The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) will honor two iconic trailblazers on May 1; the multi-hyphenate artist, Solange Knowles, and arts producer and advocate, Mikki Shepard, for their influence, inspiration, and contributions to the performing arts.
The benefit, which includes cocktails, dinner and a performance, will take place at BAM’s Peter Jay Sharp building, followed by an afterparty. Funds generated by this event help secure a sustainable future for BAM as it continues its mission to be a home for adventurous artists, audiences, and ideas.
Each honoree distinctly embodies BAM’s adventurous spirit and commitment to elevating culture, and each has contributed to BAM’s vision of supporting outstanding achievements in the performing arts, according to a news release.
Knowles was first at BAM in spring of 2013 when she headlined the Crossing Brooklyn Ferry music festival. In the spring of 2023, she returned to the organization to present Eldorado Ballroom—a sold-out performing arts series that celebrated the intergenerational expressions of experimental and transcendent Black performance through the decades.
Knowles’ work in music and the arts has led to her being named Harvard University’s Artist of the Year in 2018. At the 70th Annual Parsons Benefit, she was honored by the New School as a pioneering figure in fashion and the arts. In 2022, Knowles received NYU’s Global Trailblazer Award for Creative and Artistic Excellence. She has also been the recipient of Glamour’s Woman of the Year Award and Billboard’s Impact Award.
Shepard is a producer, presenter, funder, and arts consultant. She produced the first multidisciplinary festival NYC FREE to inaugurate Little Island, a new public park in New York City. Shepard advises national foundations on new program initiatives and arts and cultural institutions on organizational development and sustainability. She is an executive coach to foundations and non-profit arts organization leadership nationally and mentors emerging leaders and mid-career professionals in the performing arts field.
Shepard has produced more than 25 programs for BAM including Steps in Time and Tappin’ Uptown, DanceAfrica, and the landmark Dance Black America: 300 years of Black Dance in America. In 1988, she founded Brooklyn’s 651Arts—an organization committed to developing, producing, and presenting performance and cultural programming rooted in the African Diaspora, with a primary focus on contemporary performing arts—which was headquartered on the BAM campus for more than three decades.
