Once a staple at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, it was a kind of talk of production. The “Tram Named Desire” in Williams, Tennessee, along with Oscar-nominated lead man Paul Mescal, has people seeking tickets for BAM's production this month.
The excitement reminds us of a time when the performing arts center consistently draws crowds and sees imports like the Royal Shakespeare company and cutting-edge work by directors like Peter Brook, composers like Philip Glass and choreographers like Pina Bausch and Martha Graham.
However, over the past decade, critics say the academy's pioneering victories have been scarce, with thinner schedules and more modest works.
BAM's financial position is still vulnerable, while improving. Over the five years that will end in June 2024, staff have been down by more than a third, donations have lost ground, and the operating budget of nearly $52 million is still smaller than it was 10 years ago.
“The inability to drive revenue and manage cost escalation makes it difficult to pursue an artistic mission,” Declan Webb, a consultant for a nonprofit arts organization, said in a recent interview. “You have to do less, you are far more risk aversive, and that's not an artistic growth recipe.”
The Academy says its 2024 financial report is not ready yet. However, in 2023, BAM fired 13% of its staff (cutting 26 positions) and helped meet officials called “a significant structural deficit.”
In a recent interview with Bam, the Academy's artistic director, the Academy said the Academy is artistically ambitious yet financially responsible. “We're working on the right sized budget, and this clearly affects programming, but I think that's what puts us on the path to growth,” she said. “And on the path to growth, we go back to where we were and perhaps even bigger.”
BAM is not solely in showing signs of tension. Cultural organisations across the country are struggling financially with declining incomes and attacked donations. The pandemic, aging population, rising labor costs, lower charity efforts and competition from streaming services will be at the expense of.
The Guggenheim Museum announced last month that it had abandoned 20 employees (7% of staff) across the museum, while the Brooklyn Museum announced a layoff to deal with the $10 million budget deficit.
“It's a very difficult time for culture,” said Anne Pasternuck, director of the Brooklyn Museum.
However, BAM's decline precedes the pandemic, with some viewing it as a facility dilemma. Some people think programming is too safe, while others too dangerous. In many cases, it is the mainstream fare that pays bills, but cutting edge materials have long been the academy brand.
“I went to BAM once every few weeks in the '80s and '90s, and I've only been there a few times a year in the last few years,” said performance artist Laurie Anderson, who has been the longest creative home for the academy. “Programming wasn't something I was particularly interested in, and wasn't experimental. I like what's on my hands and feet.”
“When BAM reached its peak, they had a part of that field in itself. It's an exciting and different job that people have never seen in this country,” said Michael M. Kaiser, former president of the DeVos Institute of Arts at the Kennedy Center in Washington.
For its supporters, memories of what Bam once was unfair and unrealistic think of a changed world. They also point to a strong spring lineup of facilities, including the production of Berliner Ensemble, which, in addition to “trams,” includes the production of Berliner Ensemble for Berliner Ensemble for Berthold Brecht's “Threepenny Opera.” “Momo” by Batsheva Dance Company. And then he performed with composer Max Richter's American Contemporary Music Ensemble.
“Bum took Barry Koskie to New York City, and the Met isn't,” said Joseph V. Merillo, Bum's longtime imprezaglio, referring to the Metropolitan Opera. “Yes, they have to do less, but the quality is still there. They're rebuilding – everyone is rebuilding.”
BAM also remains an important hub for Brooklyn and serves as a catalyst for other economic developments in the region. Currently, there are 60 institutions in downtown Brooklyn Arts Alliance. This includes Mark Morris Dance Center, a Theatre for New Audiences, BRIC and Urbanglass.
“The historical role of BAMs within Brooklyn is important because it gave other cultural organisations the opportunity to partner,” says Toyarillard, executive director of 651 Arts, dedicated to African diasporic performances from the academy on the streets.
However, others note structural issues that continue to reduce BAM. Recent funding has been less robust, leadership sales remained constant, and Gina Duncan's announced departure three years later as president.
The academy's previous stewards worked for decades. Harvey Liechtenstein was executive director for 32 years. Merillo was the artistic director of 35. Karen Brooks Hopkins worked for 36 years at the academy, including the 16-year-old.
However, Hopkins' successor, Katie Clark, who left in 2021, served only six years. Artistic Director David Binder left in 2023 just four years later.
“The quality and consistency of professional leadership and sound governance are not more important, especially in times of financial stress,” said Reynold Levy, former president of the Lincoln Center and an expert at nonprofit agencies.
A long and brilliant history
For an organization that has focused on the boundaries with a fresh, adventurous push, Bum has a long history as a cultural landmark in New York. Founded in 1861, eight years before construction began at the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattans had to take ferries to attend performances there, including concerts by the Philharmonic Association of Brooklyn.
In 1908, Bam's new Beaux-Arts building opened on Lafayette Avenue in Fort Green, but initially struggled to attract Theatre fans to the then gritty area. In 1968, his interest in attracting Manhatta Knight led to the creation of the Banbus, which moved audiences back and forth at the 2,096-seat Howard Gilman Opera House. (The bus was cancelled in 2013 due to lower ridership and financial pressure.)
Bam began honing his international reputation in 1967 when Liechtenstein took over as executive director. In 1983 he created the next Wave Festival, an important showcase for innovative dance, music and drama.
The physical plants have also expanded. Bam Harvey Theater opened in 1987, followed by a cinema and in 2012 the Bam Fisher Building. In 2019, Bam Strong opened with a renovated Harvey Theatre, an art gallery, roof deck and a patron lounge. In January, BAM opened Bam KBH, which houses archives, reading rooms, cinemas and flexible performance spaces at the L10 Arts and Culture Center, an interdisciplinary arts hub.
Programming flourished. In 2003, BAM unveiled the Royal National Theatre and Market Theatre for Johannesburg production of “The Island,” originally directed by Athol Fugard. William Christie conducts the Baroque musical ensembleless Arts Flori Sands in the production of “Leboreades” at Paris National Opera, “Raymeau.” And then there was the world premiere of Merce Cunningham Dance Company's “Split Sides” and live music performed by Radiohead and Icelandic band Sigur Rós.
Financially, the organization reached Heights in 2015, with BAM earning around $24 million in revenues it acquired. But even before the pandemic was at its expense, revenues began to sluggish. Performance revenue fell by half between 2015 and 2019, down from $17 million to $8.6 million, according to the Academy's audited financial statements.
The 2020 coronavirus then brought Bam back even further. The budget was cut to $30 million. The academy fired 25 employees and hired 80 employees. The organization's presidents and executives adopted a pay cut of up to 40%.
To save itself, BAM fell into a special distribution of $5 million and a $100 million donation in the next fiscal year with an additional $3 million.
Bam's private sector contributions fell from about $25 million in 2015 to about $11 million in 2023.
The academy was forced to suppress the scope of programming. For example, the following Wave Festival reached seven programs in 2023, falling from 31 in 2017. In 2024 it turned 11 and is now 13.
“When Karen and Joe left, it was difficult to maintain the excitement they were able to create over the years,” said Nigel Redden, longtime director of the annual Lincoln Center Festival. return. “
Encourage signs of growth
Despite the hurdles, Bam reports that he is slowly rebuilding. The audience has grown by 41% from last year. The annual revenue from performance is already ahead of the pandemic a few years ago. Since 2019, the total number of shows has increased by 50% to 241.
Between 2023 and 2025, BAM added six new positions to expand its curator reach for poetry, music and films, including performance artist Helga Davis, increasing the board to four to 36.
“We have to accept the confusion,” Davis said in an interview. “There are creative opportunities to think about finances, to think about programming.
“Maybe you don't have a full production in Harvey this year, but maybe you have one in four years,” she continued. “It gives the institution an opportunity to catch up, take financial responsibility and commit to what they have already programmed and committed to, but there may be fewer site-specific projects.”
Despite the contractions required for BAM, Casero argued that its ambitions, mission and importance remained unchanged and unimagined. “We haven't stepped away from adventurous programming. I think it's important. It made us different,” she said. “The times demand different strategies, and I don't think if we get smaller, it will sacrifice quality.”
“I haven't met artists who don't want to be in BAM yet or artists who were in BAM who already didn't want to go back to BAM,” she added. “We need BAM because we serve audiences and artists who have imagination, creativity and curiosity to move us forward as humanity. It sounds so epic, but that's what it is.”
Bam has created deep loyalty from artists over the years. Martha Wilson, founding director of Avant-Garde facility Franklin Furnace, said in a recent interview, “I Love Bam.” “We love working there,” said choreographer Mark Morris.
Choreographer Bill T. Jones said he wanted the best for the academy and wanted it to remain important and brave, having celebrated his 30th anniversary with his once controversial dance piece Still/Here's” at the Opera House last fall.
“It's a key organization. You need to accept and take care of it,” Jones said. “I hope they can be fierce and boldly delegated new releases. They need to make sure they have an international footprint.”
Morris recalls Bam's elaborate presentations like the Marinsky Theatre (formerly Kirov) and the opera of Peterbrook's epic Mahabharata, saying, “You can't keep it up. Times will change.”
Acknowledging that Bam is currently operating in a “very different world,” Anderson said he hopes the academy will take over an artistic opportunity. “In New York, we need something really hard to watch, not just musicals,” she said. “If Bam can then fight that path where it used to be, it would be very big. Bam has always been my place. I really love it.”
