BAM (the Brooklyn Academy of Music) is so associated with bringing modern cinema, theater, dance and music into the heart of Fort Greene, that it’s easy to forget that John Wilkes Booth played in Shakespeare’s Richard III here in 1863 or that Mark Twain entertained audiences with his storytelling prowess in 1884.
BAM is, in fact, the nation’s oldest performing arts center and is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. You can attend part of its 16-month-long birthday party (it’s been in full swing since September) by checking out “From Brooklyn to the World: A History of BAM,” an exhibit broken into to three periods. Until March 30, the collection of rare video, photographs and ephemera focusses on 1864-1967; from April 26 till June 1, the attention turns to 1867-1983; and from June 8 till August 31, the exhibit will spotlight BAM’s history from 1983 to present day.
Not only will the exhibition focus on the various performances held at BAM, it will reveal the icon’s impact on the community that has always embraced it enthusiastically. For example, you’ll be able to see samples of the stamps the center sold in 1864 to help raise $400,000 for the Union Army. You’ll also get to examine other “crazy swag” (as told to Time Out New York by Sharon Lehner, director of the BAM Hamm Archives) as a Viewmaster created for composer Philip Glass and director Robert Wilson’s Einstein on the Beach as well as “wow, I’m getting old” photographs of such stage and screen luminaries as Meryl Streep and Morgan Freeman—when they were much younger.
It’s a true “behind the curtains” look at one of New York’s most defining performing arts centres—and best of all, it’s FREE!
Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM); 30 Lafayette Ave (between Ashland Pl and St. Felix St) Fort Greene, Brooklyn; 718.636.4100; bam.org