“I’m glad to be honored, but I didn’t know it was going to be during Game 5!” Spike Lee told Vanity Fair shortly before taking the stage at the Brooklyn Academy of Music 2023 Gala. That the renowned filmmaker and ultimate Knicks fan found himself inside BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House Wednesday night, as opposed to courtside at Madison Square Garden as his team took on the Miami Heat, speaks volumes of the institution’s importance within the creative community as well as the significance of the recognition. (In a nod to the Knicks, Lee wore a blue suit with an orange tie and fedora; Air Jordan 1 Mid Knicks completed the look.)
A guest list that included Wyatt Cenac, Ezra Edelman, Gina Gershon, Ilana Glazer, Ethan Hawke, Woody McClain, and Patina Miller descended on Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood to toast Lee and his fellow honorees—musician David Byrne and longtime board member, lawyer and real estate broker Claire Wood.
“I really wanted to have a gala that felt like a big homecoming,” said BAM president Gina Duncan, who served as the arts and culture destination’s associate vice president of film from 2017–2020 and returned to take the helm following a post as producing director at the Sundance Institute. “When I was thinking about that, I was thinking about the artists that I have looked up to over time [who] really inspired my own path into the arts, and that was Spike Lee; that’s David Byrne. [They] make incredible work, but also do a lot for the community.” Acknowledging Wood was also a clear priority. “Claire Wood has been an amazing board member at BAM for the past 20 years…and as soon as I came in the door to run the film program in 2017 she was like, ‘I’m going to take care of you; I’m going to make sure that you can succeed in this space.’ So it was really important for me to shine a light on her and her contribution to the institution—I think it often goes unseen.”
Were it not for the special recognition, this could have easily been a typical Wednesday night for Byrne, who lives in New York, has performed at BAM numerous times, and is a frequent guest. “It’s part of my world,” he said backstage before dinner. “I’m going to see some Belgium dance thing on Friday night.” Of all the performances Byrne has seen at BAM, one in particular, he shared, stands out. “I have a memory that I think a lot of people won’t believe,” he said. “I came here to see the revival of Einstein on the Beach, [the] Robert Wilson and Philip Glass opera. Tom Waits was sitting in front of me, and he was singing along with Phil Glass’s music. I don’t think people would believe that. This was like 20 years ago.”
Similar nostalgia for the role BAM has played in the lives of New Yorkers emerged as a theme of the night.
“The last time I was here I was with André Leon Talley when I moderated a conversation for the release of his memoir, so for me this is always a very special place,” Tamron Hall said from the event’s purple carpet. “But it’s also one of the very first places, when I moved to New York, where I experienced the true beauty of the artistry that is Brooklyn. It’s a very sentimental place for me.” It is for Fisher Stevens and his wife and filmmaking partner, Alexis Bloom, too. “We saw Endgame with John Turturro at one of the theaters, and it was one of our first dates,” he shared, adding that the couple has lived in Brooklyn for 19 years. Another reason the pair was eager to celebrate? “We actually rent our film office from Claire Wood,” he shared.
Following remarks from Duncan, a reading by poet Hanif Abdurraqib, and an introduction from Ashley Clark—curatorial director at the Criterion Collection and BAM’s former director of film programming—Lee took the stage, commanding the mic to discuss the influence of his family and Brooklyn upbringing on his career. “We grew up in an artistic household, and we were always encouraged to be in the arts,” he said of his family. “Whereas many young people are asked, ‘How are you going to make money being a poet? A dancer? A singer? A filmmaker?’ We never got that hate from our parents,” he shared. “I’m blessed because my parents and grandparents never committed the sin of telling us you can’t do what you want to do.” Though Lee didn’t aspire to a career in film as a child—”I wanted to play second base for the New York Mets but genetics conspired,” he shared with a crowd that erupted in laughter—he traces his love of movies back to his Brooklyn childhood, when his cinephile mother “was dragging [him] to films all the time.” Lee spoke for nearly 15 minutes before slipping away to watch the rest of the game on TV. (He was spied viewing it on his phone earlier in the evening.) His parting words: “Excuse me if you see me run out, but you know where I’m going.”
Leah Faye Cooper
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