BROOKLYN: Joseph V. Melillo announced he will leave his position as executive producer at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) in December 2018, after 34 years at the performing arts center. Melillo’s departure is part of a series of planned leadership transitions.
“My journey at BAM has been a remarkable one,” Melillo said in a statement. “I was privileged to work with some of the world’s most accomplished and inspiring artists and to nurture and support their careers. I experienced the astounding evolution of BAM and a renaissance of the borough of Brooklyn. Most rewarding was the opportunity to share a wide variety of global artistic innovation with our audiences over the course of many years.”
In 1999, Melillo and former president Karen Brooks Hopkins took over the leadership of BAM from Harvey Lichtenstein, under whom they worked for many years. Since 2015, Melillo has worked alongside president Katy Clark, planning new projects and institutional growth, and defining BAM’s role in the burgeoning Brooklyn Cultural District.
“Joe Melillo is not only a renowned and respected curator in our field, but his passion for the artists and their work is inspiring to all,” Clark said in a statement. “He conveys a great generosity of spirit and warmth for his colleagues as well, and I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him at BAM as I now embark on a search for his successor.”
Over the years, Melillo worked on such projects as The Bridge Project, a three-year series of international theatre engagements featuring a transatlantic company of actors directed by Sam Mendes and produced by BAM, The Old Vic, and Neal Street, as well as the ongoing RadioLoveFest with WNYC Radio. He also designed a cultural diplomacy program with the U.S. State Department, DanceMotion USA, in which participating American dance companies engage with international audiences in four-week-long residencies around the world.
Melillo earned a degree in English and theatre at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Conn., and an MFA in speech and drama at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He has served on the faculty of the Brooklyn College Graduate Program in Arts Management and on the boards of directors for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters (APAP) and En Garde Arts.
