Karen Brooks Hopkins

Karen Brooks Hopkins is the president of the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), where she has worked since 1979. As President, Hopkins oversees the Academy's 300 full- and part-time employees and facilities, including the 2100-seat Howard Gilman Opera House and 874-seat BAM Harvey Theater, the four-theater BAM Rose Cinemas and the BAMcafé. In May 2004, Hopkins concluded a two-year term as the Chair of The Cultural Institutions Group (CIG), which consists of 33 prominent New York City cultural institutions. In this capacity, she also served as a member of the Mayor's Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission and is currently a member of the Board of NYC & Company, New York's Convention and Visitor's Bureau.

Hopkins is an active member of the Performing Arts Center Consortium, a national association of performing arts centers, and served as its chair from 1994 to 1996. She was also a participant on the Advisory Committee of the Salzburg Seminar Project of Critical Issues for the Classical Performing Arts from 2000—2002 and a fellow of The Cap Gemini Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation from 2001—2002. In 2005, Hopkins received the Encore Award in Arts Management Excellence from the Arts & Business Council of New York, and chaired the Hospitality and Tourism cluster of the Initiative for a Competitive Brooklyn. In 2006, she was elected by the New York State Legislature to the Board of Regents for a term expiring in 2010.

She also serves on the Board of the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, an economic development advocacy organization devoted to promoting the growth of the greater Downtown Brooklyn area.

In the spring of 1995, Hopkins served as the executive producer of the Bergman Festival, which celebrated the life and work of Swedish director Ingmar Bergman. The success of the Bergman Festival earned her a medal from the Royal Dramatic Theater of Sweden—the first time the honor was awarded to anyone outside of Sweden. Additionally, in recognition of her work on behalf of the Norwegian National Ballet, Norway awarded her its King Olav Medal.

In November 2006, Hopkins was awarded the honor of Chevalier de L'Ordre des arts et des Lettres by the Republic of France, for her work supporting the French arts in the United States.

In 2007, she was named one of the "100 Most Influencial Women in New York City Business" by Crain's. That same year, she was appointed Commander of the Royal Order of the Polar Star, in recognition of her role in solidifying ties between the performing arts communities of Sweden and the United States.

Hopkins was an adjunct professor for the Brooklyn College Program for Arts Administration for four years. Her widely read book, Successful Fundraising for Arts & Cultural Organizations, currently is available in a revised second edition through Greenwood Publishing.

A graduate of the University of Maryland, she received her MFA from George Washington University in Washington, DC. Hopkins resides in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Joseph V. Melillo

Joseph V. Melillo, BAM's executive producer since 1999, is responsible for the institutional artistic direction of BAM. In the years that he has held this role, BAM has enjoyed increases in both programming and audience attendance in its Harvey Lichtenstein Theater, Howard Gilman Opera House, Rose Cinemas, and BAMcafé. In addition to continued critical acclaim, in 2003 BAM was awarded a special OBIE Award in recognition of a body of work in international programming and a special Drama Desk Award for bringing works of distinction from around the world to New York audiences. Over the years, Melillo has fostered the work of emerging artists such as choreographer John Jasperse, director Anne Bogart, and musician/composers David Lang, Michael Gordon and Julia Wolfe while continuing to provide an artistic home for BAM regulars such as choreographer Pina Bausch, directors Peter Brook and Sam Mendes, and composer John Adams.

Prior to his current role, Melillo served as BAM's producing director, following a six-year tenure as founding director of the Next Wave Festival. During the first festival, Melillo produced the premiere productions of The Photographer/Far From The Truth and The Gospel at Colonus. He worked closely with Philip Glass and Robert Wilson on the first revival of Einstein on the Beach in 1984, a production Melillo considers a professional benchmark. In addition to these productions, Melillo's hand can be seen in broad-ranging Next Wave productions such as The Mahabharata and Nixon in China.

As part of the 2001 Next Wave Festival, Melillo produced a multi-disciplinary celebration of Australian art and culture entitled Next Wave Down Under, which included music, theater, dance, film, and visual arts. In the fall of 2002, he produced BAM’s critically acclaimed 20th Next Wave Festival, which featured returning artist like Sankai Juku, Meredith Monk, and Steve Reich as well as works by festival newcomers such as Osvaldo Golijov, Sasha Waltz, and Tan Dun. During the 25th Next Wave Festival (2007), Melillo inaugurated an international music program entitled New Voices, partnered with the PERFORMA biennial of visual art performance, and presented newly-commissioned works by Sufjan Stevens, Kronos Quartet/Erik Sanko, and Daniel Bernard Roumain. As BAM's Spring Seasons have grown in recent years, Melillo has developed innovative and artistically wide-ranging projects such as the complete Monteverdi opera cycle, and has developed artistic partnerships with companies such as The Old Vic and The National Theatre of Great Britain.

In addition to his work at BAM, Melillo has had extensive experience in artistic programming, producing, and general management. In 1990, Melillo served as one of the artistic directors of the second New York International Festival for the Arts. He was general manager of the 1982 New World Festival of the Arts in Miami; theater program director of Foundation for the Extension and Development of the American Professional Theater (FEDAPT); marketing director for the Walnut Street Theater in Philadelphia; thematic specialist in contemporary American Theater for the Institute of International Education, Department of State, USIA; and producing director of the Chelsea Theater Center of New York. He was named a Chevalier (1999) and an Officier (2004) of the French Legion of Honor. Also in 2004, Melillo was awarded an honorary OBE for his outstanding commitment to British performing arts in America. In 2007, he was appointed Knight of the Royal Order of the Polar Star, in recognition of his role in solidifying ties between the performing arts communities of Sweden and the United States.

Melillo has served on the faculty of the Brooklyn College Graduate Program in Arts Management and on the boards of directors for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters and En Garde Arts. He was a panelist for the National Endowment of the Arts Dance Program and the New York State Council on the Arts. Melillo is a lecturer at colleges and universities nationally and internationally. Most recently, he served as Multidisciplinary Panel Chair of the Pew Fellowships in the Arts 2003 and 2007 Awards. Melillo earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and theater at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut and a Masters of Fine Arts in speech and drama at Catholic University of America in Washington, DC.