Brooklyn

Brooklyn Museum to Open Lorna Simpson Photography Exhibition

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Brooklyn-based artist and photographer Lorna Simpson will have a solo exhibition at Brooklyn Museum. Lorna Simpson: Gathered presents photographic and other works that explore the artist’s interest in the interplay between fact and fiction, identity, and history. Through works that incorporate hundreds of original and found vintage photographs of African Americans that she collected from eBay and flea markets, Simpson undermines the assumption that archival materials are objective documents of history. The exhibition will be open to the public January 28 through August 21, 2011.

The exhibition also includes examples of Simpson’s series of installations of black-and-white photo-booth portraits of African Americans from the Jim Crow era and a new film work.

Lorna Simpson: Gathered is organized by Catherine Morris, Curator of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art, Brooklyn Museum.

Photo: Lorna Simpson (American, b. 1960). 1957-2009 Interiors (detail), 2009. Gelatin silver print. 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches each (14 x 14 cm)- overall dimensions variable. © Lorna Simpson, 2009- courtesy of the artist and Salon 94, New York

New York State Historic Preservation Awards Announced for 2010

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The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has announced the recipients of the 2010 New York State Historic Preservation Awards. Established in 1980, the State Historic Preservation Awards are given each year to honor excellence in the protection and rejuvenation of New York’s historic and cultural resources.

&#8220The Historic Preservation Awards honor the efforts and achievement of individuals, organizations and municipalities that make significant contributions to historic preservation objectives throughout New York State,&#8221 said Ruth Pierpont, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Historic Preservation. &#8220The range of awards this year reflects the many ways that historic preservation serves as an important tool for economic development, creating affordable housing, and providing an effective approach to sustainable building design while preserving the unique character and heritage of our communities.&#8221

The awards follow:

OUTSTANDING NATIONAL REGISTER NOMINATION:

New York City’s Chinatown and Little Italy Historic District

Presented to: Two Bridges Neighborhood Council (Victor Papa, president and director) and architectural consultant Kerri Culhane, for a project that illuminates the common heritage and shared future of New York

New York City’s Chinatown and Little Italy Historic District was listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places in February 2010 as being nationally significant in the history of immigration. The project’s success was due to the inspired leadership of the sponsor, the Two Bridges Neighborhood Council- exemplary scholarship of their consultant – architectural historian Kerri Culhane- and the support of Chinese-American and Italian-American organizations. Key to the process was educating the public about the significance of two ethnic groups whose 150 years of interwoven immigrant experiences had been previously overlooked. This nomination has proven to be a catalyst for a planning process aimed at enhancing economic development opportunities while respecting the important history of these neighborhoods.

PROJECT ACHIEVEMENT:

The Montour House, Village of Montour Falls, Schuyler County, 1850

For Outstanding Adaptive Use and Commitment to Community Revitalization

Presented to: Bruce Nelson, Nelson Development, Village of Montour Falls and Schuyler County Partners for Economic Development

Set in motion by a Restore New York grant and assistance from the Schuyler County Partners for Economic Development (SCOPED), the Village of Montour Falls hired developer Bruce Nelson to bring the 1850 Montour House back to life. Nelson, of Nelson Development in Vestal, worked closely with SHPO staff to determine the best approach to adapting the former hotel for apartments and commercial spaces while adhering to historic preservation standards. Over 20 years of neglect had caused severe water damage and other deterioration, and the village was in danger of losing the central landmark. A mason employed on the job for 18 months and a millwright who restored 118 historic wood windows were joined by other team members who restored and replaced decorative plaster elements. The project fulfilled the Village’s goals of attracting new and long-time residents as tenants, and helped inspired other local rehabilitation projects.

PROJECT ACHIEVEMENT:

257 Lafayette Center (The Former Annunciation School), Buffalo, 1928

For Outstanding Adaptive Use and Commitment to Community Revitalization

Presented to: Karl Frizlen, The Frizlen Group Architects and Paul Johnson, Johnson and Sons Contractors

After having served as an integral part of the community for over 80 years, the school closed and the building stood vacant for several years. Karl Frizlen, of The Frizlen Group Architects, and Paul Johnson, of Johnson & Sons General Contractor, recognized that the well-designed school would be ideal for an adaptive, mixed-used development that would incorporate green building design and historic preservation. The partners attracted tenants for the commercial portion of the building before beginning the project, including a day-care center and several firms for the incubator offices. In converting former school rooms, the work exhibits a high degree of creativity in reusing historic elements in place, such as pivoting blackboards, or recycling materials for new uses in the building. The project is an outstanding example of how historic tax credits can be used for a mid-sized rehabilitation project. Having obtained LEED certification, the project demonstrates that historic preservation and sustainable design are mutually supportive approaches to development.

PROJECT ACHIEVEMENT:

44 West 87th Street, New York City, 1910

For Outstanding Adaptive Use and Commitment to Community Revitalization

Presented to: The West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc. and Red Top Architects

In adapting the 1910 townhouse at 44 West 87th Street in New York City for senior and transitional housing and program services, the West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing, Inc. and Red Top Architects needed to upgrade the building to meet accessibility requirements- provide affordable rental units and smaller, transitional housing units- and also insert meeting and office space. Project partners worked through a highly collaborative process to solve design challenges. Preservation tax credits helped make the difference in the remarkable quality of workmanship and historic character preserved by the adaptive use project on a tight budget.

PROJECT ACHIEVEMENT:

P. S. 124, High School of Telecommunication Arts & Technology, Brooklyn, 1917

For an Outstanding Rehabilitation Project and Commitment to Community Revitalization

Presented to: New York City School Construction Authority and STV Group, Inc.

In planning a new wing for the overcrowded school building, the School Construction Authority staff and STV Group architects had to design a structure that would fit on the limited land available, would be compatible with the materials, massing and scale of the existing building and that would also meet with the approval of both SHPO and the community. The end result included a well-designed new wing and restoration of the school’s original auditorium, portions of which had previously been converted to classroom space. In returning the auditorium to its former grandeur, the team recreated missing decorative elements and restored stained glass windows.

PROJECT ACHIEVEMENT:

Dunderberg Creek Walls and NY Route 51 Stone Arch Bridge over Dunderberg Creek, Village of Gilbertsville, Otsego County

For an Outstanding Rehabilitation Project and Commitment to Community Revitalization

Presented to: Village of Gilbertsville and New York State Department of Transportation, Region 9

The historic Village of Gilbertsville’s picturesque setting was threatened in June 2006, when storm waters overflowed the Dunderberg Creek banks and came roaring through the village. The historic stone walls lining the creek were washed away, debris carried by the waters destroyed one of the piers supporting the historic Gilbert Building, and the NY Route 51 Bridge was damaged. Village officials, committed to preserving the historic character of the village, worked closely with the NYSDOT to coordinate repairs to the 1919 bridge and creek walls in a manner that retained the historic pattern of the stonework.

INDIVIDUAL ACHIEVEMENT:

Anne H. Van Ingen, former director of the Architecture, Planning and Design and Capital Program of the New York State Council on the Arts.

Recently-retired as director of the Ar
chitecture, Planning and Design (APD) and Capital Aid Programs at the New York State Council on the Arts, Anne Van Ingen was recognized for her extraordinary leadership in and commitment and contributions to the field of historic preservation, both as a public servant and a private citizen.

For 27 years, she served as NYSCA’s representative on the New York State Board for Historic Preservation, reviewing and approving nominations to the State and National Registers for Historic Places. Her focus as APD director was on what quality planning and design work – including historic preservation – could do for arts organizations and the communities they serve. She is a founding director of the Deborah J. Norden Fund of the Architectural League, established in memory of a talented NYSCA colleague, the Lower Manhattan Emergency Preservation Fund, and is president of the St. Regis Foundation, a land trust in the Adirondacks.

More recently, she purchased a traditional &#8220shotgun&#8221 house in New Orleans’ Hurricane Katrina-ravaged Ninth Ward and invited friends and family down to help undertake the extensive rehabilitation needed to turn the property into affordable housing.

Recognition for OPRHP Agency Best Practices in Historic Preservation

Taconic Regional Headquarters Adaptive Use Project

The Preservation awards program initiated a new component this year to recognize projects undertaken within the OPRHP agency that demonstrate best practices in historic preservation. Ruth Pierpont, Acting Deputy Commissioner for Historic Preservation explained, &#8220by highlighting high-quality rehabilitation and restoration projects, we hope to encourage similar approaches throughout all state parks.&#8221 The project chosen this year was the adaptive use of the former Staatsburg School for the OPRHP Taconic Regional Headquarters.

The project was initiated with a gift from Dr. Lucy R. Waletsky, chair of the New York State Council of Parks, who stipulated that the project use sustainable, green building practices and become LEED certified. In order to retain the proportions of the 1930 school, the wide corridors were retained and glass walls were inserted in former classrooms to divide the work spaces and allow the distribution of natural light. On the exterior, instead of separating the accessible entrance from the main door, a &#8220universally accessible&#8221 entry was created by redesigning the building site and locating the main entrance at the former rear of the building. This approach also avoided alterations to the stately, historic facade which was restored.

The State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), which is part of the Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, helps communities identify, recognize, and preserve their historic resources, and incorporate them into local improvement and economic development activities. The SHPO administers several programs including the state and federal historic rehabilitation tax credit program, state historic preservation grants, the Certified Local Government program, and the New York State and National Registers of Historic Places, which are the official lists of properties significant in the history, architecture, and archeology of the state and nation.

The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation oversees 178 state parks and 35 historic sites.. For more information on any of these recreation areas, call 518-474-0456 or visit www.nysparks.com.

Historic Districts Councils NYC Preservation Priorities

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The Historic Districts Council, New York’s city-wide advocate for historic buildings and neighborhoods, has announced it’s first Six to Celebrate, a list of historic New York City neighborhoods that merit preservation attention. This is New York’s only citywide list of preservation priorities.

The Six were chosen from applications submitted by neighborhood groups around the city on the basis of the architectural and historic merit of the area- the level of threat to the neighborhood- strength and willingness of the local advocates, and where HDC’s citywide preservation perspective and assistance could be the most meaningful. Throughout 2011, HDC will work with these neighborhood partners to set and reach preservation goals through strategic planning, advocacy, outreach, programs and publicity.

“Neighborhoods throughout New York are fighting an unseen struggle to determine their own futures. By bringing these locally-driven neighborhood preservation efforts into the spotlight, HDC hopes to focus New Yorker’s attention on the very real threats that historic communities throughout the city are facing from indiscriminate and inappropriate development.” said Simeon Bankoff, HDC’s Executive Director. “As the first list of its kind in New York, the Six to Celebrate will help raise awareness of local efforts to save neighborhoods on a citywide level.”

Founded in 1971 as a coalition of community groups from New York City’s designated historic districts, the Historic Districts Council has grown to become one of the foremost citywide voices for historic preservation. Serving a network of over 500 neighborhood-based community groups in all five boroughs, HDC strives to protect, preserve and enhance New York City’s historic buildings and neighborhoods through ongoing programs of advocacy, community development and education.

The 2011 Six to Celebrate (in alphabetical order):

Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
The Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood contains an astonishing number of architecturally, historically and culturally significant structures, including rowhouses, mansions, religious buildings, and schools dating from the 19th and early 20th centuries. Although there are currently two designated historic districts in the area, the vast majority of Bedford Stuyvesant’s architectural splendor is unprotected. The recently-formed Bedford Stuyvesant Society for Historic Preservation, a coalition of concerned neighborhood block associations, and the landmarks committee of Brooklyn Community Board 3 are working to correct that.

The Bowery, Manhattan
One of Manhattan’s oldest thoroughfares, the Bowery, stretching from Cooper Square to Canal Street, has a fascinatingly rich history which has left an equally rich built environment. From a fashionable shopping and residential neighborhood at the end of the 18th century, to bustling center of drygoods, hardware and other specialty stores, to an entertainment mecca and later the notorious “skid row” in the 20th century, the Bowery was always a part of the city’s culture, for better or for worse. In recent years,, the mix of historic structures along the street has been extremely threatened by high-rise hotel development. The Bowery Alliance of Neighbors was formed to help save the remaining historic buildings on the Bowery and to celebrate the avenue’s interesting and important history.

Gowanus, Brooklyn
The Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus nominated the neighborhood surrounding the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn. This unique area retains its largely industrial character, with some of the businesses dating back more than 75 years. In recent years, plans for the canal have conflicted with the existing character of the neighborhood and some significant industrial structures have been demolished for out-of-scale, speculative development. However, with the canal’s recent designation as a federal Superfund site, there is now an opportunity to successfully advocate for the preservation of the industrial character of the area and retention of significant structures associated with this history.

Inwood, Manhattan
Inwood, at the very northern tip of Manhattan, combines striking geography of hills and views with notable architecture that includes art-deco apartment building, Tudor Revival houses, and unique elements such as the 215th Street Steps, the Seaman-Drake Arch and the historic Isham Park. Despite this, very little of the neighborhood’s historic buildings are protected or even official acknowledged. The Volunteers for Isham Park is working to identify and protect the neighborhood’s landmarks.

Jackson Heights, Queens
Jackson Heights is New York City’s first planned neighborhood of “garden apartments” and “garden homes”. These airy, light-filled residences, combined with commercial, institutional and recreational buildings, provided an attractive environment for middle-class families to live when it was developed in the early 20th century, and it still does today. The Jackson Heights Beautification Group, established in 1988, is seeking to extend the boundaries of the existing Jackson Heights Historic District, landmarked in 1993, to better reflect and protect the actual historic neighborhood.

Mount Morris Park, Manhattan
The residential area adjacent surrounding Mount Morris Park in Harlem includes elegant rowhouses and larger apartment buildings from the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Romanesque Revival, neo-Grec and Queen Anne styles. The longtime civic group, the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association, is seeking to expand the boundaries of the current city-landmarked Historic District, which does not adequately represent the elegant architect of this Harlem neighborhood.

Brooklyn Museum January Public Programs

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During January the Brooklyn Museum will present a variety of public programs for adults, including a new series of programs that will take place every Thursday at 7 p.m. (during the Museum’s new extended hours), a performance by the Brooklyn Philharmonic, a panel discussion about the sexual exploitation of women farmworkers in America, and a screening of the independent film Good Fortune.

As a component of this series, the Museum is partnering with the Nuyorican Poets Cafe and PBS’s award-winning independent film showcase POV. The Nuyorican Poets Cafe will present poetry and performance every third Thursday of the month and POV will present Brooklyn-related films every fourth Thursday.

PERFORMING ARTS & FILM

Music Off The Walls: The Brooklyn Philharmonic
Sunday, January 23, 2 p.m.
In a program entitled &#8220Falling Apart and Coming Together,&#8221 members of the Philharmonic present the world premiere of a work by composer Corey Dargel inspired by the exhibition Body Parts: Ancient Egyptian Fragments and Amulets. A related gallery talk precedes the program at 1 p.m. Tickets are $15- $10 for members, students, and seniors. To purchase tickets, visit www.brooklynphilharmonic.org or call (718) 488-5913.

TALKS & TOURS

Lecture: Farmworkers in America
Saturday, January 22, 2 p.m.
Monica Ramirez, Senior Staff Attorney and Project Director of Esperanza, the Immigrant Women’s Legal Initiative of the Southern Poverty Law Center, discusses the state of American farmworkers, with an in-depth look at the economic and sexual exploitation suffered by farmworker women.

NEW THURSDAY EVENING PROGRAMS

January 6
&#8220You Must See This&#8221 Tour:
Norman Rockwell’s artistic process.

January 13
Conversation
Noted cultural thinkers and media theorists Douglas Rushkoff, author of Program or Be Programmed- and Steven Berlin Johnson, author of Where Good Ideas Come From, discuss technical innovation. A book signing follows.

Visitor’s Choice Tour
Visitors choose the objects they want to see.

January 20
Nuyorican Poets Cafe
First installment in the Museum’s partnership with acclaimed forum for innovative poetry features poetry and performances by muMs and Aurora, Carlos Andres Gomez, and others.

Hidden Secrets of the Brooklyn Museum Collection
&#8220Inside the Museum’s Mummies: The CT Scanning Project,&#8221 with curator Edward Bleiberg.

Erotic Art Tour
&#8220Erotic Art through the Ages&#8221

January 27
POV Independent Film
Good Fortune (Landon Van Soest and Jeremy Levine, 2010, 90 min.). Provocative exploration of how massive international efforts to alleviate poverty in Africa may be undermining the communities they aim to benefit. The event is a collaboration with the award-wining documentary series POV. (www.pbs.org/pov).

CLASSES & WORKSHOPS

Creative Art Making: Collage with Maura Madden
Saturday, January 15, 2 p.m.
Maura Madden, author of Crafternoon: A Guide to Getting Artsy and Crafty with Your Friends All Year Long, leads a workshop in how to make creative collage pieces inspired by Norman Rockwell. There is a $15 materials fee, and registration is required. Register at www.museumtix.com or at the Museum’s Visitor Center. A limited number of free tickets are reserved for Museum members on a first-come, first-served basis. Members should call (718) 501-6326 for tickets.

Photo: Carlos Andres Gomez. Photo courtesy Nuyorican Poets Cafe

JAY-Z to Appear at Brooklyn Museum

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In a rare interview, multi-platinum, 10-time Grammy Award-winning artist and icon JAY-Z will speak with Charlie Rose, executive editor and anchor of the Charlie Rose Show, before a live audience in the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Auditorium at the Brooklyn Museum on Thursday, November 18, at 7 p.m. The conversation, which will be taped to air nationwide at a later date on the Charlie Rose program, will focus on JAY-Z’s book DECODED, to be published on November 16 by Spiegel & Grau, a Random House imprint. DECODED recounts JAY-Z’s life from his childhood in Brooklyn’s Marcy housing projects to becoming a world-famous performer and songwriter, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.

Tickets to the event will go on sale TODAY, Wednesday, November 10, at noon. They may be purchased online at www.museumtix.com (two-ticket purchase limit for this program) or at the Brooklyn Museum Visitor Center in person. Ticket prices are $50 for the general public, older adults, and students and $45 for Brooklyn Museum Members. Become a member at www.brookklynmuseum.org/support/membership_plans.php. Ticket price includes a copy of DECODED by JAY-Z that will be provided to the patron upon admission to the program the night of the event.

Printouts of tickets will not be accepted. Patrons must check in at the will-call desk (the night of the event) at the Brooklyn Museum to receive hard copies of their tickets and must provide ID matching the name on the ticket. There will be no standby line for this event.

Decoded Book Cover In his conversation with Charlie Rose, JAY-Z will speak candidly about his journey from drug dealing to becoming one of the best known hip-hop artists of his time. He will explore issues that informed him and his songwriting, including how visual art and poetry influenced his craft, how he became involved in politics and business, and how he managed to stay true to himself in the midst of extraordinary fame.

&#8220When I first started working on this book, I told my editor that I wanted to do three important things. The first was to make the case that hip-hop lyrics-not just my lyrics, but those of every great MC-are poetry, if you look at them closely enough. The second was that I wanted the book to tell a little bit of the story of my generation, to show the context for the choices we made at a violent and chaotic crossroads in recent history. And the third piece was that I wanted the book to show how hip-hop created a way to take a very specific and powerful experience and turn it into a story that everyone in the world could feel and relate to.&#8221&#8211JAY-Z from DECODED

Brooklyn Museum Offers Nov-Dec Adult Programs

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During November and December the Brooklyn Museum will present a variety of public programs for adults including a new series of Talks and Tours to take place on Thursdays at 7 p.m., as part of the Museum’s newly expanded hours, as well as performances by the Brooklyn Philharmonic and Brooklyn-based jazz pianist Randy Weston, a panel discussion about young women and feminism, and an artist talk with Fred Tomaselli.

PERFORMING ARTS & FILM

Music Off The Walls: Resonant Snapshots
Sunday, November 21, 2-4 p.m.
Concertmaster Deborah Buck and pianist Molly Morkowski present music by Scott Joplin, Charles Ives, and John Corigliano in conjunction with the special exhibition Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera. A related gallery talk precedes the program at 1 p.m. Tickets are $15- $10 for Members, students, and seniors. To purchase tickets, visit www.brooklynphilharmonic.org or call (718) 488-5913.

Music: Randy Weston Trio with Ayanda Clarke
Sunday, December 12, 3-5 p.m.
Pianist Randy Weston, bassist Alex Blake, and percussionist Neil Clarke are joined by soprano saxophonist T.K. Blue, tenor saxophonist Billy Harper, narrator Kim Weston Moran, and special guest percussionist Ayanda Clarke. Weston signs copies of his recently released autobiography, African Rhythms, after the concert. Tickets, which include Museum admission, are $15 and can be purchased at www.museumtix.com or in person at the Museum’s Visitor Center. The concert is co-presented by the Museum and the Brooklyn Arts Council (BAC) as part of BAC’s year-long initiative &#8220Black Brooklyn Renaissance: Black Arts & Culture, 1960-2010.&#8221

TALKS & TOURS

Tour: &#8220Seeing Power in Art&#8221 NEW
Thursday, November 11, 7 p.m.

Lecture: Fred Tomaselli
Friday, November 12, 2 p.m. The artist shares insights about his working process and exhibition.

Panel Discussion: &#8220The Art of Activism: Women Civil Rights Veterans Tell Their Stories&#8221
Sunday, November 14, 2 p.m.
A panel made up of the editors of Hands on the Freedom Plow: Personal Accounts by Women in SNCC discusses the book. Feminist historian Debra Schultz moderates. A book signing follows.

Conversation and Book Signing: The Four Fingers of Death by Rick Moody
Saturday, November 20, 3 p.m.
Moody discusses his new novel with artist Fred Tomaselli. A book signing follows.

Tour: Chief Curator’s Pick NEW
Thursday, Dec 2, 7 p.m.
Chief Curator Kevin Stayton chooses and discusses objects from the collection.

Tour: &#8220Seeing Two Dutch Houses&#8221 NEW
Thursday, December 2, 7 p.m.

Tour: &#8220Seeing Brooklyn’s Masterpieces&#8221 NEW
Thursday, December 9, 7 p.m.

Panel Discussion: Young Women and Feminism
Saturday, December 11, 2 p.m.
Courtney Martin, co-editor of the anthology Click: When We Knew We Were Feminists, leads a panel of young women in a discussion of how they discovered feminism.

Tour: &#8220Seeing Royal Benin Bronzes&#8221 NEW
Thursday, December 16, 7 p.m.

Tour: &#8220Seeing 4,000 years of Japanese Ceramics&#8221 NEW
Thursday, December 23, 7 p.m.

Tour: &#8220Seeing Water&#8221 NEW
Thursday, December 30, 7 p.m.

CLASSES & WORKSHOPS

Creative Art Making: Soft Sculpture
Saturday, November 20, 2 p.m. The Girlie Show leads a workshop for adults on how to create a soft sculpturel using pop culture images of women. There is a $15 materials fee, and registration is required. Register at www.museumtix.com or at the Museum’s Visitor Center. A limited number of free tickets are reserved for Museum Members on a first-come, first-served basis. Members should call (718) 501-6326 for tickets.

Follow the Brooklyn Museum’s Press Office on Twitter at BklynMuseumNews.

Photo: Randy Weston. Photo by Ariane Smolderen

Museum Seeks Pre-1945 African American Art

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The Brooklyn Museum is inaugurating a new collecting initiative that will focus on the acquisition of works by African American artists that were created between the mid-nineteenth century and 1945. In the first three years, the Museum is seeking to raise a minimum of $500,000 for this ongoing dedicated purchase fund, together with gifts of works of art. The project has already received $100,000, with an additional $100,000 to be given as a matching grant, from Museum Trustee Saundra Williams-Cornwell and her husband, Don Cornwell. Additionally, the promised gift of a major painting, Dream of Arcadia after Thomas Cole (1852) by Robert S. Duncanson, has been given by Museum Trustee Charlynn Goins and her husband, Dr. Warren Goins. Ms. Cornwell and Ms. Goins are both initiators of the project, along with former Trustee Tracey G. Riese.

Additional funds, which will go toward matching the Cornwell’s contribution, will be raised through a benefit dinner to take place on January 19, 2011, from 7 until 10 p.m. at the studio of Brooklyn-based artist Mickalene Thomas. This event is being guided by a steering committee chaired by Ms. Cornwell, Ms. Goins, and Ms. Riese. Individual tickets range from $500 to $1,000, and tables are available from $5,000 to $15,000. Introductory events for this newly initiated purchase fund took place this past February at the Swann Auction Galleries in New York, followed several weeks later by a dinner at the home of Museum Director Arnold L. Lehman and Pamela Lehman.

&#8220This important new collecting initiative signals a deeper commitment by the Brooklyn Museum in building collections that are distinguished by the diversity of the artists represented. It will expand and enrich the Museum’s exceptional holdings of American art and will parallel what is already under way with our contemporary holdings. We are enormously grateful for the exceptionally generous gifts from our Trustees that will inaugurate this important undertaking,&#8221 states Arnold Lehman.

&#8220The purchases and gifts made possible by this project will take their place in our current presentation of one of the largest and most important collections of historic American art in the United States and will allow us to celebrate more fully the long and rich tradition of African American artistic production,&#8221 states Teresa A. Carbone, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of American Art and Managing Curator, Arts of the Americas and Europe. Dr. Carbone has worked closely with the steering committee on the implementation of the project.

During the past decade the Brooklyn Museum has significantly increased its holdings of works by contemporary African American artists, including Nina Chanel Abney, Nick Cave, Robert Colescott, Renee Cox, Rashid Johnson, Rashaad Newsome, Lorraine O’Grady, Adrian Piper, Michael Richards, Lorna Simpson, Shinique Smith, Mickalene Thomas, Hank Willis Thomas, Kara Walker, Kehinde Wiley, Fred Wilson, and Hale Woodruff.

Since 1940, when the Brooklyn Museum was the New York venue for the landmark exhibition The Negro Artist Comes of Age, the Museum has actively sought to showcase the work of African American artists. The Museum has also presented landmark survey exhibitions including Two Centuries of Black American Art (1977), Black Folk Art in America (1982), Facing History: The Black Image in American Art, 1710-1940 (1990), Alone in a Crowd: Prints of the 1930s and 1940s by African-American Artists (1996), and Committed to the Image: Contemporary Black Photographers (2001).

Beginning in the 1960s, the Museum has also presented several monographic exhibitions by black artists, among them Jacob Lawrence (1960 and 1987), James Van Der Zee (1978), Romare Bearden (1982), Martin Puryear (1988), Glen Ligon (1996), Kerry James Marshall (1998), Kehinde Wiley (2004), Jean-Michel Basquiat (2005), and Aminah Brenda Lynn Robinson (2006).

About the Leadership

· Saundra Williams-Cornwell, a Brooklyn Museum Trustee since 2003, practiced law in New York for a decade. She has served on the boards of the Manhattan Theater Club, the Continuum Health Partners, and the Brooklyn Heights Association. She is a Chair of the Community Investment Committee of the Board of the United Way of New York City. She and her husband collect twentieth-century African American Art.

· After a career in the financial-services industry, Charlynn Goins, a Brooklyn Museum Trustee since 2003, is also the Chairman of the New York Community Trust. She is an independent trustee of New York Life Insurance Company’s Mainstay Funds and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. She is a graduate of Barnard College and Columbia Law School. Ms. Goins and her husband collect African American art, with a focus on nineteenth-century paintings.

· Tracy Riese is founder and president of T.G. Riese & Associates, Ltd., a branding and communication consultancy serving public and private organizations. She previously held positions at Revlon, RJR Nabisco, Chemical Bank, Young & Rubicam, Burson- Marsteller, and Sotheby’s, where she helped form their corporate art advisory service. She is currently on the boards of A Better Chance, the Hunter College Foundation, and of El Museo del Barrio. She and her husband live in Manhattan and collect contemporary art and twentieth-century furniture and design.

Illustration: Robert S. Duncanson (American, 1821-1872). Dream of Arcadia after Thomas Cole, circa 1852. Oil on canvas, 24 X 42 inches. Charlynn and Warren Goins, promised gift to the Brooklyn Museum.

Brooklyn Museum Announces Major Change in Hours

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Beginning Wednesday, October 6, the Brooklyn Museum will open to the public eight additional hours a week, including remaining open until 10 p.m. every Thursday and Friday. When the new schedule goes into effect, the Brooklyn Museum will have a greater number of evening hours than almost any other New York City museum. Despite the challenging economic climate, the enhanced public hours will be implemented following an exhaustive year-long analysis of how the Museum’s public hours might be reorganized to more effectively meet the current needs of its audience.

Chairman of the Museum Board of Trustees Norman M. Feinberg states, &#8220The Board believes that the previous hours did not appropriately address the changing needs of its community. We are delighted, through this reorganization, to far better serve our visitors.&#8221

In announcing the expanded hours, Brooklyn Museum Director Arnold L. Lehman comments, &#8220This important and positive change is an institutional priority that will enable us to better serve a twenty-first century audience by providing greater access for visitors who work during the day, for families, as well as for those who prefer to visit weekday evenings.&#8221

Under the new plan, the Brooklyn Museum will open each day at 11 a.m. On Wednesdays, it will remain open until 6 p.m. and on Thursdays and Fridays until 10 p.m. Weekend hours, from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m., remain the same. The Museum will continue to present Target First Saturdays, its popular free evening of art and entertainment, when it remains open until 11 p.m. the first Saturday of each month except September. School groups will continue to be admitted at 10 a.m. on weekdays for guided visits by reservation.

Admission during the new hours, with the exception of Target First Saturdays, will remain at a suggested admission price of $10 and $6 for older adults and students with valid I. D. Members and children under 12 continue to receive free admission.

Existing staff hours, particularly those of the security team, have been rescheduled. The Museum Cafe, which is managed by Restaurant Associates, will offer dinner options as well as light snacks and beverages, including wine and beer, in the Rubin Pavilion.

Brooklyn Museum Announces Visitor-Curated Event

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For the first time the Brooklyn Museum is inviting visitors to get directly involved in choosing the programs that will be presented at its popular First Saturdays event. From July 1 to 31, members of the public may log on to www.brooklynmuseum.org and nominate performers, musicians, films, books, and DJs that they would like to see featured at the October 2, 2010, First Saturday.

Nominees should relate to the exhibition Extended Family: Contemporary Connections, an exhibition that embraces the shared values and diversity of contemporary Brooklyn. At the end of the one-month nomination period, the Museum’s First Saturday committee will narrow down the nominees in each category based on relevance to the theme and artist availability. Voting by the public will take place August 1 to 15. The winners will be announced after August 15.

First Saturdays are sponsored by Target and made possible by the Wallace Foundation Community Programs Fund, established by the Wallace Foundation with additional support from DLA Piper US LLP, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, The Ellis A. Gimbel Trust, National Grid, and other donors.

Brooklyn Museum to Host Annual Brooklyn Ball

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The Brooklyn Museum will celebrate the major exhibition &#8220American High Style: Fashioning a National Collection&#8221 and the landmark collection-sharing partnership between Brooklyn and the Metropolitan Museum of Art at its annual gala, the Brooklyn Ball, on Thursday evening, April 22, 2010.

The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with cocktails and hors d’ oeuvres in the Morris A. and Meyer Schapiro Wing on the fifth floor and an exclusive opportunity to preview American High Style. Featuring some eighty-five masterworks from the newly established Brooklyn Museum Costume Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the exhibition traces the evolution of fashion in America from its nineteenth-century European beginnings through the twentieth century. It marks the first time in more than two decades that a large-scale survey drawn from this preeminent collection will be on public view.

Included in the exhibition will be creations by such legendary American designers as Charles James, Norman Norell, and Gilbert Adrian- works by influential French designers including Charles Frederick Worth, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jeanne Lanvin, Givenchy, and Christian Dior- and works by such first-generation American women designers as Bonnie Cashin, Elizabeth Hawes, and Claire McCardell. Among the objects presented will be Schiaparelli’s Surrealist Insect Necklace, considered by experts to be one of the most important works in the collection- elaborate ball gowns and day wear by Charles James- evening ensembles by Yves Saint Laurent, Halston, Scaasi, and Mainbocher- street wear by mid-twentieth-century designers Vera Maxwell, Claire McCardell, and Elizabeth Hawes- a group of hats by celebrated milliner Sally Victor- and dazzling evening wear by Norman Norell.

The Brooklyn Museum’s groundbreaking collection-sharing partnership with the Metropolitan Museum of Art went in to effect in January 2009. At that time Brooklyn’s renowned costume collection of 23,500 objects, acquired over the course of a century, was transferred to the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it is fully integrated into the Institute’s program of exhibitions, publications, and education initiatives and remains available for exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.

Co-chairs for this year’s Ball celebrating American High Style include chef and restaurateur Mario Batali and his wife Susan Cahn, European Editor-at-Large for Vogue Hamish Bowles, New York Times Style Editor Stefano Tonchi, Museum Trustee Stephanie Ingrassia, decorative arts specialist and educator Susan Weber, photographer Annie Leibovitz, fashion designer Zac Posen, and collector Carla Shen.

An interactive dining experience, designed by Jennifer Rubell, whom New York Times senior critic Roberta Smith credits with &#8220laying waste to the prolonged ordeal that is the benefit dining experience,&#8221 will begin at 8 p.m. in the magnificent Beaux-Arts Court on the third floor. The interactive food journey through the Museum is titled Icons and includes drinking paintings, suspended melting cheese heads, and a larger-than-life dessert surprise. A hybrid of performance and installation art, Rubell’s food projects deconstruct the ritual of the meal and are often of monumental scale.

During the evening, the Brooklyn Museum will honor the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and former Mellon Program Officer Angelica Rudenstine. Donald Randel, Mellon Foundation president, will accept the Museum’s highest honor, the Augustus Graham Medal, on their behalf.

Immediately following the Ball, the Museum will host High Style: The After Party in the Martha A. and Robert S. Rubin Pavilion. The festivities will feature artists’ fashions and dancing to live music.

Tickets to the Ball range from $500 to $1,500, and tables are available from $5,000 to $50,000. All tickets to the Ball include admission to High Style: The After Party. Tickets to the after party start at $75. Tickets may be purchased online through Monday, April 19. You may also download, print, and complete a ticket request form and send it by fax to (718) 501-6139. Further information about ticket options and table purchases is available by e-mailing [email protected] or by phoning (718) 501-6423. Proceeds from the event will support the Museum’s public and education programs.

The Augustus Graham Medal is being presented to the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in recognition of its outstanding support of the Brooklyn Museum, including funding for the survey of the costume collection and the endowment of curatorial positions at the Museum. Through the foundation’s generosity, the first complete inventory, collection review, digital photography, and cataloguing of the Museum’s holdings of approximately 23,500 American and European costumes and accessories has been completed. More than 5,800 of the most important works are now available to scholars, students, and the public through ARTstor, an innovative online initiative of the Mellon Foundation that provides access to curated collections of art images and associated data for noncommercial, scholarly, and not-for-profit educational use.

The Augustus Graham Medal is named after one of the founders of the Brooklyn Apprentices Library in 1823. That institution, which Graham nurtured and expanded, grew into the Brooklyn Institute and later became the Brooklyn Museum.