#bax25

Dear Friends,

It’s been almost two months since our BIG GALA celebrating 25 years of our ARTIST IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM. I am still delighting in what I saw, what I heard & who joined us to celebrate. Every day at BAX there are human stories, artistic insights, learning & sharing happening in small and large ways.

Right now we are in the midst of our BIGGEST FUNDRAISING CAMPAIGN EVER. I won’t use this letter to repeat what we are saying on a variety of platforms but I thought I would share some press with you about what OTHERS are saying about BAX!

bax.org/homepage/press

AND YES PLEASE CONTRIBUTE!!!

Best wishes to you all,

“Here are some of the reasons why:

[BAX] values diversity – it doesn’t pay lip service or has followed the fad of late. It has always been diverse in the true sense of the word – racially, culturally, sexual orientation, gender identification, age and aesthetic traditions.  BAX reflects its community. It’s a safe space – Anyone who crosses the BAX threshold is valued for who you are and for your ideas – the message is - YOU CAN BE YOU Provides a support system in deep and meaningful ways for artists, faculty, students, staff and volunteers. It’s an exchange – of ideas, disciplines - it values process over the end product that allows for this exchange.  The exchange includes local, national and international artists in dialogue with community residents in a diverse range of ways, often designed by the participants themselves. And, as one writer said, “BAX made sure that one person would never speak for everyone.”

One true sign of a real community grounded organization is that it's community feels a sense of ownership.

You, as part of the BAX family really do own it as demonstrated by the artist who continue to return to their BAX home. BAX reflects its leader – Marya BAX is grounded in its vision, committed, courageous - it's generous, honest, authentic, inspiring and nurturing.

Marya as one writer noted – is a pragmatic earth mother and her family, the BAX family extends far and wide. Thank you Marya - I am grateful to be part of the BAX family.”

-- Mikki Shepard,  Executive Producer of The Apollo Theater from 2009 – 2016, Founder and Executive Producer of 651Arts.

“Marya, you are a founder and you redefine the term. I am a founder and I look to you to learn about what you built, how you built it and what you will leave behind when you go and how you do it all with love, care and great organizational skills. For over 25 years BAX, under your leadership, has let the needs of performing artists serve as the foundation for programming that has helped to define its local community and the City as a haven, a sanctuary or creative and critical thinking and doing.”

Photo by Maria Baranova

Thank you so much Mikki and Sheila (Mikki Shepard and Sheila Lewandowski ) and Thank you to everyone for joining us. It’s exciting to see all the current AIR’s, so many former ones, our staff, our board, our friends and supporters in one room!

It’s been quite a road to get to tonight. If you know me, you know that I’ve been doing quite a bit of reflection and while reflection is rewarding and informative it also brings you to unexpected places. Over the past number of months walking to BAX, or walking in the park, or in speaking with others, I believe that I’ve thought about each and every artist who has ever been in residence or been part of BAX.  I’ve reflected on 25 years of memories, of break downs and break throughs and I am more grateful that I could have ever imagined for all of it.

Twenty seven years ago, when I started this organization I was 39 years old. I had two young children, and the performance world was largely in Manhattan. I was NOT. And so BAX got born, but the idea for BAX and the AIR started a long time before that.

I have come to understand that I was standing on the shoulders of my dance teachers, specifically Aileen Passloff and June Finch. They believed in me and taught me to say yes- what I mean is NOT- yes but... or yes but not now . JUST YES... They taught me about how all the singular, seemingly unimportant moments add up to developing a practice, , to making room for new ideas and new people. They refused to let me get in my own way.  So that’s what I brought to the table when I invited George Emilio Sanchez and Reggie Wilson and then Dean Moss and Martha Bowers to be in residence. That’s what’s behind this program. That’s what all these relationships are born from.

So in a changing Brooklyn, in a changing city, in a complicated world.. those relationships are still my guide. AIR’s have deeply influenced all of who I am and all of what BAX is! My ideas and experiences of gender, race, power,  point of view, biases and aesthetics have been deeply influenced and expanded upon . Every AIR cohort has had a distinct personality and vibe and both Individual artists and groups have made such significant impact. I am deeply grateful for the tears, and the hugs, the excitement and the joy,  the transformations and the honesty that make up all these years. It is of special note to me that so many artists have developed extraordinary projects at BAX , and have found a home with us , including Ballez, Needing It, Dancing While Black & Dance to the People to name just a few. And I can honestly say that every year, I have fallen in love with atleast one new piece.  How many people can say that? I am really lucky, I love my work.

And in return it Is gratifying to hear from artists that their time as AIR’s and my relationship to them and their work and lives has made a difference.

There are a few special thank you’s I’d like to make that stand out for me.

To Dean Moss, who has trusted me to partner in  so many adventures and gives the best hugs in the universe.

To Nia Love and Abby Browde who as artist advisors have brought so much to the program and to me.

To my love and my partner Jane-Cole Raftery who’s language I steal, who’s insights are invaluable and who I can always count on.

And to Vanessa Adato who I have worked with every day for the past seventeen years and I cannot imagine having done this otherwise.

So it may seem an unnatural segway that tonight I am announcing that at the end of this calendar year December 31, I will retire from BAX.  I am leaving to try and give myself and those in my life a kind of less structured flexibility that will lead to “who knows”? What I will leave is a strong and vibrant organization with a powerful and skilled staff, a strong and committed Board, beautifully developed programs, a community of artists & students, and a promising future.  My legacy is that future. It is who else will lead, who else will create, who else will sustain. BAX has a wonderful and rich next chapter ahead of it and due to the deep support of so many of you in this room I know will continue to provide for generations to come.

Dear Friends,

Before we continue, we want to thank ALL of you who joined us at the GALA on March 25th, and celebrated 25 years of our Artists-In-Residence Program & our Founding Executive Director Marya Warshaw. For those of you who were not in attendance, we want to share that Marya announced her plans to retire at the end of 2018. She shared with the audience, filled with people from all parts of BAX's history, that after what will be almost 28 years, she is leaving to try and give herself and those in her life a kind of less structured flexibility that will lead to "who knows"? (Sounds a lot like the questions she asks of our AIR artists year after year!) The BAX staff & board have been working over a number of months and we are now making this public announcement. We know this is NOT a simple change or transition for BAX. However, it also represents the ushering in of a new era with great promise.

Marya shared with the audience that she has a huge amount of confidence in BAX - a strong and vibrant organization with a powerful and skilled staff, a strong and committed Board, beautifully developed programs, a community of artists & students, and a promising future. Over the next few months we will be meeting with groups of artists, parents & staff to think and plan.

We are also excited to share that we are honoring Marya as a visionary leader, by establishing THE MARYA WARSHAW FUND FOR THE FUTURE. A generous donor provided a $5,000 contribution as a start to this effort which was enthusiastically matched in two hours last night!!!

We look forward to sharing more about the fund and BAX's plans. Here is the link to support us at this critical juncture.

DONATE

ONWARD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dear Friends,

It was still light out yesterday at 6:00 p.m.!! Winter will be over soon and I look forward to being outside more comfortably. 

On February 10-11, BAX had the remarkable ARTIST SERVICES WEEKEND. We’re glad so many of you could be here to attend workshops and panels and see what our Artists in Residence (AIR) are up to. We are now going into application and panel mode, inviting new proposals and eventually inviting a group of artists to claim BAX as their home in the 2018/19 season.

As we round out this season, I want to extend an invitation to each of you to join me for the rest of this season’s performances events.bax.org/2017-18-performance-season.

I’ve been thinking a lot these days about the commitment we make at BAX to developing artists of all ages and stages. I am grateful for the opportunities to see that evidenced at YOUTHWORKS, at the OPEN STUDIOS, and at our partner school PS146/BNS. We place value on what each artist names as important and meet them where they are in the process, working with artists to provide the right support at the right time. If you’d like to know more about that, just ask me!!!

In the rest of this BAXnews you will find a link to a conversation I had recently with AIR Maria Bauman about race equity, details about our GALA, and more! BAX is celebrating 25 years of our Artist in Residence program and my leadership of it on Sunday March 25. We hope you’ll join us! 

See ya all soon,