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Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Thank you and farewell—A message from Karen Brooks Hopkins





Dear Friends,

Today is my last day at BAM after 36 years of service in many different capacities, including the last 16 years as president. During my tenure, we have added many programs, built new facilities, quadrupled the size of our audience and budget, and played a key role in the revitalization of our beloved Brooklyn.

I am so proud to have worked with a generous and committed Board of Trustees, led by Alan Fishman, Adam Max, and Bill Campbell, and the BAM Endowment Trust, headed by Tim Ingrassia. In addition, I salute a brilliant and hardworking staff, including my dear partner, BAM’s Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo, and former president, Harvey Lichtenstein. Our donors, many of whom believed in BAM when it was the punchline of a Brooklyn joke, have transformed the institution through their generous support. And through it all, the elected officials from the Borough of Brooklyn and the City of New York, including the Borough President and Mayor’s Office, the City Council, and the Department of Cultural Affairs have been true partners in assuring a bright future for BAM.

Running a cultural institution with such diverse programs—in music, dance, theater, opera, film, visual art, and humanities—and so many constituents—from teachers and students, to artists, to seniors, toddlers, teenagers, and adults—is both complicated and exhilarating. Every choice is fraught with financial considerations, programming alternatives, and workload.

But at the end of the day, this is the best job on the planet. For 36 years, I have been privileged to live in the community of the arts—a special and magical place where the creative churn of ideas, passion, and expression bubble up to illuminate our lives. What else but the arts energizes education, generates tourism, builds community, celebrates great collections and architecture, and endures from century to century as mankind’s finest achievement?

BAM is, as our mission states, the home for adventurous artists, audiences, and ideas. It certainly has been my home and I hope that you share that experience.

It is a bittersweet moment as I move on to new endeavors but the work on our stages and screens and the exciting new venues here in the Brooklyn Cultural District are forever in my heart.

I wish my successor Katy Clark the very best of luck and I thank you for this extraordinary journey.

Cordially,

Karen Brooks Hopkins

Friday, June 26, 2015

About Last Night: Kids 20th Anniversary at BAMcinemaFest

Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Rosario Dawson, Larry Clark, and Harmony Korine. Photo: © GODLIS


Last night, members of the cast and crew of Larry Clark's controversial film Kids reunited at BAM for a special 20th Anniversary screening, part of BAMcinemaFest 2015. It was the first time in over fifteen years that Clark, writer Harmony Korine, and actors Chloë Sevigny, Rosario Dawson, and Leo Fitzpatrick, as well as many other former "kids" who appeared in the film, were in the same room together, and the first time in a while that they—and much of the audience—had watched the raw, vérité portrait of urban adolescence.

Following the screening, which featured Clark's absolutely pristine personal 35mm print of the film, critic Eric Hynes (Rolling Stone, The New York Times) led a Q&A with Clark, Korine, Sevigny, Dawson, Fitzpatrick, producer Cary Woods, and distribution executive Eamonn Bowles. Here are some excerpts from their conversation:

Thursday, June 25, 2015

David Byrne, Lucius, How To Dress Well, and tUne-yArDs get their guard on

The WGI Color Guard World Championships in Dayton, Ohio are the equivalent of the Super Bowl for the flag-twirling set. On April 18 of this year BAM tagged along with Contemporary Color artists David Byrne, Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessing (Lucius), Tom Krell (How To Dress Well), and Merrill Garbus (tUne-yArDs) for a whirlwind 24-hour-immersion in the “sport of the arts.” All photos by Rebecca Greenfield.

Jess and Holly from Lucius meet their team Shenendahowa High School for the first time at a local food court. Camera phones abound:




Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Behind the Scenes—There’s something about Mary Lou

By David Hsieh

Mary Lou Houston, BAM's wardrobe supervisor, is retiring after 20 years. Photo: Ben Katz

Mary Lou Houston started working in the theater on a fluke. It was in 1975 and she was in San Francisco, trying to open a restaurant. “A friend of mine who was working for the San Francisco Opera knew I could sew and told me the company needed someone in the costume shop. I went in for what I thought was an interview. Instead, they immediately sat me at the sewing machine, making alterations,” said Mary Lou, BAM’s wardrobe supervisor.

The sideline turned out to be very useful when the restaurant business did not pan out. So instead of spatulas and ladles, she waved scissors and needles; instead of carrots, lemongrass, and salmon, she arranged satin, sequins, and buttons. When BAM came calling in 1995, she had 20 years of experience working opera, ballet, American Conservatory Theater, touring houses in San Francisco, toured herself nationally, and worked New York theater. By then she was living in Prospect Heights and was happy to walk to work.  

Fast-forward 20 years: Mary Lou Houston will retire at the end of this season. Sitting in her sun-filled workroom in the Peter Jay Sharp Building, where the Howard Gilman Opera House is located (“Probably the best wardrobe room in New York—all these windows!”), she recalled the tens of thousands of costumes that passed through her hands and revealed a few tricks for those of us who treat a trip to the laundromat as the pinnacle of clothing care...

In Context: Contemporary Color



Creative mastermind David Byrne's multi-genre, sabre-spinning spectacular Contemporary Color comes to BAM by way of the Barclays Center on June 27 & 28. Context is everything, so get even closer to the production with this curated selection of articles, videos, and original blog pieces related to the show. After you've attended the show, let us know what you thought below and by posting on social media using #ContemporaryColor.

Monday, June 8, 2015

BAM Illustrated: Icons and Innovators in Sparkly Spandex

David Byrne's Contemporary Color is less than three weeks away! Acquaint yourself with the musicians and color guard moves with this helpful guide:

Eat (Sandwiches), Drink & Be Literary: Rachel Kushner

Eat, Drink & Be Literary 2015, presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation, concludes this week with 2013 Guggenheim Fellow Rachel Kushner. With it comes a new batch of food, beverage, and book-related questions for our featured author. (Read responses from other EDBL writers here.)

What is your favorite sandwich?

I don’t eat sandwiches.

What is your go-to beverage?

I’m stumped by the concept of a go-to beverage.

What is your favorite Brooklyn-based novel?

While not a genre that I classify on my own, Paula Fox's Desperate Characters comes to mind. Also Colm Toibin’s Brooklyn, a beautiful book. And Hubert Selby Jr.'s Last Exit to Brooklyn impressed me a lot when I was young, especially the section called "Strike," which has intense downward and forward propulsion.

When you write, do you write by hand or on the computer (…or typewriter)?

Combination of by hand and on a computer that is more like a word processor, because it's not connected to the internet.

When you read, are you an e-book or a paper book person?

Actual book, preferably hard-bound. Many awesome first editions now available for very little money are purchased, read, shelved, kept for later.

What is your favorite Brooklyn restaurant?

I don’t know Brooklyn restaurants any more, not since I lived on Plymouth by the Navy Yard almost 20 years ago. Junior’s? Why not Junior’s?

Junior's in Downtown Brooklyn.
What is the last live performance that really moved you?

Dawn Upshaw and Crash Ensemble performing Yeats poems in a beautiful church in Kilkenny Ireland. Incredible.

Rachel Kushner will read from her most recent novel, The Flamethrowers, and talk with moderator Lorin Stein at Eat, Drink & Be Literary on Wednesday, June 10.

Friday, June 5, 2015

2015 Next Wave Preview—Earning the Next

Edivaldo Ernesto in Continu. Photo: Sebastian Bolesch
By Susan Yung

After 32 jam-packed years, the Next Wave Festival moniker gets its share of scrutiny. It was new in 1983, so how could it remain that way? A strong retort exists in descriptors, connected by a neat wave icon, that run along the page margins in the 2015 festival brochure. William Kentridge’s Refuse the Hour is tagged opera〰dance〰music〰visual art. Helen Lawrence: theater〰live filmmaking... and so on. The Next Wave’s multitude of cross-discipline performances are, ostensibly, new hybrid genres. The Next Wave is known for showcasing surprising collaborations by accomplished artists, and that trend is only amplified this fall. Chances are you won’t have seen anything quite like the 32 shows being presented from September through December.

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

BAM Blog Questionnaire: Guillaume Quéau of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet

This June 3—6, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet performs their final farewell performances at BAM. We caught up with dancer Guillaume Quéau in the busy days leading up to opening night to learn more about his craft, career, and time spent with Cedar Lake.

How long have you been dancing with Cedar Lake? Who have been your favorite choreographers to work with? Do you have a favorite piece?

I joined Cedar Lake 3 years ago. I first saw the company in Lyon. France, and said to myself: "You have to work with them! They are insane!" So, I did an audition in Paris a week later…and I got the job. My favorite choreographer to work with was Andonis Foniadakis. He’s Greek and was the first choreographer that I worked with as a member of Cedar Lake. It was crazy to be treated like a professional dancer for the first time in my life—I was just out of school, and I was really nervous to work with someone whose work I admired so much. Andonis gave me the chance to really feel like a part of the company, and I loved dancing Horizons for him.

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Eat (Sandwiches), Drink & Be Literary: Jane Smiley

Eat, Drink & Be Literary, presented in partnership with the National Book Foundation, is back this week with Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Jane Smiley. With it comes a new batch of food, beverage, and book-related questions for our featured author. (Read responses from other EDBL writers here.)

What is your favorite Brooklyn-based novel?

I'll say Brown Girl, Brown Stones, but what I really want to say is Tropic of Capricorn, though I read it with my hands over my eyes.

What is your favorite sandwich?

West coast, grilled ham and cheese. East coast, pastrami on rye with a bit of mustard.

What is your go-to beverage?

DIET COKE!

What is the last live performance that really moved you?

A show by Sarah Jones, Bridge and Tunnel. I think she is a genius.

When you write, do you write by hand or on the computer (...or typewriter)?

Computer.

Smiley's east coast favorite.
When you read, are you an e-book or a paper book person?

Both.

What is your favorite Brooklyn restaurant?

Whatever Barbara Grossman takes me to.



Jane Smiley will read from her most recent novel, Some Luck, and talk with moderator Lorin Stein at Eat, Drink & Be Literary on Tuesday, June 2.

Monday, June 1, 2015

BAM Blog Questionnaire: Ebony Williams of Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet

This June 3—6, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet performs their final farewell performances at BAM. We caught up with dancer Ebony Williams (who you may recognize from Beyoncé's "Single Ladies" video) in the busy days leading up to opening night to learn more about her craft, career, and time spent with Cedar Lake.

How long have you been dancing with Cedar Lake? Who have been your favorite choreographers to work with? Do you have a favorite piece?

I've been in Cedar Lake for ten years. My favorite choreographers to work with have been Crystal Pite, Jacopo Godani, Ohad Naharin, Richard Siegal, and my favorite pieces are [Pite's] Ten Duets on a Theme of Rescue and Hofesh Shechter's Violet Kid.

Of all the places you’ve traveled to with Cedar Lake, which is your favorite?

New Zealand, which was our last tour out of the country. London, Israel, and of course Paris!