The Executive Files: Preparing for a Princess

Conceiving, organizing, preparing, and attending galas go with the job description of the president of any arts institution. During Karen Brooks Hopkins’ 36 years at BAM—the last 16 as president—she has overseen plenty of those. And on April 28, 2015, she will preside over her last one in that capacity. BAM is putting on the Karen Gala to thank her for her tireless work in making BAM the crown jewel of a revitalized downtown Brooklyn. (It’s okay to gloat a little at galas—some would say it goes with the definition!) It will be “a gala to beat all galas,”—well, maybe except for that one time, when she held a gala for true royalty. This is her recollection of how the late Princess Diana came to BAM. (And dare we hope that someone someday will remember THIS gala as fondly?) 

Princess Diana with Harvey Lichtenstein at BAM.

by Karen Brooks Hopkins

The phone rang in the office. It was one of those gray mid-March mornings in New York when you are positive spring will never come and no one interesting will call, until it does. Anyway, the phone rang.

My secretary informed me that Brian McMaster, executive director of the Welsh National Opera, was on the line with important news from Wales. A ray of sunlight shot across the Brooklyn skyline. Perhaps… perhaps this would be the morning. This could be the call.

Briefly, to provide some historical background: We had been negotiating to bring the Welsh National Opera to New York since the summer of 1987. It takes a long time with opera, and the WNO’s production of Verdi’s Falstaff, which we hoped to bring to BAM, was large and expensive, making the negotiations extremely complex. We (BAM & WNO) had reviewed the budgets at least 500 times. It was clear the only way this project could happen was if someone like the Queen herself opened the production with a royal gala. Well, we couldn’t have the Queen, but what about the young, beautiful, and vivacious Princess of Wales, who, it turned out, was the patron of the Welsh National Opera!

This was it. This was our plan. We had to convince the Princess of Wales to say yes. If she would come, the gala to end all galas would be launched. BAM Opera, a new program initiative of the Academy would be inaugurated with her visit. Bankruptcy would be avoided. The company could come to New York. All would be well. It was a long shot. After all, how many times in history has the future Queen of England come to Brooklyn?