieved in the last few years. Amazing.
We found out yesterday that The Fledgling Fund is awarding Brooklyn Castle (aka Chess Movie) an Audience Engagement grant. We are very close to finishing the film so getting this news couldn’t come at a better time. If you know of any youth organizations, schools, teachers or advocacy groups that might want to screen Brooklyn Castle to build support for their afterschool programs please email us at rescuedmedianyc@gmail.com.
Thanks Fledgling and congrats to all the other grantees!!
