BAM honors three art-devotees
at intimate June 10 fundraiser
BY REYNA IWAMOTO
Art lovers fl ocked to Brooklyn
Academy of Music on June
10 for a fundraiser honoring
actor Sir Patrick Stewart,
choreographer Jawole Willa
Jo Zillar, and philanthropist
Shelby White.
The intimate event of approximately
150 guests, including
members of BAM’s leadership
board, successfully raised
$1 million to help support and
secure a future for BAM and the
art community in Brooklyn.
The honorees, selected due
to their embodiment of BAM’s
“adventurous spirit and commitment
to the arts,” gave their
respective speeches virtually.
“First of all, let me say how
honored and how delighted I
am to be receiving this distinction,”
said actor Sir Patrick
Stewart.
COURIER L 18 IFE, JULY 9-15, 2021
Although widely known for
his acting in X-Men and Star
Trek, Sir Patrick Stewart fi rst
appeared on BAM’s stage in
the Royal Shakespeare Company’s
1971 production of A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, and
again as Macbeth in 2008.
“Brooklyn, and the Brooklyn
Academy of Music has
played a signifi cant role in my
life,” Stewart said.
Jawole Willa Jo Zollar,
founder of Urban Bush
Women (UBW), began her legacy
at BAM in 1988 when her
dance group was featured in
DanceAfrica, a community celebration
centered on the dance
forms of the African Diaspora.
Since then, she has returned
to BAM numerous times with
UBW to present works that
highlighted women and the African
Diaspora experience.
“I keep thinking about my
memories of BAM and my
early times at BAM, and…being
thrilled by the…activity on
the stage,” Jo Zoller said. “The
range of artists that are available
in this community, in this
nation…in the world, are part
of the BAM family. I am happy
to be a part of that family.
Thank you for this honor.”
Shelby White, a Brooklyn
native and founding trustee
of the Leon Levy Foundation,
was honored for her work and
advocacy of the “preservation,
understanding, and expansion
of knowledge in the arts and
humanities, ancient world,
nature and gardens, neuroscience,
human rights and Jewish
culture.”
“It is a great pleasure to accept
this award on behalf of
the Leon Levy Foundation,”
White said. “BAM is one of the
most important cultural institutions
in Brooklyn. And as a
foundation that has decided we
want to support all of the cultural
institutions of our city,
this was extremely gratifying
when we were able to work
with BAM and support it.”
While the event honored
these individuals for their contributions
to the community,
the gala was also fi lled with
high-energy performances.
The Grammy-nominated
and Brooklyn-based Afrobeat
band Antibalas headlined the
gathering, marking the fi rst
live, in-person performance in
the opera house in more than a
year. Other performances included
one from co-artistic directors
at UBW Chanon Judson
and Samantha Spies, as well
as a surprise rendition of Lou
Reed’s “Perfect Day” by host
Helga Davis, accompanied by
Taylor Levine on the guitar.
As BAM continues to fi nd
ways to bring artists and audiences
together in the aftermath
of the pandemic, this
gala marked the fi rst of many
more in-person events in the
future.
BY JESSICA PARKS
The Phoenix, Coney Island’s
newest roller coaster,
opened to the public on July 1,
symbolizing the amusement
district’s rise from the ashes
after a season lost to the coronavirus
pandemic.
“We have a special day here
today to inaugurate The Phoenix
roller coaster at Deno’s
Wonder Wheel,” said Dennis
Vourderis, who owns Deno’s
Wonder Wheel Amusement
Park with his brother Steve,
at the ride’s July 1 grand opening
ceremony. “We’ve worked
very hard to get to this point.”
The Vourderis family, who
have operated Deno’s Wonder
Wheel for four generations,
kicked off the event by speaking
to the new coaster’s origin
story. It begins in 2018, when
the brothers started what
would become a year-long negotiation
to purchase a shuttered
amusement park next
door, and ends in 2021, after
the coronavirus pandemic
shut down New York City
in early 2020 and forced the
amusement district to forego
an entire summer season.
But, the red-and-yellow
roller coaster in the shadow of
the historic Wonder Wheel defi
ed the odds, and the Phoenix
is now offi cially ready to ride
— something Vourderis said
was made possible with the
support of the area’s elected offi
cials, as well as Deno’s staff.
“If it wasn’t for Tom. Jorge,
Martin, Reggie, Michael, we
would still have a mess on W.
12th street,” Vourderis said
of his team. “Thanks to their
hard work and dedication,
we’ve come very far.”
The Phoenix’s opening
comes at a time of revival in the
peninsula, as once-lost events
like the Friday fi reworks and
the Mermaid Parade are set to
return, and shops and restaurants
get back to business.
As an ode to the struggle
the amusement park and the
rest of the People’s Playground
faced, the ride’s name is meant
to signify hope, like a phoenix
rising from the ashes, Steve’s
son DJ previously told Brooklyn
Paper.
Deno’s fi rst roller coaster
was inspired by a family-thrill
coaster the family visited at
Tennessee’s Dollywood, as
they were in search of a ride
that was exciting, but that also
sported a low height requirement
to allow enjoyment for
the whole family — the amusement
park’s target audience.
Politicians and community
leaders were among those
on The Phoenix’s fi rst offi cial
ride, and area Councilmember
Mark Treyger was given
the front seat. The pol, who
represents a swath of southern
Brooklyn including the
peninsula, said he enjoyed the
ride — something he did solely
for his constituents.
“The things I do for my
district,” Treyger said with a
wind-blown look.
The second ride of the day
was to members of the public,
who were lined up down W.
12th Street in hopes of snagging
one of the morning’s free
rides — and it was worth it!
“I thought it was excellent,
I thought it was a perfect ride,
it’s very balanced, it’s family
friendly,” said Jason Ruiz,
“and it’s intense enough that
anybody could get on it and
have a good time.”
Adults and kiddos alike
enjoyed the twists and turns
of the new coaster, with pintsized
riders fi nding it a bit
more thrilling than the more
mature thrill-seekers.
“It kind of got scary when
we had to go zooooot,” said
a rider named Kadijah, who
waved her arms to show the
ride’s turns, “and then down.”
Feel the love
Phoenix roller coaster rises in Coney
BROOKLYN
High-fl ying bird
Members of Antibalas, Domenica Fossati (center), perform onstage at
BAM Gala 2021. Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images
Members of the public zoom past the Wonder Wheel while riding The
Phoenix on its opening day July 1, Photo by Paul Frangipane