by
Brad Matsen, Spokesperson, Nurture New York's Nature (:48):
Well it's a wonderful story. Nature New York was founded by Ted Kheel with a gift of a royalty license from Christo and Jean-Claude. When Ted was approached by them 25 years ago to get permission from the city of New York, they hit it off and they've been friends ever since. And when they finally got permission to put the gates in Central Park, the Christos gave this royalty license, which includes money from posters, signed posters, t shirts, hats..All that money flows into an organization that ted kheel started to create public awareness of the need for stewardship of the urban environment.
Kristin Espeland, Host (:07):
Was NNYN an idea that Ted Kheel and the artists Christo and Jean-Claude dreamed up together, or was it purely Ted Kheel?
Brad Matsen: (:25)
It was purely Ted Kheel. Ted realized that the greatest conflict that humanity faces now is the conflict between development and the protection of the environment. And that's a simple statement, but when you think about it, that's exactly what all of our environmental problems come from. The population of the earth is growing steadily, we have to continue to develop, but at the same time we have to take care of the natural environment.
Kristin Espeland (:04)
Can you tell me how much the project the Gates has generated for your organization to date?
Brad Matsen (:12)
Well, there are a couple of benefits that have accrued, not least of which was a million dollars roughly. And we expect that the total cash flow will be about a million and a half by the time everything settles down after the Gates.
Kristin Espeland (:04)
I would like to ask you what your plans are for the proceeds…
Brad Matsen (:42)
We have a strategic alliance with the City University of New York which has agreed to create a permanent institute to nurture new york's nature. The other thing we've done is we conducted a course. Our naturalist in residence David Rosane organized a course at CUNY on the nature of new york that was very popular and they're now making it a permanent part of their science curriculum. We're developing an online version of that course, and of course we have the marvelous book Go Wild New York. And on that web site we have lesson plans, games and activities for middle school age kids.
Kristin Espeland (:06)
Would it be fair to say your mission is primarily awareness and eduction about the city's environment?
Brad Matsen (:41)
Yes. What we're trying to do…we're trying to create mutual fascination about the city…not necessarily to say to people oh gee I wish it was five hundred years ago and when there were 600 wild turkeys instead of 30 wild turkeys now. That's not the point. The point is more than half the world's population lives in cities of 1 million or more. That fundamentally alters our relationship with nature and it alters our stewardship responsibility as well. We have to find new ways to take care of these cities.
Kristin Espeland (:02)
Were you sad to see them go?
Brad Matsen (:18)
No. I accept the art work for what it is. In fact, as I watched the sunset over the park on the very last evening from a building over the park, I realized I was never going to look at the park in the same way again.
Kristin Espeland (:02)
And of course that will have a lasting effect in terms of the proceeds that benefit your organization.
Brad Matsen (:25)
Well, the beautiful thing about the gates is that it was 16 days long. The beautiful thing about nurture new york's nature is that it's going to outlive me, and I'm 60. We anticipate that nurture new york's nature is going to become a permanent part of the city and go on indefinitely.
KE: (:02)
Well, Brad, I want to thank you very much for speaking with us.
BM:
My pleasure.
Kristin:
That was Brad Matsen, spokesperson for Nurture New York's Nature.