USA Today: From Topps baseball cards to basketball murals, artist Efdot has focused his creativity on sports

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By Bryan Kalbrosky

NEW YORK – Eric Friedensohn didn’t even have time to get nervous. He was about to take the mound at Wrigley Field in July.

But it wasn’t going to be easy. He hadn’t thrown a baseball in a long time, and the mound feels like it’s twice as far away from home plate when you’re suddenly in front of a big crowd. It didn’t matter if he was ready. It was finally his time.

“I still don’t think I’ve fully processed it,” Friedensohn told For The Win. “I was elated. I was surprised. I had 15 minutes warning, so I was a little bit scared.”

The pitch wasn’t amazing. It landed outside the strike zone, and Clark, the official mascot of the Cubs who was waiting with a glove behind the plate, wasn’t able to catch it. For a ceremonial first pitch, though, it wasn’t as embarrassing as someone like 50 Cent or Dr. Fauci.

All things considered, it wasn’t a bad look for Friedensohn, especially since he makes his living as an abstract artist.

Friedensohn, also known as Efdot, is a visual artist and creative director based in Brooklyn who works with large-scale mural installations, fine art, screenprints and product collaborations. He has a few people employed on his team at his studio in Buschwick, which he said functions like a “mini creative agency” that he runs in tandem with his fine art practice.

He describes himself as very community-driven, and he has painted all types of murals, reaching as local as nearby small businesses and as expansive as co-working spaces around the world.

One example of his community-driven mindset includes his efforts to raise more than $60,000 for the charity Bring Change 2 Mind (BC2M) with the Cubs. Efdot was actually throwing the first pitch at Wrigley because the Cubs asked him to collaborate on a limited-edition collection for Mental Health Awareness Month. The project included a screen print and several pieces of apparel. He also appeared on Chicago outfielder Ian Happ’s podcast about mental health.

“Mixing my art with sports on that project was really interesting to me because it felt soft and tender,” explained Efdot.

When he caught up with For The Win, he was days into a project for the nonprofit New Heights NYC, which is a youth development program that aims to empower and educate underserved children. Part of its curriculum includes after-school basketball programs, and some of its notable alumni include NBA players, such as Precious Achiuwa, Moses Brown and Lance Thomas.

For this particular project, Efdot was installing a mural for New Heights NYC’s soon-to-open relocated home at the Bedford Union Armory in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn. The center will feature multiple brand-new basketball courts, and through his energetic style that sometimes resembles a city grid, his mural shared the story of the organization’s history.

The primary theme of this mural is ascension, with staircases a common motif. He included fun nods to NYC like a metro card, a big apple and other representations of the community and the New Heights organization itself.

“This is our new home so we really wanted to work with an artist that could come in and tell the story of where we’ve started and where we’ve come to,” Ashley Faison, the chief development officer for New Heights, told For The Win. “He has done a beautiful job marrying the concepts of books and basketball, and that stands out right away.”

This piece is one of many he has done with sports as a subject matter, which is an increasingly popular trend among some artists. Efdot is one of several contemporary artists who has become known for making art about sports.

Like many, sports were a big part of Friedensohn’s life when he was growing up. He played baseball and tennis and soccer. But the Brooklyn-based artist described his participation in athletics as a love-hate relationship. At a certain point, he said, he felt like he was playing more for his parents than he was for himself.

He began to realize that when he was finding more joy in art — he was inspired by his grandmother, who made stained glass as a material — and skateboarding. Eventually, he stopped playing altogether.

“But I always loved the art of sports,” said Efdot, who said he appreciated the rich history of design, typography and color on ephemera such as uniforms, patches, pins, hats and scoreboards. “I loved the nostalgia of seeing Brooklyn Dodgers in script. It still gives me a really warm feeling when I [see] those logos.”

Even though he was no longer playing, he still held fond memories from his childhood, like when he collected baseball cards with his brother. The two of them would sell items in their collection at school during recess.

Everything came full circle for Efdot when this past year, he was selected as one of the 20 artists featured to team up with baseball card trading company Topps for its Project 2020. He felt really lucky, of course, but he knew it wasn’t going to be an easy task. He typically didn’t draw faces and hadn’t paid as much attention to baseball as he did when he was younger.

“I was pretty nervous about it,” he admitted. “But it brought me back. It forced me to go back to my childhood memories. That was such a healthy thing for me to do during the early parts of the pandemic. It was a little bit of an escape with nostalgia.”

At first, because he didn’t want to redraw the players and represent them wrong, he mostly drew around their silhouettes to create an abstract environment or background while leaving their photographs intact.

Since then, Efdot pitched his own spin-off series that he sold through Topps in which he paid tribute to 10 iconic stadiums around the league. Those subjects didn’t have to use the human form, which gave him some more creative freedom than he had with the previous endeavor.

After completing that, he now is one of more than 50 artists currently participating in Topps’ Project 70. Unlike in Project 2020, where he was assigned cards to remix, he now has more creative flexibility to design any card from within 70 years of archival material in the Topps collections.

This time around, with the increased experience under his belt, he has leaned more into illustrations. He also changed the background of his images from black to white.

Meanwhile, with the booming markets of NFTs and the somewhat surprising popularity of remixed trading cards like his own, it’s as clear as ever that people love owning things. These days, he’s thinking about his submissions to Topps more in terms of how it relates to a series in the mind of a collector.

Within his creative process, that means doing as much research as possible on his subject so that he can add layers to the piece. He doesn’t have as much space to add as many details as he would in a mural, but he was able to pay tribute to the infamous Billy Ripken card with a swear word on it by sneaking in a reference on his card for Oriole Park at Camden Yards.

Of course, Efdot acknowledged that there is only a small subset of people who like both sports and art, let alone his specific style of art.

But once those people found him, he was able to cultivate a collector base and reward them in unique ways. One idea he executed was to sell companion cards — featuring his own intellectual property with his original abstract figurative Blob character — that he printed himself in Queens.

The Blob character shows up again on his mural in Crown Heights, this time while wearing a basketball uniform sporting the No. 8 on the front. Like in much of his work, which is both playful and accessible, the figure evokes fluidity and motion in an otherwise static image.

“I could be myself, fully, but also express it through sports,” explained Efdot. “I love finding avenues to flex my own creative muscles of what I’m doing outside of sports while still meshing it with sports.”

He aims to take the essence of his subject and boil it down to one icon, almost like a logo in sports. Over time, he hopes that people begin to associate his creations with certain feelings in their own life.

As he continues to hone his style, in all of his practice, Efdot looks to create images simple enough so they can be easily digestible and recognizable while still remaining unique and full of personality.

For example, when he collaborated with Topps, his intentions were to move away from the uber- sleek digital photography of contemporary baseball cards and more toward the illustrated look that was found on the back of baseball cards in the 1950s.

One recent example of that was his card for Satchel Paige. Artistically, this is one of his most successful pieces to date because it captures the recognizable motion that is found within both Paige’s pitching windup (where his arm is whipping upon release) and marries that to the visual language of Efdot’s iconic, wavy style.

“It’s almost a wink in each design,” explained Efdot. “For me, finding that balance has been fun.”

Of course, working with Topps has also attracted a new group of sports fans to his art. For some, his style hasn’t resonated, and he said he had to build up a thicker skin to the criticism.

However, he said the overwhelming majority are supportive and understand what he is doing and understand the vision. People have questions about the art, and they want to know what is happening next. In fact, he’s even seen some folks who bought his baseball cards go on to buy one of his original pieces, like a line drawing of the city or of one of his characters in nature.

“The passion from the audience is bigger than anything I’ve ever experienced before,” said Efdot. “One of my favorite things is seeing these baseball card collectors become art collectors.

News 12 The Bronx: New Heights Receives Grant from NBA Foundation

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NBA Foundation Announces Second Grant Round To Support Black Economic Empowerment

NBA FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES SECOND GRANT ROUND TOTALING MORE THAN $3 MILLION TO SUPPORT BLACK ECONOMIC EMPOWERMENT

NEW YORK, April 5, 2021 – The NBA Foundation today announced a total of more than $3 million in grants that will create employment opportunities, further career advancement and drive greater economic empowerment in Black communities. Nine organizations – Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, Braven, Center for Leadership Development, City Year, CodeCrew, The Collective Blueprint, NAF, New Heights Youth and Road to Hire – have been selected as part of the Foundation’s second grant round. The grants will enhance and build upon the important work of these national and local organizations that align with the NBA Foundation’s mission to provide skills training, mentorship, coaching and pipeline development for high school, college-aged, job-ready and mid-career individuals in Black communities across the United States and Canada.

Below is a full list of the grant recipients:

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami, Inc. aims for all youth to achieve their full potential by creating and supporting one-to-one mentoring relationships that ignite their power and promise. As an affiliate of BBBS of America, the oldest and largest mentoring organization in the country, BBBS Miami is rooted and grounded in social justice to develop a diverse and equitable workforce.

Braven
Braven is a national organization that empowers promising college students with the skills, confidence, experiences and networks necessary to transition from college to stable first jobs, which lead to meaningful careers and lives of impact.

Center for Leadership Development
For more than four decades, the Center for Leadership Development (CLD) has transformed the lives of Black young people in Indianapolis, helping students and their families overcome pervasive challenges by equipping them for post-secondary and professional success with the character development tools, values and skills needed to flourish and enrich their communities.

City Year
City Year is a national organization that helps students and schools succeed while preparing the next generation of civically engaged leaders who can work across lines of difference. In partnership with teachers and schools, City Year AmeriCorps members cultivate learning environments where all students can build on their strengths and thrive while acquiring valuable skills and experiences that prepare them for career success.

CodeCrew
CodeCrew is a Memphis-based organization that educates and mentors Black students and professionals, who are underrepresented in tech, to become tech innovators and leaders through practical hands-on computer science training.

The Collective Blueprint
Through its mission to increase socioeconomic mobility for Opportunity Youth in Memphis by building pathways to thriving careers, the Collective Blueprint develops and runs high-quality supportive programs to help young adults secure careers while advocating to improve educational and employment systems for all young adults.

NAF
NAF is a national organization solving some of the biggest challenges facing education and workforce development by bringing education, business and community leaders together to increase access to opportunities for more than 100,000 high school students that help them reach their full potential.

New Heights Youth
New Heights is a New York City-based organization whose mission is to educate and empower promising underserved youth to be leaders, champions and student-athletes by helping them develop the skills necessary for success in high school, college and life.

Road to Hire
Road to Hire (R2H) is a Charlotte-based organization that is redefining who is given the chance to start a life-changing career by connecting under-resourced young adults with onramps to high-earning and in-demand careers through paid training, college access, robust life skills support and mentorship.

In December 2020, the NBA Foundation announced exalt, Management Leadership for Tomorrow, Marcus Graham Project, Operation DREAM, TEAM Inc., The Knowledge House and the Youth Empowerment Project as inaugural grant recipients. The Foundation will continue to collaborate with all 30 teams, their affiliated charitable organizations and the NBPA to support national and local organizations and their efforts to increase education and employment access in Black communities. Over the next 10 years, the 30 NBA team governors will collectively contribute $30 million annually in initial funding and the NBA Foundation will work strategically to develop additional funding sources.

To learn more about the NBA Foundation or apply for a grant, please visit www.nbafoundation.com.

Patch.com: Brooklyn Non-Profit Awards Over $300,000 in COVID-19 Grants

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New York, N.Y. – Brooklyn Communities Collaborative (BCC) today announced an additional $338,000 in grants to nonprofits serving Brooklyn's neighborhoods and residents most impacted by COVID-19. The grants are a part of the organization's $3 million commitment to help the City of New York return and recover. The funds, provided through BCC's Strong Communities Fund, aims to supply community-based organizations with the necessary resources to serve the borough of Brooklyn.

This new round of grantmaking will be distributed to the following Brooklyn based organizations:

• The Campaign Against Hunger has been awarded $125,000 to meet the food needs of its constituents. Funding will be used for social services assistance, transportation, and food.

• Little Essentials has been awarded $50,000 to support the organization's goal to provide families with early childhood care supplies like diapers and strollers. The funding will support the organization's expansion in Brooklyn.

• New Heights Youth Inc. has been awarded $50,000 to provide athletic and academic support to Brooklyn's at-risk youth. The funding will be used to implement virtual and in-person learning components for its participants, minimizing the academic, athletic and social deficits caused by the pandemic.

• Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls has been awarded $45,000 to support its arts education curriculum for girls and trans youth in the digital environment. The funding will be used to provide additional digital equipment and resources, retain personnel and cover operating expenses.

• The Red Hook Initiative has been awarded $30,000 to provide funding for the residents of Red Hook.

• Anne Kastor Brooklyn Free Clinic has been awarded nearly $20,000 to support its free clinic, providing funding for personnel and operating costs.

• GrowHouse International has been awarded $20,000 to teach out of school Brooklyn youth how to create racial and health equity interventions. Funding will cover technology supplies for the Youth Leadership program.

"Throughout the pandemic, we have seen the disproportionate effect of this virus on our local communities; and, we made a commitment early to combat these challenges. We know that the only way forward is together, and assisting community-based organizations to get the resources they need will help us to recover. These organizations are joining a long list of doers and fighters that are making an impact in their neighborhoods and their communities," said Marilyn Fraser, MD, CEO of Arthur Ashe Institute for Urban Health and Brooklyn Communities Collaborative Board Member.

"Little Essentials is honored to receive $50,000 from the Brooklyn Communities Collaborative Stronger Communities Fund! We were established in Brooklyn in 2011 to serve struggling parents in need. We have continued to serve Brooklyn families through our nine community partners based in the borough. We are excited to move back to Brooklyn in 2021 where we will be able to strengthen our community ties and expand our partner network. We are thrilled to receive this grant to help us continue to address the needs of families struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic as well as focus on the long-term needs of Brooklyn families living in poverty," said Zakiyyah Mohamed-Stevens, Interim ED, Little Essentials.

"New Heights is a sports-based youth development organization dedicated to supporting youth and families by combining academic, athletic, and social-emotional learning to create college and career opportunities. New Heights is honored to receive a generous grant from the Strong Communities Fund. 2021 will be a game-changing year for our organization as we open a new facility in the heart of Brooklyn that will enable us to scale our impact, and this partnership with the SCF will play a big role in our community engagement," said Ted Smith, Executive Director, New Heights Youth Inc.

"BCC's Strong Communities Fund allows us the opportunity to create impactful, interactive, and supportive social-emotional online programming for our community partners, thereby meeting the moment during the COVID reality and leaning into the healing, community building facet of creative expression," said LaFrae Sci, Executive Director, Willie Mae Rock Camp for Girls.

"The Anne Kastor Brooklyn Free Clinic is honored to have received a grant from the Strong Communities Fund. The Brooklyn Free Clinic is a student-run clinic in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn that provides completely free healthcare to underserved, uninsured adults. With the help of medical students, nursing students, and other allied-health students, we strive every day to combat the health disparities experienced by our patients and our community. These much-needed funds will help the Brooklyn Free Clinic to deliver high-quality primary care and target social determinants of health," said Nicholas Tan, CFO, Anne Kastor Brooklyn Free Clinic.

"GrowHouse NYC educates, trains, and challenges Latinx, Black, and Indigenous youth to become leaders in designing healthy and racially equitable communities by guiding young leaders through a project-based, design-focused curriculum in which they develop 21st-century skills and use them to enact change in their communities. We're proud to be recipients of the Strong Communities Fund," said Shanna Sabio, Executive Director, GrowHouse International.

Stavros Niarchos Foundation: The Teams Helping Get Young New Yorkers through the Pandemic

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“I cannot wait to get in the gym with my teammates and my coaches,” says Grace Sundback. It’s a particularly challenging time for young people in New York, with school schedules, social lives, and—particularly in underserved communities—support networks upended indefinitely.

To help support them in continuing to grow and thrive, SNF has made a cluster of grants to nine stellar organizations that use sports activities as a framework for engagement—organizations such as New Heights, where Sundback is part of the Class of 2023.

In the able hands of these nine grantees, sports become tools for fostering personal growth, academic success, and holistic wellbeing. At each organization, the athletic activity at hand is the entry point to a rich variety of resources, from college admissions help to immigration legal services, and experiences, including participating in urban waterway restoration and building a wooden boat from scratch in the case of Rocking the Boat.

It’s squash at StreetSquash, figure skating at Figure Skating in Harlem, soccer at South Bronx United, basketball at New Heights, and baseball and softball at DREAM. New York Road Runners takes to the streets to facilitate fitness activities for young people, including those who use wheelchairs, while Rocking the Boat, Row New York, and Hudson River Community Sailing all take to the water for rowing and sailing.

The hook that draws people to participate, the sports activity, taps a playful sense of competitiveness, but the programming behind it is about steadfast encouragement, a lasting community of peers and coaches, and skills for self-determined success.

“Each of these organizations approaches the critical work of guiding young people with originality and joy, making teamwork and athletic challenge a matrix for personal growth,” said SNF Senior Program Officer Roula Siklas. “They have continued to carry out their missions in spite of all the obstacles the pandemic has created, and SNF is proud to support their important work.”

The new grants are part of SNF’s ongoing $100 million global initiative to help provide relief from the effects of the pandemic, but they build on previous SNF grants to each organization stretching as far back as a decade.

SNF believes that sports offer a flexible matrix for supporting young people by fostering inclusion and building skills for future success and personal wellbeing, in schools, in refugee communities, on remote islands, and beyond.

“The impact of these organizations goes far beyond their courts, rinks, and arenas of play,” said SNF Program Officer Kira Pritchard of the nine grantees. “They provide crucial educational and wrap-around social services to the kids and communities they serve every day.”

New Heights on the Today Show: NYC youth basketball program gets a heartwarming holiday surprise

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TODAY’s Season of Giving continues with a special surprise for a group of young New York City basketball players and the dedicated coaches and mentors who support them, including a mother of four who is battling a second round of ovarian cancer after beating COVID-19 earlier this year. NBC’s Morgan Radford reports for TODAY.

Page Six: GameChangers Ball 2020

Nets Daily: Kevin Durant, Degree deodorant team up on $1 million donation for social justice

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Kevin Durant and Degree Deodorant have teamed up to donate a million dollars to multiple organizations to help teach kids the power of sports in combating social issues.

Durant’s multiple companies, Thirty Five Ventures, The Boardroom, and Kevin Durant Charity Foundation jointly released a statement on the recent events and how the donation will be used.

“We are united in defense of black lives and black voices everywhere, and we join our peers and colleagues in the call for an end to the systemic racism in our country. We are making a donation to the NAACP and Center for Policing Equity in honor of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and all those who’ve lost their lives or suffered injustice at the hands of the police.”

Ten organizations will receive funds, three of them in the New York area: Kids in the Game, New Heights Youth Inc., and Row New York.

KD’s contribution is the latest in a string of donations by the Nets organization and individual players since the NBA shut down in March, both for food and financial relief to those affected by COVID-19 and now for social justice programs in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd.

Bleacher Report: Kevin Durant, Degree Pledge to Donate $1M to 10 Organizations for Social Justice

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Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant and Degree Deodorant reportedly agreed to donate $1 million to 10 different organizations in an effort to promote social justice. 

Kristian Winfield f the New York Daily News reported the news, noting the 10 organizations—including three New York-based: Kids in the Game, New Heights Youth Inc. and Row NY—will teach children how to use sports to raise social awareness.

This comes after Durant's companies, Thirty Five Ventures, The Boardroom and Kevin Durant Charity Foundation, released a statement saying they will donate money to help fight systemic racism and police brutality and honor the memories of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and others.