Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), in collaboration with the DeVos Institute of Arts Management (DVIAM) at the Kennedy Center, announces participants of the inaugural session of BAM Professional Development Program

Brooklyn, NY/May 4, 2012—The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) today announced the participants of the inaugural session of the BAM Professional Development Program (BAM PDP), led by BAM and the DeVos Institute of Arts Management (DVIAM) at the Kennedy Center. Each year the program focuses on a particular performing arts discipline; is the focus of the first session. The first six organizations, chosen by the BAM panel, to take part in this initiative are Brighton Theater, CAVE, Dušan Týnek Dance Theatre, Gallim Dance, LAVA, and Tiffany Mills Company.

To be housed in the latest addition to the BAM campus—the BAM Richard B. Fisher Building—the BAM PDP is a 14-month program, beginning June 11, 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 DVIAM strive to help arts organizations expand their skill base, increase their institutional capacity, and through sessions on marketing, fundraising, etc, build necessary foundations for their long-term success. The program culminates with each participating company presenting a self-funded production in the Judith and Alan Fishman Theater Space in the spring/summer of 2013.

“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. “We would like to acknowledge the Community Partnership Council, who guided the BAM PDP process, and the panelists who devoted their time to reviewing the numerous applicants. 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.”

“For many years, we’ve wished for a ‘BAM School,’ where burgeoning cultural organizations could learn from masters like Karen and Joe,” said Brooklyn Community Foundation President Marilyn Gelber. “We’re so pleased that now, through our endowment support of the BAM Fisher, this has become a reality. With the Community Foundation’s largest gift to date via our Arts for All Fund, we’re ensuring that the arts will be even more affordable and accessible here, enhancing this essential part of the Brooklyn life.”

Expanding the program’s reach, DVIAM extended invitations to a group of dance organizations to apply for the “capacity building” portion of the BAM PDP. Invitees were chosen based on artistic integrity, institutional promise, innovation, and a comparable company/budget scale to the core BAM PDP organizations. These additional organizations taking part in the program are: Batoto Yetu, Big Dance Theater, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Brooklyn Ballet, Center for Performance Research, Creative Outlet Dance Theatre of Brooklyn, Evidence, A Dance Company, and Triskelion Arts.

"I am delighted that the DeVos Institute is partnering with BAM for this inaugural Professional Development Program," said Michael M. Kaiser, president of the Kennedy Center and founder of the DeVos Institute. "We look forward to sharing our expertise in arts management with BAM and with the diverse group of dance companies in this new program."

The second component of the program is the DeVos Institute’s inaugural Performers in Transition Arts Management Fellowship designed to train professional performing artists with a committed interest in transitioning into arts management. DVIAM’s 2012 Fellowship offers professional dancers 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 Brooklyn-based dance organizations as they mount their production. The recipients of this Fellowship (and their performance affiliations) are Natalia Alonso (Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Ballet Hispanico), Richard Chen See (Paul Taylor Dance Company), Katie Diamond (Jose Limón Dance), Rujeko Dumbutshenu (Fela! On Broadway), Danielle McFall (MOMIX Dance Theatre), Paloma McGregor (Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, Urban Bush Women), Sara Procopio (Shen Wei Dance Arts), Francine Sheffield (Urban Bush Women), Keith Roberts (, Dance), Leslie Roybal ( Vivo Carlota Santana), and Emily Waters (Pennsylvania Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet).

For press information contact Joe Guttridge, [email protected], 718.636.4129 x4.

About BAM PDP companies Batoto Yetu (Swahili for “Our Children”) has been dedicated to fostering the healthy creative and social development of children through the expressive medium of dance for over 20 years. The company brings traditional and culture to underserved youth, cultivating self-awareness and self-esteem through the performing arts. In 1990, while teaching African dance to adults at the National Black Theater, internationally acclaimed dancer and choreographer Júlio T. Leitão noticed children routinely watching from the sidelines. In their enthusiastic faces, Leitão realized the allure of African dance and the rhythm of the drums as a compelling force—one that could motivate children in their formative years. One week later, Batoto Yetu made its modest start with seven children in a playground in Harlem. Within one month, donning self-made costumes, the group performed on Staff Day at the United Nations. A fixture in Harlem, Batoto Yetu has since grown to serve thousands of New York City children.

Founded by artistic directors Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar in 1991, Big Dance Theater (BDT) is an award-winning affiliation of actors, dancers, and designers that create original works by mixing and re-mixing literary and found text, dance, music, and visual design. It creates approximately one new work each year, as well as re-mounting and touring the works in its repertory to national and international venues. Each work is created over months of rehearsal in which every component is built organically while the company sifts and explodes characters, plots, and situations through choreographic and musical structures. Its latest work, Supernatural Wife, was an adaptation of Euripides’ Alcestis as translated by Anne Carson. Commissioned by the Walker Art Center and the Anticodes Festival in France, the work was presented at BAM’s 2011 Next Wave Festival, the National Theater of Chaillot in Paris, the Walker Art Center, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, among others. BDT creates and presents its work in partnership with such organizations as The Kitchen, New York Live Arts, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Lower Manhattan Community Council, Jacob’s Pillow, Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), Les Subsistances in Lyon, and others.

Brighton Ballet Theater was established in 1987 as a school of Russian American ballet serving the local community. Since that time, BBT has expanded its range of dance class offerings, created a touring professional dance company, developed an Arts in Education program, and performed across New York City's five boroughs. As founder and executive director of BBT, Irina Roizin has produced, written, and designed over 20 productions, including a number of classic (The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty), folk , and productions (The Empress). BBT has 500 students ages two and up, with 60 plus pre-professional/advanced division youth. The school is currently based on the campus of Kingsborough Community College and each year BBT hosts two productions at the Leon M. Goldstein Performing Arts Center. BBT specializes in for young dancers, with all of their performances designed for a young audience and families. With an emphasis on original choreography and world-class faculty, Roizin and artistic director and principal choreographer Edouard Kouchnarev have transformed BBT into a center of excellence in dance and one of the preeminent artistic and cultural institutions in New York City. In 2005, BBT was awarded a "Neighborhood Leadership Award" by the Office of Mayor Michael Bloomberg for their Theater of the Young Audience program.

Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!) is a South Bronx-based arts and culture organization and theater which creates, produces, and presents cutting edge and challenging works in all artistic disciplines that are empowering to women, people of color, and the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community. BAAD! is the home of Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre, a company, and of The Bronx Dance Coalition, which produces Bronx . Founded in 1998, BAAD! produces four month-long annual festivals: BAAD! Ass Women (celebrating empowering works for women), The Boogie Down Dance Series (a presentation of Bronx dancers and dance in the Bronx), OUT LIKE THAT (the Bronx's only Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) arts festival), and The BlakTino Performance Series (celebrating the convergence of work by African-American and Latino artists). BAAD! also presents regular seasons of Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre, showcasing dance and film works that explore life on the margins of gay and Latino cultures, a queer empowerment film and event series called Get Tough! Get BAAD! and the gay Latino holiday play, Los Nutcrackers: A Christmas Carajo, which has become a holiday tradition and perennial hit.

Celebrating a decade of dance, Brooklyn Ballet is a professional, not-for-profit dance company dedicated to artistic excellence, education, and serving Brooklyn’s diverse communities. The company was founded in February 2002 by artistic director Lynn Parkerson, the first of its kind in Brooklyn in more than 40 years. Brooklyn Ballet brings a contemporary vision to the treasured art form of ballet, with repertory and programs that revitalize and re-imagine the classical form. The Ballet presents an annual performance season in Brooklyn and serves the community through educational outreach projects— Take Ballet to the Streets, Elevate and Brooklyn Ballet in the Houses, in-school dance residencies, and an outdoor performance series—as well as through its professional dance school located in Downtown Brooklyn. Brooklyn Ballet produced three highly successful seasons at Fort Greene's Kumble Theater and in October 2006 the company performed in four cities in Mexico by invitation of the Cultural Consulate of Chiapas. The company unveiled the new multi-use theater, The Actors Fund Arts Center, in The Schermerhorn with its First Look series in May 2010.

Operating since 1996, CAVE is one of the longest running experimental arts spaces located in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Utilizing visual art and dance as a starting point, CAVE strives for the continuous development and enrichment of contemporary performance and visual arts, and looks to establish an environment that attracts, provokes, and supports exchange, generative confrontation, and collaboration among artists and audiences from diverse cultures and artistic backgrounds. CAVE provides an explorative arena and support system to sustain the work of its resident artists—Shige Moriya and Ximena Garnica and their project LEIMAY—hosting studio workspace, educational programs, performance and exhibition opportunities, and assisting in the realization of projects and artistic productions that support risk-taking in the visual, media, performing, and interdisciplinary arts.

The Center for Performance Research (CPR) opened its doors in early 2009 with the mission to support the development of new works in contemporary dance, performance, and related forms, and to promote awareness of and appreciation for contemporary performing arts. Located in a 4,000-square-foot mixed-used arts facility in Brooklyn’s first L.E.E.D.-certified green building of its kind, CPR provides affordable space for rehearsal and performance, innovative arts programming, education, and pedagogical engagement with the communities of New York City and abroad. CPR addresses the critical need for space in New York City’s creative landscape and is committed to building arts infrastructure that nurtures contemporary performance while at the same time provides a sustainable model for livability in New York City with a focus on community involvement and environmental responsibility.

Creative Outlet Dance Theatre of Brooklyn is a professional dance company that merges rigorous classical and modern technique with African-American soul and spirit. Under the artistic direction of Jamel Gaines, the company has been hailed for its “richness of dance tone” and “contagious vitality.” CODTB was founded in 1994 and has since grown into a full-scale arts organization that houses the dance company, performing arts school, arts-in-education, and summer programming, and presents full- length productions, short performances, lecture demonstrations, master workshops, and more for people of all ages and experience levels. The company is comprised of unique performing artists whose talents include theatre, spoken word, live music, and visuals in the form of video and photographic art. CODTB has performed throughout New York City and the US, as well as internationally. Gaines has created works for Jacob’s Pillow, Lincoln Center, the Rialto, the Paramount Theatre, the American Black Film Festival in Acapulco and worked with artists such as Malik Yoba, Savion Glover, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Madonna, and many others. The company’s artists also work in projects such as FELA! and The Lion King on Broadway, Rihanna’s LIVE tour, and Beyonce’s “Single Ladies” video.

Dušan Týnek Dance Theatre is a dynamic, innovative contemporary dance company based in Park Slope, Brooklyn . Since founding his own eight-member company in 2002, Czech-born choreographer Dušan Týnek has become known for his striking blend of theatricality, , and humanism in formally structured modern dance. He has created nearly 20 major dances for the company, presented seven critically-acclaimed seasons at The Kitchen, Joyce SoHo, Ailey Citigroup Theater, Dance Theater Workshop - named one of New York City’s top five dance performances of 2006 by The New York Times - and Tribeca Performing Arts Center and choreographed for opera. Týnek recently completed a residency at the Bogliasco Foundation in Italy. The company has held residencies at Kaatsbaan, Bard College, Hillsborough Community College, Windhover Center for the Arts, and will be in residence at Baryshnikov Arts Center in 2012. In addition to its New York seasons, the company has toured and taught classes and workshops throughout the US, Europe, and Russia.

Evidence, A Dance Company was founded in Brooklyn by choreographer Ronald K. Brown in 1985. The company’s mission is to promote understanding of the human experience in the African Diaspora through dance and storytelling and to provide sensory connections to history and tradition through music, movement, and spoken word. Evidence blends African, modern, ballet, and styles to tell stories that illuminate fundamental aspects of the human experience. Brown uses movement as a way to reinforce the importance of community in contemporary culture and to acquaint audiences with the beauty of traditional African forms and rhythms. Evidence presents new and retrospective works in New York City each year, in addition to touring up to 30 weeks a year across the US and abroad. The company also conducts master classes, workshops, lecture demonstrations, and audience discussions through its Community Engagement Programs, as well as through partnerships with Medgar Evers College Preparatory School in Brooklyn and New York University/Tisch Dance. The annual Summer Dance Workshop Series, held over two weeks each August, serves approximately 400 dance enthusiasts in Brooklyn each year, about 100 of whom benefit from direct services (dance instruction) provided free of charge by master teachers.

Founded in 2007, Gallim Dance is a Brooklyn-based contemporary dance company dedicated to creating and performing original work by Andrea Miller, nurturing the careers of young artists, and stimulating the imagination of a diverse international audience. Miller's work embodies fearless physicality, grounded by deep humanity and expressed through the madness and joy of the imagination. Gallim quickly caught the attention of the dance community with its visceral movement style, resonant imagery, and award-winning ensemble of dancers. In April 2011, the company was featured on the cover of Dance Magazine. Gallim Dance performs for over 15,000 audience members annually in many premiere local, national, and international venues. Upcoming tour destinations include Chicago, Atlanta, Southern California, and Madrid, Spain. In 2012, Gallim Dance moved into permanent studio and office space in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn where it hosts arts and outreach programming for the greater Clinton Hill and New York community.

Since their debut in 2000, the women of LAVA have been manifesting a unique vision of dance centered on strength, courage, and teamwork. The troupe develops and performs original works that integrate athletic physicality, intellectual rigor, social commentary, and all kinds of relationships. Founded by Sarah East Johnson, LAVA has become known for an explosive choreographic language that pushes the accepted boundaries of dance, gravity, and the female form by incorporating several dance forms with acrobatics, theater, and visual art. LAVA has performed in NYC venues including The Kitchen, PS 122, The Flea Theater, Dixon Place, DTW, Symphony Space, BRIC Studio, Central Park Summerstage, and Celebrate Brooklyn. The company has also performed across the US and internationally in Australia and Argentina. Since opening the LAVA Studio in 2004, the company has had a home in which they rehearse and teach classes to adults and children in their Prospect Heights neighborhood.

Tiffany Mills Company was formed in 2000 by artistic director, choreographer, teacher, and performer Tiffany Mills. Under her direction, the company investigates improvisational structures and partnering to create "violently visceral movement" (The Village Voice), performed with a "fearless sense of freedom and exhilaration" (The Washington Post). Intertwining complementary layers to her multi-dimensional work, Mills collaborates with contemporary theater directors, composers, designers, and filmmakers. The company’s work has been presented at Portland Institute for Contemporary Art’s Time Based Art Festival (OR), Wexner Center for the Arts (OH), Contemporary Dance Theater/National Performance Network (OH), Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival Residency Program (MA), Guggenheim Museum Works & Process Series, The Duke on 42 Street, Symphony Space Dance Sampler, Lincoln Center Out- of-Doors, Dancing in the Streets, Joyce SoHo, Danspace Project’s City/Dans Series, Dance New Amsterdam, Dance Theater Workshop's Fresh Tracks, PS 122 Avant- Garde-Arama, Movement Research, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, HERE, Dance Place (DC), and internationally in Mexico, Canada, and Russia. Mills’ guest teaching includes: Trisha Brown Studios, Dance New Amsterdam, DanceWave, ACDFA and multiple universities and arts centers across the country. The Company has received several grants, awards, and residencies, most recently including: Baryshnikov Residency, Joyce Residency, and a Dance New Amsterdam Residency.

Triskelion Arts' mission is to foster the development and presentation of the performing arts by providing quality, affordable, accessible rehearsal, class, and performance space to the general public and to provide opportunities to the arts community, including resident companies, for the creation and presentation of new work. Triskelion Arts has three distinct presentation programs: Triskelion Arts Presents (the public face of Triskelion Arts which supports the work of 12-14 artists per year), Triskelion Arts Festivals (three annual themed festivals which allow choreographers to present work alongside like-minded choreographers), and the Split Bill program (which serves 8-10 choreographers annually and offers emerging artists an opportunity to bridge the gap between shared evenings and full productions). Triskelion Arts houses five rehearsal studios for rent at affordable rates 24 hours per day, as well as various rehearsal space subsidy programs supported by NYSCA, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon foundation.

About DVIAM Founded in 2001 by Kennedy Center President Michael M. Kaiser, the DeVos Institute leverages this expertise to train, support, and empower arts managers and their boards locally, nationally, and internationally. Since its inception, the DeVos Institute has advised hundreds of organizations throughout the United States, as well as individuals, organizations, governments, and foundations in nearly 70 countries on six continents. For more information about the DeVos Institute of Arts Management at the Kennedy Center, visit www.DeVosInstitute.org.

About BAM Brooklyn Academy of Music’s (BAM’s) mission is to be a home for adventurous artists, audiences, and ideas. America’s oldest performing arts institution, it is recognized internationally for innovative dance, music, and theater programming—including its renowned Next Wave Festival. BAM also features an acclaimed repertory film program, literary and visual art events, and extensive educational and community programs. The institution is led by President Karen Brooks Hopkins and Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo. www.BAM.org

Credits Subsidies for the BAM Professional Development Program provided through the Brooklyn Community Foundation Arts Access Fund at BAM.

Leadership support for the BAM Professional Development Program provided by The New York Community Trust.

Chase is the BAM 150th anniversary sponsor.

Leadership funding for construction of the BAM Richard B. Fisher Building provided by The City of New York; Jeanne Donovan Fisher and the Fisher Family; The SHS Foundation; Judith R. & Alan H. Fishman; The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation; The Rita and Alex Hillman Foundation; Robin & Edgar Lampert; New York State Assembly and New York State Senate

Endowment support for special programs, spaces, and access provided by the Brooklyn Community Foundation; Martha A. & Robert S. Rubin; Maribelle & Stephen Leavitt; The Geraldine Stutz Trust, Inc.

Development of new BAM Education and Community initiatives for the BAM Richard B. Fisher Building supported by The Achelis Foundation; Altman Foundation; Booth Ferris Foundation; JPMorgan Chase; Ford Foundation; The Leona M. & Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust; The Rockefeller Foundation New York City Cultural Innovation Fund; and The Skirball Foundation.

General Information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé are located in the Peter Jay Sharp building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). Both locations house Greenlight Bookstore at BAM merchandise kiosks. BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, is open for dining prior to BAM Howard Gilman Opera House evening performances. BAMcafé also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music for BAMcafé Live on Friday and Saturday nights with a special BAMcafé Live menu available starting at 6pm.

Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue ((2, 3, 4, 5 to Nevins St for Harvey Theater) D, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Atlantic Terminal Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit BAM.org.

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