By T’Neil Gooden
The Wolfe Institute at Brooklyn College welcomed former president of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Karen B. Hopkins to speak about her experiences during her time at BAM on Nov. 7.
This event was hosted in conjunction with Brooklyn Lifelong Learning, a program initiative at BC that allows members, regardless of age, to continue to take classes on topics like arts, film, drama, health, history, and literature. BAM, which opened in Brooklyn Heights in 1861, is America’s oldest performing arts center, according to its biography. Decades later, a group of 100 Brooklyn locals raised enough funds to create a new multi-venue academy in 1907. In the 1920s, a third building was created. Originally a Salvation Army building, it was transformed into a theater space that could fit up to 100 people.
Professor Gaston Alonso, the dean of the Wolfe Institute, introduced Hopkins who started as an adjunct professor at BC and later became president of BAM. Hopkins began by reading an excerpt from her book, “BAM…And Then It Hit Me,” which explains what BAM was, and has become, after her entrance into the company.
“As I declared on many occasions during my 36-year run to our board, staff, artists, audience, and anyone else who crossed my path at BAM, it was not a job, but a crusade,” Hopkins said. “It was my mantra. It’s a difficult word, but I adhered to the definition of crusade as quote, ‘an energetic and organized campaign, concerning a social, political, or religious issue.’ For me, BAM was all three.”
As Hopkins read, she reminisced on starting at BAM and spoke about how BAM was able to make its name within the newer cultural hub that was being created within NYC. This included offering an alternative to the more namesake venues for musical performances.
“It was clear right from the beginning that [BAM] would never have enough money to even be a second-rate Lincoln Center. So we decided to be a first-rate BAM,” Hopkins said. “We doubled down on Brooklyn and helped lead the transformation of the borough from Manhattan wannabe to the coolest neighborhood on the planet.”
As BAM made ground in Brooklyn, Hopkins wanted it to be connected with the borough. Hopkins not only explained the arts highlighted by BAM, but also what understanding the arts can do for a community.
“The arts inspire a love of learning, bring people together, and house our greatest treasures in our most iconic buildings,” Hopkins said. “The arts generate tourism and the discovery of new and different places, different people, and their heritage.”
Hopkins touched upon the infrastructure of BAM and how it has evolved from one building to multiple buildings within the area of Brooklyn Heights. Now, Hopkins herself will be a part of its infrastructural history.
“There is this new building called L10 designed by Enrique Norton, that is now finally going to open after 10 years of build […] there will be a cultural space in the building and the BAM part of it will be known as the ‘BAM KBH’ in my honor,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins ended her presentation with a video showcasing all the past artists, archived plays, and celebrities that she has worked with during her time at BAM, from Louis Armstrong to Princess Diana, and more.
Alonso ended the event by explaining the need for more people like Hopkins, a pioneer for the arts who includes everyone in the community.
“[Hopkins] inspires us all to reimagine the potential for creativity in our lives and our society,” Alonso said. “I think that’s a much-needed message for these times.”
Interested students can read more about Karen Brooks Hopkins’s experiences with BAM by purchasing her book at PowerHouse Books