Brooklyn Academy Of Music Announces New Participants for Development Program

The Brooklyn Academy Of Music (BAM) today announced the participants of the second cycle of the BAM Professional Development Program (BAM PDP), led by BAM and the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center. The companies for this session are of mixed disciplines ranging from opera to theater to dance. Chosen by the BAM panel, the organizations taking part in this session are American Opera Projects, The Civilians, Kate Weare Company, Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance, and WHITE WAVE DANCE. As with the inaugural session, the DeVos Institute extended invitations to a group of organizations to apply for the training portion of the BAM PDP-expanding the program's reach beyond Brooklyn-based companies. These additional organizations taking part in the program are Clubbed Thumb, Girl Be Heard, National Black Theatre, Ripe Time, and VisionIntoArt.

Launched in June 2012, the BAM PDP is a 9-month program that utilizes the strengths of both institutions to provide professional development training and deeply discounted theater and rehearsal studio rental to an annual selection of qualifying Brooklyn non-profit arts organizations. Through the program, supported by Brooklyn Community Foundation and The New York Community Trust, BAM and the DeVos Institute strive to help arts organizations expand their skill base, increase their institutional capacity, and build necessary foundations for their long-term success. The second cycle of the program began this month and culminates with each Brooklyn-based company presenting a self-funded production in the BAM Fisher Fishman Space within the year following the training portion.

"As the culminating performances of the inaugural session of the BAM PDP conclude, we are excited to welcome this latest roster of companies. The BAM Fisher was conceived as a center for arts, education, and community, and the BAM PDP supports all these goals. A strong community of stable cultural institutions, both small and large, enhances the creative life and energy of Brooklyn and all of New York City," said BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins. "The BAM PDP would not be possible without our partners at the DeVos Institute of Arts Management and the generous leadership support of the Brooklyn Community Foundation and The New York Community Trust."

"I am delighted that the DeVos Institute has renewed its partnership with BAM for this second cycle of the Professional Development Program," said Michael M. Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center and founder of the DeVos Institute. "We look forward to continuing this important conversation with BAM and this diverse group of companies."

The second component of the program is the DeVos Institute's Performers in Transition Arts Management Training Program designed to train professional performing artists who have completed or are nearing the end of their professional career to transition into arts management roles. The DeVos Institute's 2013 program offers professional artists in New York City an opportunity to take part in the arts management training offered by the BAM PDP, coupled with the applied experience of working alongside one of the program's organizations as it mounts a production. From backgrounds as diverse as the cycle's companies, the 2013 Performers in Transition (and their performance affiliations) are Janet Charleston (Douglas Dunn & Dancers, Lucinda Childs Dance Company), Sarah Donnelly (STREB Extreme Action Company, Metropolitan Opera, SENS Productions),Erma Katrina (composer, arranger, musical director, and musician for theater, film, and concerts), Igor Konyukhov (Russian Imperial Ballet, Viewsic Expressions Dance, Ballets with a Twist),Craig Phillips (Boston Lyric Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, NYCO, Nashville Opera), Brian Simerson (MOMIX, ERick Hawkins Dance Company), Jacinta Vlach (PHILADANCO, Robert Moses' Kin Dance Company, Nathan Trice/RITUALS Dance Company), and Marie Zvosec (Buglisi Dance Theatre, TAKE Dance, Bennyroyce Dance Productions).

For press information contact Joe Guttridge, jguttridge@bam.org, 718.636.4129 x4.

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