In anticipation of its 150th anniversary in 2011, the Brooklyn Academy of Music announced an ambitious $300 million capital campaign yesterday that would fund the creation of a new 263-seat theater in the former Salvation Army building at 321 Ashland Place around the corner from its main building in Fort Greene; in addition, the plan calls for establishing up to four new spaces for screening films and starting new festivals devoted to opera and Muslim culture. “Despite the current economic environment, we have already raised more than half of the campaign’s $300 million goal,” said Adam E. Max, a trustee of BAM and chairman of the campaign. “People recognize that BAM is critical to the performing arts both locally and globally and that the campaign is critical in ensuring BAM fulfills its mission.” While the Salvation Army theatre isn't actually news (it's mentioned in this piece from the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership), its architect—Hugh Hardy, who also designed the main building's modern awning—and the benefactor it will be named for—former chairman of the Academy's endowment trust Richard B. Fisher—were. The new "black-box" theater facility will be technologically advanced and able to accommodate certain modern productions that the two existing theater spaces cannot.
Brooklyn Academy Thinks Big, Despite All [NY Times]
BAM to Open New Theater Space [Variety]
BAM Launching $300M Capital Campaign [Crain's]
Photo from Fading Ad Blog
