Images (from l to r): Thelma Golden and Sherrilyn Ifill; Top row, from l to r: Lisa Skeete Tatum, Keron Veate Patel, Tonya Lewis Lee, Crystal McCrary, Nicole Ari Parker, Cari Champion. Bottom row, from l to r: Colleen Foster, Lisa Bonner, Jeanine Liburd, and Alexis McGill; Kathryn C. Chenault, Thelma Golden, and Natasha Holiday. Photos: Thelma Garcia for Julie Skarratt Photography |
On Friday, April 24, the Studio Museum in Harlem welcomed more than 350 cultural leaders, art world luminaries, artists, civil rights advocates, business leaders, and philanthropists to its annual spring luncheon.
This year’s luncheon honored Sherrilyn Ifill, civil rights lawyer and scholar. From 2013-2022, Ifill served as the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF), the nation’s premier civil rights law organization fighting for racial justice and equality. Since then, Ifill served as a Senior Fellow at the Ford Foundation, as a Fellow at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and as the Klinsky Visiting Professor for Leadership & Progress at Harvard Law School. Ifill is currently the Vernon Jordan Distinguished Professor in Civil Rights at Howard Law School Ifill where she founded the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy.
The program included remarks by Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator; and Sherrilyn Ifill.
“I have the distinct pleasure of celebrating an outstanding member of the Studio Museum in Harlem community. She is someone who believes deeply in the role of artists as vital collaborators and leaders when it comes to ideating and envisioning what can and could be when it comes to our shared future. She is also someone who has been deeply invested in creating that future for us through her years of civil rights and advocacy work,” Thelma Golden said. “She has dedicated her life to being a generational waymaker for democracy, equality, and freedom in this country, and has undoubtedly impacted the lives of thousands of people—whether through her role as an educator, or through her almost decade-long leadership of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund.” WHERE Mandarin Oriental
80 Columbus Circle NY, NY 10023 WHEN Friday, April 24, at 12pm ET WHO The Studio Museum in Harlem and THELMA GOLDEN, Ford Foundation Director and Chief Curator, honored SHERRILYN IFILL, civil rights lawyer and scholar; and welcomed DIYA VIJ, Commissioner of the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs; ELIZABETH ALEXANDER, President, Mellon Foundation; TONYA LEWIS LEE, Film Producer; CRYSTAL MCCRARY MCGUIRE, Film Producer and Director; NICOLE ARI PARKER, Actor; DAWN PORTER, Film Director; CHRISTOPHE CHERIX, Director, The Museum of Modern Art; SADE LYTHCOTT, CEO, National Black Theater; LEGACY RUSSELL, Executive Director & Chief Curator, The Kitchen; SARAH SUZUKI, Associate Director, The Museum of Modern Art; SAMIRA NASR, Editor in Chief, Harper’s Bazaar; LINDSAY PEOPLES, Editor in Chief, The Cut; and DEBORAH ROBERTS, Journalist and TV Personality, ABC. Artists present included DERRICK ADAMS, GENEVIEVE GAIGNARD, MICKALENE THOMAS, CARRIE MAE WEEMS, and LYNETTE YIADOM-BOAKYE. Members of the Studio Museum’s Board of Trustees were also in attendance, including KATHRYN C. CHENAULT, Board Chair; DR. ANITA BLANCHARD and CAROL SUTTON LEWIS, Vice-Chairs;JOAN S. DAVIDSON, NATASHA HOLIDAY, HOLLY PETERSON, VICTORIA ROGERS, and ANN TENENBAUM, among many others. |
