Recommended Digital Arts & Education Resources for Parents

By Steven McIntosh, BAM’s Director of Education and Family Programming

While they’re not a perfect solution, I’ve come to better accept the necessity of screens as a way to maintain some of our humanity during this particularly isolating crisis, and have come to terms with the important ways they can bring the arts to families in the absence of in-person arts education and live performance. (Watching almost every aspect of my kids' lives become screen-based has helped.) With that in mind, here are a few BAM-approved selections to get you started or add to your arts resource list.

Jojo & The Pinecones—Soundtrack for Kids!

The new season of BAMkids Music Series starts on November 4 with Jojo & The Pinecones, jazz concerts for kids with swing. (And what kid doesn’t?) The concert has a theme of “Day and Night”—it wraps a kid’s daily routine around a dozen jazz standards and original songs. Call it a “soundtrack for kids” as they go through their everyday activities. Below, Joelle Lurie, the “Jojo” of the band, explains the conception and the execution of the concept.

About Last Night: Kids 20th Anniversary at BAMcinemaFest

Chloë Sevigny, Leo Fitzpatrick, Rosario Dawson, Larry Clark, and Harmony Korine. Photo: © GODLIS

Last night, members of the cast and crew of Larry Clark's controversial film Kids reunited at BAM for a special 20th Anniversary screening, part of BAMcinemaFest 2015. It was the first time in over fifteen years that Clark, writer Harmony Korine, and actors Chloë Sevigny, Rosario Dawson, and Leo Fitzpatrick, as well as many other former "kids" who appeared in the film, were in the same room together, and the first time in a while that they—and much of the audience—had watched the raw, vérité portrait of urban adolescence.

Following the screening, which featured Clark's absolutely pristine personal 35mm print of the film, critic Eric Hynes (Rolling Stone, The New York Times) led a Q&A with Clark, Korine, Sevigny, Dawson, Fitzpatrick, producer Cary Woods, and distribution executive Eamonn Bowles. Here are some excerpts from their conversation:

BAM Blog Questionnaire: A Peek at The Pop Ups

by Jessica Goldschmidt

In preparation for this Saturday's BAMkids performance, Brooklyn "kindie" rocker Jacob Stein (half of the Grammy-nominated duo The Pop Ups) offers up a little insight into the band's clever lyrics, sparkling melodies, and groovin' drum lines (not to mention The Pop Ups' passion for Silver Glitter crayons and the guiding light that is Prince).

What are some of The Pop Ups  biggest musical influences?

We listen to a lot of 80s dance music, Prince, Chromeo, Paul Simon, loved that recent Daft Punk album, and early 90s hip-hop.

You talk a lot about color in your song “Box of Crayons.” What three colors would you use to describe your music?

Jason, who sings the song, is actually color blind, so it's quite an adventure figuring out what colors are what! That said, I'd have to go with Deep Purple, Silver Glitter, and Hot Hot Pink.

You’re five and old enough to go out with Mommy

By Raphaele de Boisblanc

Jane before The Nutcracker

I am a staff member here at BAM. I’m also the mother of a five-year-old girl, Jane, and a two-year-old boy, Charles. I grew up in Paris and was lucky enough to see shows at an early age thanks to the many young audience programs that were offered by various theaters and concert halls. Performing arts have been part of my daily life thanks to my work, and when my daughter turned five (the minimum age to get into most venues in New York) I could not wait for our first outing together.

We started with Donka:A Letter to Chekhov at the BAM Harvey because I thought she would enjoy  the music, the movement, and the poetry of a nouveau cirque piece. She was scared—which at first made me ashamed of myself for taking her out—but also fascinated. At intermission she did not want to leave and we stayed til the curtain closed. The following day she asked me about the acrobats in the show. How come they didn’t hurt themselves? Were they real? Was the show real? I found her questions more challenging than I had expected, and I loved it. She forced me to think harder about what we had seen together.

BAMfamily: It's so much more than fun and games

by Jessica Goldschmidt

The BAMfamily season has officially launched. The 15th Annual BAMkids Film Festival is glimmering on the horizon like the yearly jewel of family fun it is. And amid all the kiddie-centric excitement, you might not realize the sweat, blood, and tears that go into programming a season of children’s theater, film, dance, and music. I mean, it’s just kids' stuff, right?

To use a word all-too familiar to parents the world over: No. It’s not just kids' stuff. It’s a careful process of seeking out, curating, scheduling, and presenting the best in international children’s theater.

Just ask Suzanne Youngerman, director of education and family programs and the brains behind our brand-new season of family-oriented live performance. “How do you take the BAM aesthetic and translate it into something for children?,” Suzanne asks. “I’m always looking. For years I’ve been looking, even though there hasn’t been much opportunity to actually book anything until now.”