An online campaign couldn't save a popular studen-art shop from closing its doors on Pratt Institute's campus in Clinton Hill. NY1's Reena Diamante filed the following report.
Turn Up Art is giving out art for the last time, at least inside Pratt Institute.
Friday marked the end for the popular on-campus store, where students could buy recycled supplies at a discounted price.
"This is a party to give back to the students for their support. They fought and fought with us to try and keep this here, and we just want to show them that we’re really grateful," said Gunner Tierno, co-founder of Turn Up Art.
That fight was to keep Turn Up Art on campus. An online petition, though, couldn’t prevent the shop from shutting it doors.
"Students would come and tell us how much they're going to miss this store, how much they're going to miss us," said Yuliya Sumina, co-founder of Turn Up Art. "And some students even cried, which made me cry, too."
"It really is such an asset to the school, both environmentally and practically for students. It means a lot to the students to have it here, and I think it's really disappointing," said student Megan Harris.
The Brooklyn school, which has had a contract with an art supply company all along, says Turn Up Art's space was always meant to be temporary.
In a statement, the school said, "Pratt is actively working on solidifying and then implementing a new, institute-wide model that will be dedicated to the recycling of art supplies and offering recycled supplies to students at no cost. This program will also operate in a way that does not conflict with existing contractual agreements."
In the meantime, students say they're left with few options.
"I just really don’t know what I can do after here," said student Jiayi Chang. "I don’t know where I should go get cheap art supplies."
"Prove that you care about your students more than you care about every contract that you sign with a major industry that doesn’t need their help. But we do," said student Jared Diaz.
For Turn Up Art, a loss of space doesn't mean a loss of hope. Its founders, who are former Pratt students themsleves, are searching for new locations and partnerships with other schools.
"This is not the end of Turn Up Art. It's the beginning," Tierno said. "We’re looking forward to doing it bigger and better and improving our services and having full control over what we do."