#baxawards

Photos from the 2019 BAX Arts & Artists in Progress Awards

Photos from the 2019 BAX Arts & Artists in Progress Awards

Photos from the 2019 BAX Arts & Artists in Progress Awards

Photos from the 2019 BAX Arts & Artists in Progress Awards

Paloma McGregor, Artistic Director, and Vanessa Adato, Executive Director

VA: Indeed this is the ultimate Passing It On Award!  It’s a surreal moment for me to step up into this co-leadership role as executive director. I’ve been working and breathing alongside Marya for almost 20 years now and BAX is deep in my DNA as well as Marya's mentorship.

I’ve been through many transitions at BAX, of growth, of evolution, of set-backs, of triumphs.

BAX was actually the first theater I performed in after graduating from college and I’ve danced and rehearsed in the studios of BAX for many years. I was part of the move from Douglass Street in Gowanus to our home now on 5th ave here in Park Slope, when we had about 2 1/2 staff members and 5th ave looked very different than it does today. I was here when we changed our name to Brooklyn Arts Exchange (now BAX) to represent our commitment and service to the whole borough and beyond, and I was here when we expanded from one to two floors in this building to accommodate the ever expanding demand for our services. I’ve also been here through two maternity leaves and have seen my children, now middle schoolers, and my family become as deep a part of this community as I am.  

And now here we are here in this new moment.  While I represent a certain grounding of the institution from my deep history, I'm beyond excited to see what the future holds for BAX in the coming years and decades and how we will stretch and evolve and center new voices.

And I’m deeply honored to get the privilege to work alongside the incredible and visionary Paloma McGregor, as BAX's new artistic director.

PM: Thank you Vanessa. I’m excited to be developing this new leadership strategy with you, shepherding BAX into its future as well as pushing the field in ways only BAX can. And I’m excited about this, my first big public event as BAX’s AD - just a month in. This role is new, but I’m not new to BAX, or the neighborhood we call home. 15 years ago, I moved into an apartment on 5th ave between president and carroll, where I paid $450 a month for a room only as big as my double bed with no natural light. I was in the opening wait staff at Stone Park Cafe, still thriving less than a dozen blocks away. I went on to dance for six year with Urban Bush Women, whose home base is just a neighborhood away in Fort Greene. I returned to this neighborhood in 2014 as an artist in residence; in my two years as an AIR, I established the Dancing While Black Fellowship for emerging Black dance makers; created an epic solo work that spanned two floors, a stairwell and the rooftop; and I had a baby, Olamina. So, I am a testament to BAX’s commitment to the whole artist.

Artistic Director Paloma McGregor

VA: We are already in a short time feeling a deep synchronicity and together we will build upon BAX's strong mission and values of centering artists voices of all ages especially those that have been historically oppressed or marginalized.  These values are highly represented tonight by all of the awardees so it feels a very fitting to kick off this leadership transition tonight publicly.  

Throughout all the changes that BAX has endured, what hasn't changed is BAX's steadfast commitment to serving the whole artist; to being an intergenerational space that is inclusive and where children and professional artists create art under one roof;  where people truly feel at home and are radically welcomed. It's incredible to think of the many generations of students and artists that have worked in this building; that BAX is old enough now to see students come back as parents and artists and to once again become a home for them. What has kept me interested in BAX is its constant self reflection and deepening of the work of being a truly inclusive space.  In the past decade BAX‘s explicit work around anti racism and anti-oppression has been particularly bold and important  and it is deeply gratifying to come to work every day to live out your values and grow myself along with the organization.

PM: It’s not lost on me, as I take this role, that I am carrying a lot of people’s hopes with me...both folks who have called BAX home, and folks who aspire to do so. I’m the first person of color in an executive position at BAX, and the only POC on the core leadership team. So while BAX, under Marya’s leadership, has led the way in the field, there is of course work to do.

We are Marya’s successors, but I am not here to do Marya’s work. I am here to do mine. For more than a decade, my work has been to center the voices of Black artists and communities. I’ve done this as an artist and an organizer - both creative practices I’ve cultivated over a lifetime. That’s my charge here at BAX, to continue the work I’ve been doing, leading the field by creating spaces that center the visions of folks whose histories, bodies, labor and hopes have historically been marginalized. It’s a foundation of BAX’s mission. And it’s the foundation of my practice.

VA: While Paloma and I stand up here tonight as the faces of the co-leadership of BAX, I want to acknowledge that we are a staff of deep collaboration and BAX and its values and mission is superbly sheparded and embodied by some pretty remarkable individuals. Namely I want to give a big shout out to our senior leadership team, Lucia Scheckner our Education Director, Fernando Maneca our Marketing Director, and Sara Roer our Operations Manager and Events Director. I also want to acknowledge our dedicated Board of Directors who stepped up in all kinds of remarkable ways this past year and thank them for their deep commitment and support of BAX. BAX is comprised of so many individuals including support and management staff, our gifted teaching artists, resident artists, students and families all who care deeply and live out their values here at BAX everyday.

Lucia Sheckner, Education Director, and Vanessa Adato, Executive Director

Very specifically an extra big shout out to Sara Roer, tonight's Awards producer, Emma Rivera, our Technical Director and the amazing crew of volunteers tonight for keeping the drinks flowing and creating a wonderful evening.