Gala 2026

SARAH ARISON is President of Arison Arts Foundation, a private grant-making organization that supports emerging artists and the institutions that foster them. She was immersed in the arts from a young age by her grandparents, visionary philanthropists Ted and Lin Arison, who founded Arison Arts Foundation, YoungArts, and the New World Symphony, among their many philanthropic endeavors. 

Arison is active across a broad cross-section of national arts organizations. She is President of the Board of the Museum of Modern Art, and Chair of the Board of YoungArts; she serves on the boards of MoMA PS1, American Ballet Theatre, The Kitchen and Aspen Art Museum; she is a trustee of Lincoln Center, New World Symphony and Serpentine Americas Foundation. READ MORE…

SAMIRA NASR was named editor-in-chief of Harper’s BAZAAR in July 2020, overseeing content strategy and development across the brand’s print and digital platforms.

Prior to BAZAAR, Nasr was the executive fashion director at Vanity Fair, where she managed and directed the magazine’s fashion department and all fashion content, including styling iconic covers such as the 25th annual Hollywood issue, the spring style issue featuring cover star Lupita Nyong’o, the May 2019 issue with Nicole Kidman and more.

This role serves as a homecoming to Hearst Magazines as she was the fashion director at ELLE from January 2013 to May 2018, and before that served as style director for InStyle. READ MORE…

MICKALENE THOMAS is a celebrated multidisciplinary artist best known for her vibrant, rhinestone-adorned portraits of Black women. Her bold practice—spanning painting, photography, collage, video, and installation—explores the complexities of Black female identity, beauty, and empowerment within the context of the Western art historical canon and the African Diaspora. Drawing on sources ranging from art history to popular culture, Thomas reclaims and reimagines spaces where Black women have historically been excluded or misrepresented.

Beyond her studio practice, Thomas is a Tony-nominated co-producer, educator, curator, and mentor dedicated to uplifting emerging artists and diversifying the art world. READ MORE…

MARC BAMUTHI JOSEPH is a TED Global Fellow, an Emerson Collective Dial Fellow, an inaugural recipient of the Guggenheim Social Practice initiative, and an honoree of the United States Artists Rockefeller Fellowship. He is also the winner of the 2011 Herb Alpert Award in Theatre, an inaugural recipient of the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and a 2022 inductee into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. An internationally renowned cultural strategist, Bamuthi has lectured in 25 different countries and his TED talk “You Have The Rite” has been viewed more than five million times.

Bamuthi has most recently completed commissions for Yale University, the Albany Symphony Orchestra, The Minnesota Orchestra, The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and the Washington National Opera. READ MORE…