PHOTO: Inside the Brooklyn Academy of Music's 2026 BAM Ball

2026 BAM Ball honoring Robert Wilson and Gabriel Pizzi — Talib Kweli at the BAM Ball After Party. Getty Images for BAM

of Brooklyn Academy of Music has never been conventional, and the same is true of its highly anticipated spring benefit gala, the annual BAM Ball. Earlier this week, a culturally savvy crowd gathered in the cavernous Adam E. Max gathering space for a monochromatically outfitted evening that moved from cocktails and tap-and-repeat to a sit-down dinner and speeches and, finally, the New York premiere of Robert Wilsonhas been evaluated Moby Dick— a production that transforms Herman Melville’s saga of obsession and revenge through crisp dialogue and soaring ballads from the British singer-songwriter Anna Calvi.

The evening provided more than its share of memorable highlights, among them the tribute to the honoree Gabriel Pizziwho was praised for his leadership of BAM’s Endowment Trust and received a standing ovation. The most touching moment of the evening, however, came when the choreography Lucinda Childs accepted on behalf of the late artistic visionary Robert Wilsonrecalling in her own words how Wilson would write thank-you notes to artists and collaborators after attending opening nights. The dinner hour closed with the Watermill board chair William Campbell gala host in a collective chant: “We miss you, Bob. We love you, Bob!”

The guest list was an accurate distillation of the BAM universe—intellectually serious, artistically omniscient, and incapable of boring conversation. Political strategist Huma AbedinFounder of St. Anne’s Warehouse Susan Feldmanarchitect Charles Renfro and producer and philanthropist Fabiola Beracasa Beckman shared a room with the Grammy-nominated composer and songwriter Clyde Lawrencepoet and cultural critic Hanif Abduraqib and interdisciplinary artist Helga Davis. From the world of the theater came the director of the opera Julie Taylorchoreographers Lucinda Childs and Annie B Parsondirector Annie Dorsenactor and director Paul Lazar and Tony-nominated director, actor and musician Whitney White. The screen contingent was equally well used: Leaving work actor John Turturro, Game of Thrones former student Robert Aramayo and comedian and actor Jaboukie Young-White held their own in a space where the competition for the most interesting person present was pleasantly fierce. Fashion entrepreneur Cynthia Rowley round out this well-heeled crowd.

Until DJ time Mrs. Open started after the party (from where a surprise was created Talib Really sent the crowd into a frenzy), the evening had raised over $1.25 million in support of BAM’s mission. Not a bad night’s work.