Original facility On October 21, 1858, a meeting was held at the
Polytechnic Institute to measure support for establishing
"a hall adapted to Musical, Literary, Scientific and other occasional purposes, of sufficient size to meet the requirements of our large population and worth in style and appearance of our city." The group applied to the
New York State Legislature for a charter in the name of Brooklyn Academy of Music. The New York Legislature passed the bill to incorporate the Brooklyn Academy of Music on February 16, 1859. The group raised $60,000 by November 22 and another $90,000 by March 16, 1859. The Brooklyn Academy of Music opened on January 15, 1861. At the inaugural address on the opening, the management announced that no dramatic performance should ever be held within its walls. The first concert opened with the overture to
Der Freischütz, followed by arias and excerpts from various operas, including the
William Tell Overture which opened part 2 of the concert.
Current facilities After the building burned to the ground on November 30, 1903, BAM made plans to relocate to a new facility in
Fort Greene, Brooklyn.
Herts & Tallant designed the new building. The cornerstone was laid at 30 Lafayette Avenue on May 25, 1907. A series of opening events were held in November 1908; the first opera to be staged there was the
Metropolitan Opera production of
Faust. It was also used for religious services during the early 1900s, when
Charles Taze Russell, founder of the bible students movement (now
Jehovah's Witnesses and
International Bible Students Association), gave sermons there.
1960s to 1990s The Waltann School of Creative Arts (WSCA), founded in 1959, located at 1078 Park Place, Brooklyn, was a BAM venue during the 1960s and 1970s. One of the dance teachers there was African American contemporary dancer
Carole Johnson, and the
Eleo Pomare Dance Company performed there in 1967. In 1967,
Harvey Lichtenstein was appointed executive director and during his 32 years in that role, BAM experienced a turnaround, attracting audiences with new programming and establishing an endowment. BAM established a shuttle bus service to Manhattan, the BAMbus, which ran from 1968. BAM began hosting the annual Next Wave Festival in 1983, featuring performances by international and American artists. The
Chelsea Theater Center was in residence from 1967 to 1977. The Harvey Theater was completed in 1987. was president, and
Joseph V. Melillo was executive producer through 2018. 30 Lafayette Avenue's facade was restored for $8.6 million in 2004. Due to low ridership and increasing expenses, the BAMbus service was discontinued in 2013. In 2012, BAM opened its Richard B. Fisher Building, which includes a 250-seat
experimental theater. A regular event at the time was BAMcinemaFest, a festival focusing on
independent films. Katy Clark was president from 2015 and left the institution in 2021. The BAM Strong complex opened in October 2019, and a renovation of the Harvey Theater was finished at that time. The COVID-19 pandemic severely impacted BAM's finances.
The New York Times wrote the same year that, while many of BAM's previous executives (including Melillo and Hopkins) had worked there for several decades, their successors had left after only a few years.
David Binder served as artistic director from 2019-2023. Amy Cassello served as interim artistic director from 2023-2024 until she was announced as artistic director in 2024. Since 2026,
Tamara McCaw has been BAM's president. ==People==