Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts

Last updated

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts was an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit performing arts organization located on the campus of Brooklyn College, founded in 1954. The Brooklyn Center presented multiple disciplinary arts performances and coordinated one of the largest arts education programs in the borough, serving 46,000 schoolchildren from over 300 schools annually. [1]

Contents

In July 2018, the organization relieved its nonprofit status by becoming a unit of Brooklyn College's School of Visual, Media, and Performing Arts under the name Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College (BCBC), or Brooklyn College Presents.

On September 6, 2018 (63 days after becoming part of Brooklyn College), the college closed the organization, citing budgetary reasons. [2] [3]

Mission

Brooklyn Center's mission is to present outstanding performing arts and arts education programs reflective of Brooklyn's diverse communities at affordable prices. A central part of the mission is to introduce young people to the performing arts, enhance education, and expose children to new ideas and other cultures. [4]

History

The rights to the site of Brooklyn College, initially occupied by Native Americans, were transferred to Dutch settlers in 1636 in exchange for one hundred guilders, two-and-one-half tons of beer, three long-barreled guns, and some ammunition. For the next three centuries, homesteaders and farmers occupied the land. In 1924, Ringling Brothers, Barnum, and Bailey Circus began to use the grounds for their annual visits to Brooklyn. By 1935, the college secured the property, and in October of that year, construction of Brooklyn College began.

Since the college served a large, urban, and unusually heterogeneous student body, it became evident that the campus needed a grand assembly hall. During World War II, Brooklyn College's President Harry D. Gideonse wrote a proposal to the City Planning Commission for auditorium funding. The building would contain two performance spaces: George Gershwin Theater, nicknamed the “little theater” and the Walt Whitman Theatre. The property's landscaping followed construction, and by April 15, 1953, the cornerstone was ceremoniously placed in position.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College (BCBC) is part of a long tradition of cultural excellence associated with Brooklyn. Since several artists have roots in Brooklyn, its three main halls are named after famous Brooklynites: George Gershwin, Sam Levenson, and Walt Whitman.

Programming

Brooklyn Center's annual programs include a World Stages Music and Dance series, Headliners, Theatre, Arts in the Afternoon, Special Events, Target Family Fun, and SchoolTimes Series. Over the years, Brooklyn Center has presented more than 150 New York, U.S., and world premieres. Among the performers to grace the stage of the Walt Whitman Theatre are Luciano Pavarotti, Isaac Stern, Gregory Hines, Margot Fonteyn, Beverly Sills, Ray Charles, Joan Sutherland, Tony Bennett, Les Ballets Africains, Isaac Hayes, Vladimir Horowitz, André Watts, The Temptations, Arthur Rubinstein, the National Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica, José Greco, the Moiseyev Dance Company, Suzanne Farrell, Peter Martins, and Itzhak Perlman. [5]

Arts education

Brooklyn Center offers lower ticket prices to its family performances with the Target Family Fun series. Now in its 25th season, the series is designed to provide parents and caregivers with the opportunity to introduce their children to music, theater, and dance at affordable prices. In 2009 Brooklyn Center was selected as Best Theatre or Theatre Group for Kids in Brooklyn as part of Nickelodeon's ParentsConnect Annual Pick Awards.

Brooklyn Center's SchoolTime series was created more than 30 years ago to fill the gap created by cuts in public school arts programs, particularly in disadvantaged neighborhoods. The series of performances, which take place during the school day, introduce and expose young students ages 4–14 to educational performing arts programs. More than 46,000 students come to Brooklyn Center each year for SchoolTime performances.

Related Research Articles

The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both the visual and performing arts. It offers Bachelor of Fine Arts, Master of Fine Arts, Master of Arts, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees through its six schools: Art, Critical Studies, Dance, Film/Video, Music, and Theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boch Center</span>

The Boch Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit performing arts organization located in Boston, Massachusetts. It manages the historic Wang and Shubert theatres on Tremont Street in the Boston Theater District, where it offers theatre, opera, classical and popular music, comedy, dance, and Broadway musicals. The center also offers a diverse mix of educational workshops and community activities; collaborates with artists and local performing arts organizations; and, acts as a champion for the arts in the Greater Boston community by aggressively helping to make the arts an integral part of the community's collective, daily experience. It maintains partnerships with numerous arts organizations in Boston, including the Celebrity Series of Boston, Fiddlehead Theatre Company, Express Yourself, and more.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">State University of New York at Purchase</span> Public college in Purchase, New York, U.S.

The State University of New York at Purchase, commonly referred to as Purchase College or SUNY Purchase, is a public liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. Established in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, SUNY Purchase is one of 13 comprehensive colleges in the State University of New York (SUNY) system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts</span> 130 acre-park in Virginia (US) maintained by the National Park Service

Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on 117 acres (47 ha) of national park land in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, near the town of Vienna. Through a partnership and collaboration of the National Park Service and the non-profit Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, the park offers both natural and cultural resources.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">School of Music, Theatre, and Dance</span> Performing arts school at the University of Michigan

The School of Music, Theatre, and Dance is the undergraduate and graduate school for the performing arts of the University of Michigan, in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mason Gross School of the Arts</span> School of performing and fine arts at Rutgers University (New Brunswick)

Mason Gross School of the Arts is the arts conservatory at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Mason Gross offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in art, design, dance, filmmaking, music, and theater. Mason Gross is highly selective in terms of admissions, with a low admission rate. It is named for Mason W. Gross, the sixteenth president of Rutgers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Harlem School of the Arts</span> Art school in Harlem, New York

Harlem School of the Arts (HSA) is an art school located in the Harlem section of Manhattan, New York City, United States. Opening its doors in 1964, HSA serves ages 2 through 18.

<i>Live from Lincoln Center</i> Television series

Live from Lincoln Center was a seventeen-time Emmy Award-winning series that broadcast notable performances from the Lincoln Center in New York City on PBS starting 1976. The program aired between six and nine times per season. Episodes of Live from Lincoln Center featured Lincoln Center's resident artistic organizations, most notably the New York Philharmonic. Funding for the series was made possible by major grants from the Robert Wood Johnson 1962 Charitable Trust, Thomas H. Lee and Ann Tenenbaum, the Robert and Renee Belfer Family Foundation, the MetLife Foundation, Mercedes T. Bass, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Production of new episodes has been suspended indefinitely since 2019.

The Celebrity Series of Boston is a non-profit performing arts presenter established in Boston, Massachusetts by Boston impresario Aaron Richmond in 1938 as Aaron Richmond's Celebrity Series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damian Woetzel</span> American dancer

Damian Woetzel is an American choreographer.

Dixon Place is a theater organization in New York City dedicated to the development of works-in-progress from a broad range of performers and artists. It exists to serve the creative needs of artists—emerging, mid-career and established—who are creating new work in theater, dance, music, literature, puppetry, performance, variety and visual arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harris Theater (Chicago)</span> Theater in Millennium Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States

The Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance is a 1,499-seat theater for the performing arts located along the northern edge of Millennium Park on Randolph Street in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, US. The theater, which is largely underground due to Grant Park-related height restrictions, was named for its primary benefactors, Joan and Irving Harris. It serves as the park's indoor performing venue, a complement to Jay Pritzker Pavilion, which hosts the park's outdoor performances.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joyce Theatre Foundation</span>

The Joyce Theatre Foundation is a leading presenter of dance in New York City and nationally. It is runs, in part, from the Joyce Theater, a 472-seat dance performance venue located in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The Joyce occupies the Elgin Theater, a former movie house that opened in 1941 and was gut-renovated and reconfigured in 1981–82.

Harvey Lichtenstein was an American arts administrator. He is best known for his 32-year tenure (1967–99) as president and executive producer of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, or BAM, as it became known under his leadership. He led the institution to a renaissance, championing contemporary performance, establishing the Next Wave Festival, and providing a vital venue for dance, theater, music, and collaborations that bridged disciplines. The long list of artists who came to perform on BAM's stages under Lichtenstein's purview reads like a Who's Who of 20th-century performance, and includes Laurie Anderson, Pina Bausch, Peter Brook, Merce Cunningham, Philip Glass, Meredith Monk, Jerzy Grotowski, Mark Morris, Steve Reich, Twyla Tharp, and Robert Wilson. When Lichtenstein retired, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation made the decision to honor his considerable accomplishments by foregoing its own naming rights and dedicating the BAM Harvey Theater in his honor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theatre Development Fund</span> Non-profit corporation assisting the theatre industry in New York City

The Theatre Development Fund (TDF) is a not-for-profit performing arts service organization in New York City. Created in 1968 to help an ailing New York theatre industry, TDF has become one of the largest beneficents for the performance arts. The TDF heavily subsidizes Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-off-broadway theatre and dance productions that it deems to be of cultural value, with their most prominent program of this type being TKTS discount ticket booths. The organization also assists Broadway with complying with the ADA, provides educational outreach programs to secondary and college students, and rents out costumes to productions and other non-profits. It has received a Special Tony Award for its work.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center</span> Performance venue and academic building

The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center is a performing arts complex on the campus of the University of Maryland, College Park. The 318,000-square-foot (29,500 m2) facility, which opened in 2001, houses six performance venues; the UM School of Music; and the UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies. It also houses the Michelle Smith Performing Arts Library. The center operates under the auspices of the University of Maryland College of Arts and Humanities.

Appel Farm Arts & Music Center, located near Elmer, New Jersey, United States, is a multifaceted nonprofit regional arts center founded by musicians and art educators Albert and Clare Rostan Appel. Appel Farm Arts & Music Center is South Jersey's leading Arts Education organization. The center was founded in 1960 as a summer camp, became incorporated in 1978 and has since expanded its programming to include on-site arts retreats, arts classes, outreach in the schools, professional development for teachers, and the South Jersey Arts Fest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rialto Center for the Arts</span> Performing arts center in Atlanta, Georgia

The Rialto Center for the Arts is an 833-seat performing-arts venue owned and operated by Georgia State University and located in the heart of the Fairlie-Poplar district in downtown Atlanta, Georgia. The venue is home to the Rialto Series, an annual subscription series featuring national and international jazz, world music, and dance. The Rialto also routinely presents Georgia State University School of Music performances, the annual National Black Arts Festival, and many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Terry Wolverton</span> American novelist, memoirist, poet, and editor (born 1954)

Terry Wolverton is an American novelist, memoirist, poet, and editor. Her book Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman's Building, a memoir published in 2002 by City Lights Books, was named one of the "Best Books of 2002" by the Los Angeles Times, and was the winner of the 2003 Publishing Triangle Judy Grahn Award, and a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award. Her novel-in-poems Embers was a finalist for the PEN USA Litfest Poetry Award and the Lambda Literary Award.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Greensboro Ballet</span> American ballet company

Greensboro Ballet is a professional ballet company in North Carolina. It is the only ballet company in the Piedmont Triad. It is one of the few non-profit ballet companies in North Carolina. Greensboro Ballet has presented works by George Balanchine. The company also has performed a number of works made especially for the Greensboro Ballet by Rick McCullough, Jill Eathorne Bahr, Leslie Jane Pessemier, Elissa Minet Fuchs, and Emery LeCrone. Maryhelen Mayfield, who served as artistic and executive director of Greensboro Ballet from 1980 to 2019, choreographed over twenty-five works for the company.

References

  1. "Brooklyn-center-for-the-performing-arts".
  2. "Brooklyn Center for the Arts closes suddenly, fires entire full-time staff". Brooklyn Eagle. 2018-09-12. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  3. "Brooklyn College Unexpectedly Closes Performing Arts Center". Dateline: CUNY. 2018-09-25. Retrieved 2022-08-26.
  4. "Academics Centers".
  5. "BROOKLYN CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS AT BROOKLYN COLLEGE PRESENTS COYOTE'S DANCE".