By Dafna Linzer, ProPublica
A year ago this month, President Bush sent a letter to Chigozie Okorie, the 10-year-old son of a Nigerian-born Presbyterian minister, who was seeking a pardon for his dad. The letter, on White House stationary, didn’t acknowledge the request. Instead, Bush wrote: "Laura and I hope the coming year brings joy and peace to you and your family."

Click! A Crowd-Curated Exhibition is a photography installation that invites Brooklyn Museum's visitors, the online community, and the general public to participate in the exhibition process. The installation will be on view from June 27–August 10, 2008, at the Brooklyn Museum.

The Brooklyn Museum will be the final venue of an international tour of the first retrospective in more than twenty-five years of work by the internationally acclaimed artistic team Gilbert & George.

From the Village to Vogue: The Modernist Jewelry of Art Smith will honor the gift of twenty pieces of silver and gold jewelry created by the Brooklyn-born modernist jeweler Arthur Smith (1917–1982), primarily from Charles Russell, Smith’s companion and heir. This small exhibition will be on view at the Brooklyn Museum through May 17, 2009.

Featuring more than twenty-five rarely seen works on paper from the Brooklyn Museum’s permanent collection, this exhibition explores the impact of Japanese art on the graphic arts of America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. During this period, Americans were avidly discovering, studying, and collecting the arts of Japan.

Takashi Murakami’s monumental, platinum-clad Oval Buddha, 2007, will be exhibited in the 590 Sculpture Garden in Manhattan. This exhibition is in conjunction with the presentation of a major retrospective of his work, © MURAKAMI, at the Brooklyn Museum through July 13, 2008.

With Events Ranging from Art-Making Classes to June’s Target First Saturday Arty Facts Saturdays and Sundays, participants meet in the Rubin Lobby promptly at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Children age four to seven and accompanying adult friends explore the galleries and create art in each ninety-minute class.

During May and June the Brooklyn Museum will present an exciting array of public programs for adults, including a Japanese film series, a talk series celebrating the special exhibitions © MURAKAMI and Utagawa: Masters of the Japanese Print, 1770–1900, a concert by St. Luke’s Chamber Ensemble, and talk about Brooklyn in the time of Walt Whitman.

On Thursday, May 8 at 8pm and Friday, May 9, 2008 at 7pm AMERICAN OPERA PROJECTS (AOP) will present FIRST GLIMPSE 2008, the first public presentation of compositions developed during this season's Composers & the Voice program.

American Opera Projects, the Brooklyn-based company "known for bringing cutting-edge vocal productions to the masses" (New York Magazine), presents the world premiere professional production of Lee Hoiby's This Is The Rill Speaking on April 26 (Purchase) and April 28 (Symphony Space).

From the Village to Vogue: The Modernist Jewelry of Art Smith will honor the gift of twenty pieces of silver and gold jewelry created by the Brooklyn-born modernist jeweler Arthur Smith (1917-1982), primarily from Charles Russell, Smith’s companion and heir. This small exhibition will be on view at the Brooklyn Museum beginning May 14, 2008.

Saturdays and Sundays, participants meet in the Rubin Lobby promptly at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Children age four to seven and accompanying adult friends explore the galleries and create art in each ninety-minute class. Arty Facts offers a different program each day. During the month of April, participants will discover imaginary worlds in artworks. After observing these fantasy worlds, participants will create a work to take home. Arty Facts is made possible by the Picower Foundation.