BAM Plans an All-Night Bash
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The Brooklyn Academy of Music, which often breaks ground in its efforts to attract new audiences, has announced its first ever all-night party, which it is whimsically calling “Takeover.” On Saturday, November 3, between 9 p.m. and 4 a.m., BAM will welcome approximately 2,500 people through its doors, to enjoy drinks, music, movies, and art and video installations.
BAM chose November 3 in part because it’s the last performance of “The BQE,” a world-premiere commission from the singer-songwriter Sufjan Stevens. All three performances of “The BQE” are sold out, and much of the audience will be new to BAM. (BAM’s vice president of marketing and communications, Lisa Mallory, said BAM’s ticket database showed that the majority of people who purchased tickets for “The BQE” had not purchased tickets for either the Next Wave Festival or the Spring Season in the last five years.)
The purpose of “Takeover” is to target “folks who have not come in BAM’s doors before,” the associate producer of music programming, Darrell McNeill, said. “Usually they come in by way of [BAMcaféLive] or BAM Rose Cinemas,” he said. But with “Takeover,” “we’re trying to introduce the full BAM experience to the next generation of patrons.”
Five bands — Antibalas, Be Your Own Pet, the Exit, Heartless Bastards, and Dirty on Purpose — will perform in the Howard Gilman Opera House, while the DJ’s of Ubiquita NYC will spin soul, funk, reggae, and world music in BAMcafé. The four screens at BAM Rose Cinemas will show wide-ranging programs, from a “Lindsay Lohan Mid-Career Retrospective” to the Danish filmmaker Nicholas Winding Refn’s violent “Pusher Trilogy.” Throughout the building, there will be art and video installations by Mighty Robot A/V Squad; Neal Wilkinson of the Uncertainty Principle; Dustin O’Neill of the Fountainhead Design; Jean Shin, and Leo Villareal.
Ms. Mallory said that, in addition to the drink sponsors — Bud Light, Magic Hat, and MONSTER energy — “Takeover” is being supported by Altria, as part of its sponsorship of the Next Wave Festival’s 25th anniversary season. “For an institution to open up every public space and run it all night, with all the staff and all the stagehands that requires, it’s a real undertaking,” she said.
Tickets are $15 in advance (TakeoverBAM.org or 718-636-4100) or $20 in cash at the door.
