BAM’s Karen Gala Was A Moveable Feast In Historic Settings: Navy Yard to Opera House
After Waterfront Dinner, Warm Greetings, FOK (Friends of Karen) Bussed To Mother Ship
For the Brooklyn Academy of Music, led by Executive Producer Joseph Melillo, the gala honoring Karen Brooks Hopkins Tuesday night was an “all hands on deck” affair. Every department, from Development and Marketing to Stage Crew and Production, worked to make it happen. “The Karen Gala” paid tribute to a 36-year run of inspired leadership. Hopkins is set to retire in June, but Tuesday night her co-workers lived up to the institution’s acronym: BAM!
Most of the 900 guests who made their way to the waterfront Duggal Greenhouse building Tuesday night entered Brooklyn Navy Yard at the south end, just down the hill from the grand 1806 Commandant’s Mansion, which sits on three acres and is privately owned. Winding through old, restored Navy Yard buildings, they followed a well-planned carpeted pathway.
Before emerging onto the landscaped waterfront garden in front of Duggal — complete with an ancient cannon that was part of a World War II vessel repaired in the Yard — they had a red carpet opportunity. There, a smiling Karen Brooks Hopkins graciously posed for photographers with any and all guests who wished to do so; it was Hopkins’ chance to thank them again, hand-to-hand, shoulder-to-shoulder, for supporting BAM. Energetic, time-consuming and joyous, that gesture was a good example of Hopkins’ brilliant bonding instincts.