Education & Classes in Coney Island

The Professional Bartenders Association equips students with the skills to mix drinks anywhere across the country, along with a nationally accepted certificate. Boasting more than 10 years of experience, instructors teach the basics of gin milling and where to tickle Tom Collins to make him cry delicious tears. The Professional Bartenders Association grants students lifetime job-placement assistance thanks to partnerships with nightclubs, restaurants, and pubs throughout the state. Certification courses shower students with 16 hours of training in a real bar setting, with lifetime access to refresher courses.

Driving instructor Valeriy takes a calm, reassuring approach to getting new drivers—especially the road-shy and older beginners—behind the wheel. Classroom preparation and real-world lessons delve into parallel parking, highway driving, appropriate places for doing donuts, and other traffic complications. His students learn to drive defensively while paying attention to possible hazards, eventually commanding vehicles with both confidence and courtesy.

A vibrant gallery space and a flashpoint for Brooklyn's artistic community, The Living Gallery embraces art in all its mediums. When not engaged for exhibitions and events, the space plays host to accessible classes for all ages, such as adult sketching lessons, critique workshops, and children's classes where young ones craft scary masks out of recycled materials and plaster casts of their bedroom's closet monster. Upcoming events are listed on the gallery's Facebook page.

Brooklyn Bead Box arms crafters with beads and findings that run the gamut from simplicity to statement pieces, with prices starting at pennies to accommodate diverse project budgets. Semiprecious stones, unlike boulders covered in glitter, make for classic jewelry shining next to Swarovski crystals on strands and hanging solo. Clasps and beading tools finish jewelry makers' handiwork, and instruction books and large-holed beads give beginners a foothold in the art.

Beaders can also mingle with peers in one of Brooklyn Bead Box's 10 classes, each capped at four students to allow instructors to individualize attention and curb the antics of class clowns. The curricula cover topics ranging from introductory techniques to the more complex arts of crafting wire cuff bracelets or beading hoop earrings. For further beading camaraderie, up to 12 kids can celebrate a birthday at the shop while hand making their own accessories.

From the passenger seats of two 2012 Toyota Corollas, Access2Drive Driving School's English- and Spanish-speaking instructors dispense valuable advice about every aspect of four-wheeled transportation. During hands-on lessons, students of all ages take the wheel to practice parallel parking and find a parking space that's not in the middle of a monster-truck arena. Students satisfy the state's pre-licensing mandate with five-hour courses that span topics such as driving within the transportation system and developing appropriate habits and skills. Those who enroll in the school's defensive-driving course get 10% off on any insurance purchased in New York for a period of three years.

“Have you ever wanted to fly?” It’s an imaginative question, and a proposition that becomes more realistic after you learn the kiteboarding skills that uKite.Pro's instructors teach. During lessons, the experts teach students to launch their gear from Plumb Beach's waters, eventually building up to skills that let them soar through the air. After beginners complete on-land lessons, they can venture into the water, where they learn to balance atop boards and speed behind fully powered kites. The team at uKite.Pro also schedules private lessons, during which kiteboarders have the chance to learn advanced skills, such as telling the wind where to blow.