Brooklyn Academy of Music Announces Artistic Director And Fall Season

This fall, BAM continues its rich legacy as a creative catalyst with a new  artistic director and a new season, Next Wave 2024 & Emerging Visions.

BAM President Gina Duncan is delighted to announce arts veteran and longtime BAM programmer, Amy  Cassello, as BAM's artistic director who will continue to evolve BAM's programming and build a multi-voice  curatorial team. A programming veteran with a background in arts administration, Amy Cassello has worked  in development, marketing/publicity, and general management for the City of New Haven's Department of  Cultural Affairs, the Arts & Ideas Festival, and Doug Elkins Dance Company before becoming General  Manager for Urban Bush Women where she went on to become Executive Director. She also has helped  develop the careers of nora chipaumire and Souleymane Badolo, among other independent  choreographers. She joined BAM in August 2012 in a newly created position as the associate producer for  the Next Wave Festival. She was promoted to producer in 2018, became BAM's associate artistic director in  November 2020, and has served as interim artistic director since fall 2023. 

“This is an exciting moment for BAM as we bridge our past with our future. Amy is a deep thinker who  considers the needs of artists and arts workers at every turn. As a longstanding BAM programmer and  creative producer, she intimately understands our role in the arts ecosystem. I could not have a better partner in leading BAM's artistic programming at this pivotal moment,” says BAM President Gina Duncan.  “Furthermore, BAM thanks Bloomberg Philanthropies, our donors, and our dedicated civic leaders, council  members, community representatives, and elected officials for their support of the upcoming season.”

“I am excited to work with Gina and BAM leadership as we endeavor to find new, substantive ways to  support art-making and the expansion of our audience base by incorporating more curatorial voices into our  programming choices; maximizing connections within various departments including archives, film,  education, community affairs, mainstage and BAMkids; and building our capability to offer commissioning  support to New York-based artists and international projects,” says BAM Artistic Director, Amy Cassello.    

BAM is also happy to announce its inaugural Mikki Shepard Curatorial Fellow, Tamara McCaw. This  fellowship, partially supported by a Mellon Foundation grant, is named in honor of a true trailblazer in  curatorial activism, audience development, and community engagement who began their career at BAM. As  a fellow, McCaw will research, plan, and implement programming and engagement practices that consider  BAM's legacy, history, location, and audiences. McCaw begins her two-year fellowship on Jan 1, 2025. 

Next Wave 2024 & Emerging Visions represents dynamic programmatic elements integral to BAM's path  forward with a renewed focus on works-in-process, increased presentations from the Global South, greater investing in presenting partnerships, and supporting the theater ecosystem by providing more access to the  Harvey Theater for American directors and artists to work at scale.  

Next Wave 2024 is an innovative slate of multidisciplinary programming that recontextualizes artists' works  that reflects our current moment; a present that is informed by the past and imagines the future of artistic  possibilities. This year's Next Wave presents well-known visionaries and trailblazing rebels who will bring  their groundbreaking theater, music, poetry, multi-media, and dance to BAM's campus with a spectrum of  past, present, and in-progress works that capture the here-and-now including: Bill T. Jones' Still/Here,  Hanif Abdurraqib's election week poetry program honoring the legacy of June Jordan, Dana Gingras'  Frontera, Guillermo Cacace's Gaviota, Tiago Rodrigues' Catarina and the Beauty of Killing Fascists,  Silkroad Ensemble with Rhiannon Giddens' American Railroad, Liquid Music's Sun Dogs, Modesto Flako  Jimenez's Mercedes, Part 1, Journey LIVE with American Composers Orchestra, and ONX Studio's  TECHNE.   

Alongside Next Wave, BAM will present The TEAM's work-in-process, Reconstructing (Still Working, But the  Devil Might Be Inside) directed by Rachel Chavkin and Zhailon Levingston and Safety Not Guaranteed— a new musical stage adaptation directed by Lee Sunday Evans with music by Guster's Ryan Miller that  supports BAM's aim to open up the Harvey Theater for American artists to work at scale within an artistic  community that values ambition, invention, and experimentation. There will also be holiday programs  including Mark Morris' The Hard Nut. 

Rounding out the season are the annually anticipated BAMboo!, The Best of BAMkids Film Festival, and a  film program featuring eclectic repertory screenings and series alongside new releases. BAM also is thrilled  to announce a new cohort of resident artists: Baba Oludaré, Hope Boykin, mayfield brooks, Delano  Burrowes, Kayla Hamilton, Soomi Kim, and Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre. 

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