The
Black Arts
Council
Benefit
A Night Out
with Friends
The Black Arts Council is a community of patrons, philanthropists, collectors, and art enthusiasts dedicated to the elevated visibility, access, and appreciation for art and artists of the African diaspora at The Museum of Modern Art. Founded in 1993 by Dr. Akosua Barthwell Evans, Agnes Gund, and David Rockefeller, Jr., the Black Arts Council of The Museum of Modern Art evolved from the visionary Friends of Education—a trailblazing initiative to cultivate a more reflective audience at the Museum, fund acquisitions by Black artists, support educational programming on Black art, and create opportunities for Black artists and arts professionals at MoMA.
The Black Arts Council continues its founding mission to strengthen the artistic tradition at MoMA by centering Black perspectives on modern and contemporary art that educate, inform, and elevate the canon across New York City and around the world.
Each year, the members-only programming of the Black Arts Council—from gallery talks and curatorial walk-throughs of groundbreaking exhibitions to intimate studio visits with artists, private collection visits, and more—fosters opportunities for Black artists and their work and illustrates this community’s unique ability to convene and champion artists of African descent at The Museum of Modern Art.
Sherrilyn Ifill is a renowned scholar and civil rights lawyer who led the nation’s premier civil rights legal organization, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund (LDF) for a decade. She is widely recognized as an expert on race, civil rights, and the Supreme Court. Since stepping down from LDF in 2022, Ifill has served as a senior fellow at the Ford Foundation, and is completing the manuscript for a book titled Is This America?, to be published in 2024. Ifill is currently a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. In 2024, Ifill will become the inaugural Vernon E. Jordan Distinguished Professor in Civil Rights at Howard Law School, where she will launch the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy. Ifill is a prolific scholar who served for 20 years as a professor of law at the University of Maryland School of Law. Her 2008 book On the Courthouse Lawn: Confronting the Legacy of Lynching in the 20th Century was a finalist for the Hurston/Wright Book Award, and is credited with laying the foundation for contemporary conversations about lynching and reparations. Ifill was appointed to President Biden’s Supreme Court Commission in 2021, and was named as one of the 100 Most Influential People in the World by TIME magazine. In 2019, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is a recipient of the Radcliffe Medal, the Brandeis Medal, and the Thurgood Marshall Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Bar Association. Ifill received her undergraduate degree from Vassar College and her law degree from New York University School of Law. She is the recipient of numerous honorary doctorates, including from Georgetown Law School, New York University, the Jewish Theological Seminary, and Bard College.
Glenn Ligon is an artist living and working in New York. Throughout his career, Ligon has pursued an incisive exploration of American history, literature, and society across bodies of work that build critically on the legacies of modern painting and conceptual art. He earned his BA from Wesleyan University and attended the Whitney Museum Independent Study Program. In 2011, the Whitney Museum of American Art held a mid-career retrospective, Glenn Ligon: America, that traveled nationally. Important solo exhibitions include Post-Noir, Carre d’Art, Nîmes (2022); Glenn Ligon: Call and Response, Camden Arts Centre, London (2014); and Glenn Ligon – Some Changes, The Power Plant Center for Contemporary Art, Toronto (traveled internationally) (2005). Select curatorial projects include Grief and Grievance, New Museum, New York (2021); Blue Black, Pulitzer Arts Foundation, St. Louis (2017); and Glenn Ligon: Encounters and Collisions, Nottingham Contemporary and Tate Liverpool (2015). His work has been shown in major international exhibitions, including the Venice Biennale (2015, 1997), Berlin Biennial (2014), Istanbul Biennial (2019, 2011), and Documenta XI (2002).
A forthcoming solo exhibition and curatorial project titled Glenn Ligon: All Over the Place will be presented by the Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, England, in September 2024. A selection of the artist’s writings and interviews, Glenn Ligon: Distinguishing Piss from Rain, will be published later this year by Hauser & Wirth Publishers.
Since 2017, Cautious Clay has been steadily building a devoted fanbase with his heartfelt songwriting and a unique sound that moves fluidly between pop, alternative R&B, and indie rock. On his deeply personal Blue Note debut KARPEH, the New York—based singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer also known as Joshua Karpeh takes a giant artistic leap forward with an ambitious yet introspective album about growth, conceptions of intimacy, and lineage that reveals a new side of his artistry by delving deeper than ever into his jazz influences.
Across the album’s 15 tracks Cautious can be heard on vocals, flute, tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, guitar, synthesizer, and bass. He also invites a wide range of collaborators into the fold including leading lights of the modern jazz world such as guitarist Julian Lage, trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire, saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins, vibraphonist Joel Ross, keyboardist Julius Rodriguez, bassist Joshua Crumbly, and drummer Sean Rickman. Other guests on the album include his uncle, bassist Kai Eckhardt, and the acclaimed Pakistani vocalist Arooj Aftab.
Visionary
Agnes Gund
Leader
Kathy and Richard Fuld
Jo Carole and Ronald S. Lauder
Benefactor
Sarah Arison and Thomas
Wilhelm
Hauser & Wirth
David and Susan Rockefeller
Patron
Elyse and Lawrence Benenson
Curb Gardner II
Alvin D. Hall
Historic Hampton House
Bernard I. Lumpkin and
Carmine D. Boccuzzi
Pernod Ricard USA
Michael Rosenfeld Gallery
Dian Woodner
Premium Supporter
Storm Ascher and
Superposition Gallery
Patricia Blanchet
Terri Prettyman Bowles and
Alvin Bowles
Olivier Cheng Catering
Edith Cooper and Robert Taylor
Lonti Ebers and Bruce Flatt
Amy Goldrich
Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin
Karen Hillenburg
Noel E.D. Kirnon
Jill and Peter Kraus
Miyoung Lee
John Legend
Crystal McCrary and
Raymond J. McGuire
Marquita Pool-Eckert
Katie Adams Schaeffer
Marsha Simms
Jamie L. Watson
Supporter
Kathleen J. Adams
Karole Dill Barkley and
Eric J. Barkley
Megan and Terry Boyer
Horace Brockington
Arri and Jen Burrows
Viljon Caka
Stefan Campbell
Nedra Collins
Christopher Daly
Rick Donner and Bob Logan
Gertrude Erwin
Rita and Waldo Falkener
Janelle Faulk
Tiffany and Antoine Gara
Alexander Gorlin
Oded Halahmy
Priscilla Hall
Zenola Harper
Mitchell-Innes & Nash
Phyllis Hollis
Thelma and AC Hudgins
Jessica Iclisoy
The Pamela J. Joyner &
Alfred J. Giuffrida Collection
Andrew Kreps
Winston Lee
Lewis Long
Gay McDougall
Ginger McKnight-Chavers and
Kevin G. Chavers
Marsy Mittlemann
Moët Hennessy USA
Alexandra Morgan-Welch
Kerly Noisette
Robin Nunn
Valerie Owolo
Tobey Parker
Sarah C. Perkins
Randall Pinkston
Diane Rodriguez
Jeanne Greenberg Rohatyn
Isabelle Sajous
Frances Savage
Barbara Karp Shuster
Mark Sleeman and
Anna de Pagan
Shamina D. Sneed
Bonita and Kevin Stewart
Richard Torres and
Kerrie McDevitt
Hannah Traore
John David Treadwell
Nicola Vassell
William T. Whitaker
Yamaha
Listing as of April 4 , 2024
DJ sets by
rmzi
Champagne and
spirits in-kind donor
Pernod Ricard USA
Gift Bag in-kind donors
adwoa beauty
amika
hrbvor
Hyper Skin
Mast Market
Monday Coffee
PATTERN Beauty by
Tracee Ellis Ross
Thank you to our vendors
Bentley Meeker Lighting
CONCEPT Event Group
Jupiter Sound
Mario Avila Design
Olivier Cheng Catering
Party Rental Ltd.
Taylor Creative Inc.
