BAMcafé

BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) is a not-for-profit performing- and cinema-arts centre founded in 1861. It appears BAM is trying to corner the market on intellectual stimulation in Downtown Brooklyn, with cutting-edge dance, theatre, film and literature. At its BAMcafé, patrons, aged 18 and older, can shimmy and mingle in the Lepercq Space—a lounge area originally created as a ballroom in 1908. Friday and Saturday nights are devoted to BAMcafé Live, which serves up free music from performers like Vernon Reid, Budos Band, King Britt and Dragons of Zynth.
On weekend nights, the BAMcafé features everything from folk and spoken word to hip-hop and world music. BAMs NextNext series emphasises performers under the age of 30, such as Carl Hancock Rux, Chocolate Genius and Antibalas, while the SistaFactory regularly puts on shows with female artists. In addition to more than 200 stage performances that BAM presents annually, BAMcafé Live puts on 75 free performances every year. If you’re more of a film buff, the centre has a four-screen cinema that shows new movies as well as repertory films.