- Andrew McMains

NEW YORK Plans for a new Brooklyn high school focusing on advertising and media have moved forward with the approval of the New York City Department of Education and the identification of a site.

The High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media will be located in the Canarsie section of Brooklyn, according to Brooklyn Borough president Marty Markowitz. The school will occupy a building on the Canarsie High School campus and is slated to open in September.

The DOE plans to enroll about 108 ninth graders to start and in each of the next three years, which means that within four years, the school's total enrollment will reach 425-450, according to a DOE representative.

"The buying power of African-Americans is expected to exceed a trillion -- yes, trillion -- dollars over the next several years, yet they represent less than five percent of the advertising industry workforce," Markowitz said today, in a statement. "This school will go a long way in preparing our very talented and creative communities of color for exciting and very lucrative careers in advertising and marketing."

Markowitz has committed $2 million in capital funds from his office's budget toward the project.

The school is backed by a partnership that includes the American Association of Advertising Agencies, Interpublic Group, Virtual Enterprises, Microsoft and VCU Adcenter director Rick Boyko, who will lead an advisory board charged with developing a curriculum.

Applications for the school will be available this weekend during a recruitment fair for all new city schools, the DOE rep said. The fair will take place from 11 am to 3 pm Saturday and Sunday at Martin Luther King Jr. High School, 122 Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan near the corner of 65th Street.