Solange Knowles and Mikki Shepard to be Honored by BAM

On May 1, BAM will honor two iconic trailblazers; the multi-hyphenate artist, Solange Knowles, and legendary arts producer and advocate, Mikki Shepard, for their indelible influence, inspiration, and contributions to the performing arts. The benefit will take place at BAM’s Peter Jay Sharp building followed by an afterparty at the BAM Fisher. Funds generated by this event help secure a sustainable future for BAM as it continues its mission to be a home for adventurous artists, audiences, and ideas. 

BAM’s President Gina Duncan, BAM Interim Artistic Director Amy Cassello, and BAM Board Chair Diane Max, are the evening’s hosts.

Benefit committee members include Hanif Abdurraqib, Peter Born, Mark Morris, Annie-B. Parson & Paul Lazar, Okwui Okpokwasili, Huang Ruo, Abdel Salaam, and Whitney White.

Each honoree distinctly embodies BAM’s adventurous spirit and commitment to elevating culture, and each has contributed to BAM’s vision of supporting outstanding achievements in the performing arts. Knowles was first at BAM in spring of 2013 when she headlined the Crossing Brooklyn Ferry music festival. In the spring of 2023, she returned to the organization to present Eldorado Ballroom—a sold-out performing arts series that celebrated the intergenerational expressions of experimental and transcendent Black performance through the decades. Shepard has produced more than 25 programs for BAM including Steps in Time and Tappin’ Uptown, DanceAfrica, and the landmark Dance Black America: 300 years of Black Dance in America. In 1988, she founded Brooklyn’s 651Arts—an organization committed to developing, producing, and presenting performance and cultural programming rooted in the African Diaspora, with a primary focus on contemporary performing arts—which was headquartered on the BAM campus for more than three decades.

About the honorees:

Solange Knowles 

is a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and visual artist whose multi-disciplinary practice is spiritually rooted in world building for future generations. With the release of her critically acclaimed albums, A Seat at the Table and When I Get Home, Solange has invoked themes of identity, empowerment, grief, and healing that have resonated with millions of voices. This coupled with her work in other artistic mediums has led to a defining career of music, visual art, and activism. Solange has conducted performance art shows across the globe including at the 58th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia (2019), The Getty Museum in Los Angeles (2019), Guggenheim Museum in NYC (2017), the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas (2017) and the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg in Germany (2019).  

In 2002, Solange’s debut album Solo Star interpolated Urban Contemporary elements into traditional R&B and ushered in a refreshing transformation that shaped the genre’s evolution. Proudly owning her unique sound, she continued expanding the boundaries of radio-friendly hits by blending Jazz, Funk, Electonica and R&B/Soul elements in 2008’s Sol-Angel and the Hadley St. Dreams, followed by the highly-treasured 2012 True EP.

In 2016 Solange’s A Seat at The Table album debuted at #1 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart, Apple Music, and iTunes Overall Top Albums Charts. The record’s success led to her performing for President Obama at the White House, and birthed her vision for the Orion’s Rise performance series which included two sold-out shows at Radio City Music Hall, as well as shows at Hollywood Bowl, the Kennedy Center, the Greek Theatre, and Orpheum Theater. In June of 2018, Solange performed the album to four sold-out shows at the legendary Sydney Opera House in Australia.

An exploration of origin, her 2019 album, When I Get Home, questioned how much of ourselves we bring with us - versus leave behind - throughout our personal evolution. To answer this, Solange returned to the city of her childhood, Third Ward Houston. Written, performed, and executive produced by Solange, the release resulted in her third Top 10 debut on the Billboard 200, reached #1 on iTunes, and kicked off a global tour. In addition to premiering an extended director's cut of the album’s self-directed, interdisciplinary companion film at museums and contemporary institutions - including The Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) in Los Angeles, Brooklyn Museum in New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London - a special director’s cut of the film was added to Criterion’s special features channel.

Solange’s work in music and the arts has led to her being named Harvard University’s Artist of the Year in 2018. At the 70th Annual Parsons Benefit, Solange was honored by The New School as a pioneering figure in fashion and the arts. In 2022, Solange received NYU’s Global Trailblazer Award for Creative and Artistic Excellence. She has also been the recipient of Glamour’s Woman of the Year Award and Billboard’s Impact Award.

Mikki Shepard 

is a producer, presenter, funder, and arts consultant. She produced the first multidisciplinary festival NYC FREE to inaugurate Little Island, a new public park in New York City. Ms. Shepard advises national foundations on new program initiatives and arts and cultural institutions on organizational development and sustainability. She is an executive coach to foundations and non-profit arts organization leadership nationally and mentors emerging leaders and mid-career professionals in the performing arts field.

Shepard was the executive producer of the Apollo Theater from 2009–16. She created and implemented a new institutional vision and organizational infrastructure, informed institutional policy and direction, and led the Apollo’s programming, marketing, and development activities. Under her leadership, the Apollo Theater’s new artistic vision celebrated and re-envisioned its legacy with contemporary music, dance, theater, opera, performance art, comedy, and spoken word programming. A key aspect of her work was the development of the Apollo’s 21st-century global program vision, creating large-scale productions and festivals, the revitalization of Amateur Night and its digital presence, the creation of the Apollo Music Café and Apollo Comedy Club, and international tours of original Apollo productions such as James Brown: Get on the Good Foot, A Celebration in Dance. Other major productions included Apollo Club Harlem and the Apollo’s first global festivals, Breakin’ Convention, An International Festival of Hip-Hop Dance Theater Festival and WOW: Women of the World Festival.

Prior to the Apollo Theater, Ms. Shepard was a consultant to major foundations and performing arts institutions including The Ford Foundation, Heinz Endowments, Doris Duke Charitable Trust, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, and Jacob’s Pillow, to name a few. Her work focused on strategic planning, organizational restructuring, and program development/assessments. Ms. Shepard was the director of arts and humanities at the Rockefeller Foundation. As executive producer and co-founder of Brooklyn’s 651Arts, she produced 100 Years of Jazz and Blues Festival, Sung and Unsung/Jazz Women, Dance Women/Living Legends, and Lost Jazz Shrines and was the architect of the Africa Exchange Program, a major Ford Foundation international initiative.

Ms. Shepard is a member of the Mertz Gilmore Foundation’s board of directors and served as its chair from 2010 – 21. She is also a member of The Fan Fox & Leslie R. Samuels Foundation’s board. Past board memberships include the BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP), Brooklyn Community Foundation, and Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone. She served as a Tony Awards Nominator from 2016 – 19. Shepard’s awards include a 2017 Bessie (NY Dance and Performance) Award for her work in dance, APAP’s 2017 Fan Taylor Distinguished Service Award for exemplary service to the field of professional presenting, and the honor of being the first recipient of APAP’s Halsey and Alice North Award for Committed Excellence and Service to the Field in 2014.

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