COURTESY BUCK ENNIS/FORBES
Karen Brooks Hopkins, the former President of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, will join the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation as a senior fellow in residence, the Foundation announced this morning.
According to its mission statement, the foundation seeks to “strengthen, promote, and, where necessary, defend the contributions of the humanities and the arts to human flourishing and to the well-being of diverse and democratic societies.” As part of the fellow position, Hopkins will write a book that will document her experiences at BAM and explore the role of the arts as part of urban revitalization.
Since 1999, Hopkins has made tremendous strides to transform BAM into one of the world’s most distinguished cultural institutions and in creating the Brooklyn Cultural District surrounding the Academy. In 2013, during her tenure, BAM received the National Medal of Arts. Katy Clark of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s replaced Hopkins when she left BAM in June after 36 years.
In addition to her work at BAM, Hopkins was notably the Chair of The Cultural Institutions Group (CIG) in 2004, and the Cultural Affairs Advisory Commission. She still currently participates as a member of the Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment Advisory Board and The Onassis Foundation.
“Mellon has never wavered in its commitment to the arts, and therefore is the perfect setting to initiate projects that hopefully raise the profile and value of our sector and its impact on humanity,” Hopkins said in a statement. She will begin working at the foundation this September, and will continue through September 2016.