BAM to Expand Children's Programming The Brooklyn Academy of Music, known for its adventurous offerings across cultural disciplines, like "Red, black & GREEN: a blues" (a recent show about black environmentalists) and Ivo van Hove's "Roman Tragedies" (an epic created by merging three Shakespeare plays), is more than doubling its programming for children and families. The academy's roll-out of its expanded efforts will begin on Jan. 19 with a celebration that includes storytelling, poetry and puppetry workshops. A three-year campaign to raise $15 million to finance family and education programs is also in the works. The academy's ambitions include starting a film festival for teenagers as well as hosting five international theater, dance and storytelling productions. Among the coming offerings: the Canadian company Théâtre Tout à Trac's presentation of "Alice in Wonderland" on Jan. 26 and 27; the Big Screen Bash festival of films from New York filmmakers ages 13-18, on April 20 and 21; and "In the Garden," a production by Spain's Teatro Paraiso Antzerkia from Spain and Belgium's Théâtre de la Guimbarde intended for children ages 1 to 4, from May 3 to 5. The BAMkids Film Festival will also return, on Feb. 2 and 3, with 75 international feature-length films and shorts and related events. The academy's newest theater, the Richard B. Fisher building at 321 Ashland Place, will play host to many of the events. Unveiled in June, the hall is the first addition to the academy's campus since 1987. Its opening underscores the cultural renaissance in the area designated as the Downtown Brooklyn Cultural District and the academy's own efforts to attract residents of the surrounding community. The academy, which sends artists into the schools and offers after-school programs, reaches about 28,000 public-school students annually. Tickets for the BAMfamily programs are $20 or less; some programs are free. "Our mission altogether is to be the quintessential New York cultural home for artists and ideas," Karen Brooks Hopkins, the academy's president, said in a recent interview. The new building has given us a focal point that allows us to work more directly with families. We have a very robust family community in downtown Brooklyn. We have so much diversity, in terms of ethnicity and age, and this is a cohort we want.