Since its inception in 1861, the Brooklyn Academy of Music has become a beloved New York institution, where the music that shapes our world is celebrated.
The academy’s robust programming is recognized year after year at its annual Spring Benefit gala, which this year honored musician and artist Solange and arts producer and advocate Mikki Shephard as cultural trailblazers who embody BAM’s core mission. The 2024 benefit was held at the academy’s Peter Jay Sharp Building, where guests came together (and dined onstage!) to celebrate both Solange and Shepard for their contributions to BAM’s offerings. Throughout the evening, attendees enjoyed performances by Alva Puppet Theater, harpist and composer Nailah Hunter, and singer-songwriter Beverly Glenn-Copeland, as well as sets from DJ Bembona and Lindsay Zae Summers. Shepard has been a longtime consultant and board member for BAM, while Solange curated the sold-out Eldorado Ballroom musical series for the venue last spring, which saw artists like Kelela, the Clark Sisters, and others grace BAM’s stages.
Before accepting her honor, Solange was introduced by friend and fellow artist Toyin Ojih Odutola, who highlighted the musician’s enthusiastic love of learning (and libraries!) and how Solange navigates the world as not just a performer and creator, but also a maker of spaces where Black women specifically can thrive. In her acceptance speech—and while draped in a black sheer number from Acne Studios (plus a matching clutch from Brandon Blackwood)—the singer shared a moving message about her personal concept of joy, and even referenced her 2020 essay for Harper’s Bazaar, in which she reflected on the same theme.
“For the past few years, I’ve been so connected to this idea of building the world I wanna see, and creating artifacts as the evidence of this world's existence—whether that be composing a ballet or starting a library, designing an object, curating programming for incredible spaces like BAM, or publishing a book,” she said in the speech. “It’s been such rewarding, beautiful, and humbling work that I feel so honored and blessed to create.”
Solange went on to share an excerpt from her Bazaar essay, as a reminder to herself and gala guests that “blazing a trail or building new universes is nothing without moments of joy.”
“Most of the work I’ve made has been about knowing where you’ve been to know where you're going. Knowing who you’ve been to know who you are becoming. Going home—deep home, past homes, mother’s home, father’s home—to define home,” she read. “I had answered these questions for myself, and that felt good, but I had omitted truths that I just couldn’t stand to make a part of my home. They didn’t belong in my kitchen, or closets, or even in a shoebox under my bed. My stillness started with my body. It refused to be, to go. I’d look to moss trees asking for answers, as if they could talk back to me.”
She continued: “I heard a voice saying, ‘You deserve joy.’ Applause from my loved ones and heroes wasn’t gonna do. Another voice—a critical one—said, ‘You got a lot of nerve chasing joy and freedom when you already have so much,’ but I went for it anyway. I honored, listened, and lived.”
Bianca Betancourt is the culture editor at HarpersBAZAAR.com, where she covers all things film, TV, music, and more. When she's not writing, she loves impulsively baking a batch of cookies, re-listening to the same early-2000s pop playlist, and stalking Mariah Carey's Twitter feed.
