Brooklyn Nonprofit Fights Funding Cuts With New Indie Art Shop

BROOKLYN, N.Y. - Jan. 16, 2026 - PRLog -- Local arts nonprofit ART OF BROOKLYN  has launched an online merch store featuring pop culture graphics, Brooklyn history, original artwork, cinema images, and more. Every purchase helps support their mission to showcase and educate independent filmmakers through their annual film festival and learning center.

The store is a reaction to the massive cuts in funding that have been affecting small arts nonprofits over the past year. Founded in 2011, AoB hopes to offset some of their budget challenges by offering t-shirts, hoodies, phone cases, totes, caps, pillows and more. Proceeds will help with rising expenses including movie theater rentals, event promotion, and paying artists. The store currently has over 70 designs, with more being added weekly.

"We were hit hard this year by these severe funding cuts. 2026 is our 16th year producing the Art of Brooklyn Film Festival an award-winning event and platform that BK Reader called 'the borough's signature independent film festival.' We're reaching out to our community to help us keep creating the kind of festival we're known for, giving artists and audiences a truly special experience," said AoB co-founder (and 4th generation Brooklynite) Anthony DeVito, who designs most of the merch. "We chose Dashery for our store because we can add products with no upfront costs… so every dollar we earn literally goes right toward our operational expenses."

All products are printed on demand and shipped by TeePublic/Dashery, which also handles customer service. Shop the ART OF BROOKLYN at artofbrooklyn.dashery.com or aobff.org

You can make a tax-deductible donation at https://www.theartofbrooklyn.org/

Call For Entries: Submit your films and screenplays to the 2026 AoBFF at aobff.org