Materials for the Arts, the city’s creative reuse center, on Wednesday launched its annual Back to School Shopping Spree, giving educators free access to a massive warehouse of supplies ranging from basics like paper, notebooks and chalkboards to more surprising finds like fabric, beads, mannequins, plus film and TV props.

Located in Long Island City, Queens, MFTA ’s 35,000-square-foot warehouse is stocked this fall with donations from partners like the American Folk Art Museum, which contributed nearly 2,000 illustrated fable books and Brooklyn-based stationery shop Mr. Boddington’s Studio, which provided composition books.

The initiative is open to teachers from the more than 1,800 public schools enrolled in the MFTA program. Shopping is by appointment, and schools not yet enrolled

See Full Page