About

Clara Wu Tsai is a businesswoman and philanthropist. She is the owner of the New York Liberty and the Brooklyn Nets and serves as Vice Chair of Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment. Wu Tsai pursues philanthropic investments across the arts, science, and social justice spaces. She was an executive producer of Into the Okavango, Blue Bayou, Unfinished Business, the 2026 Sundance Special Jury winner Bedford Park, and Bucking Fastard, directed by Werner Herzog.

Nicholas Ma is the President of Ernest Lyford LLC and an award-winning director, writer, speaker, and producer based in Brooklyn. He produced the acclaimed documentary Won't You Be My Neighbor?, about the life of Fred Rogers, and Unfinished Business on the WNBA. Most recently, he directed Leap of Faith and Mabel. His brainchild, American Revival, a "traveling festival of hope," has toured in 7 cities across the US, selling out each show.

Spike Lee is a visionary filmmaker whose iconic body of work has defined cinema and television for over three decades. An Oscar winner for Best Adapted Screenplay (BlacKkKlansman) and recipient of an Honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement, Lee's acclaimed filmography includes classics such as Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, She's Gotta Have It, alongside the landmark documentary When the Levees Broke. He operates 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks in Brooklyn, New York.

Photo By: Neil Grabowsky

Questlove is a drummer, DJ, producer, author, filmmaker, and co-founder and bandleader of The Roots, the house band for The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Beyond music, he's become one of the most celebrated documentarians of his generation: his directorial debut, Summer of Soul, about the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, won both the Academy Award and the Grammy for Best Documentary, and was followed by Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius).

Bryan Stevenson is a lawyer, social justice advocate, and founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, where he has spent decades representing death row prisoners, the wrongly convicted, and children sentenced as adults. Mr. Stevenson has argued and won multiple cases at the United States Supreme Court. He also led creation of the National Memorial for Peace and Justice and the Legacy Museum, which chronicle the legacy of slavery, lynching, and racial segregation, and the connection to mass incarceration and contemporary issues of racial bias. Mr. Stevenson is the author of the New York Times bestseller Just Mercy, which was named by Time Magazine as one of the 10 Best Books of Nonfiction for 2014 and was adapted as a major motion picture.

John Turturro is a Brooklyn-raised actor, writer, and director with one of the most distinctive careers in American film, spanning four decades from his defining collaborations with Spike Lee (Do the Right Thing, Jungle Fever) and the Coen brothers (Barton Fink, which won him Best Actor at Cannes, Miller's Crossing, The Big Lebowski) to blockbusters and acclaimed TV. He has also directed his own features, including Romance & Cigarettes and Fading Gigolo.

BAM is the home for curious people and adventurous ideas. We support artistic experimentation and champion inclusion and accessibility throughout the arts as presenter, activator, and connector.