Studio Museum in Harlem Gala Celebrates the Museum’s First Year in its New Home

ACCES HI-RES IMAGES

HARLEM, NEW YORK, NY, MONDAY, OCTOBER 26 — On Monday, October 26, leaders of the Studio Museum in Harlem welcomed more than seven hundred artists, cultural luminaries, civic leaders, philanthropists, and a host of prominent New Yorkers to the Museum’s Gala, held at The Glasshouse (660 12th Avenue, New York). This year, the annual event celebrated the Museum’s inaugural year in its new home on 125th Street and honored long-serving Trustee Raymond J. McGuire, now Chair Emeritus.

The Gala raised $4 million to support the Studio Museum’s exhibitions, programs, scholarship, and public outreach.

Thelma Golden, Ford Foundation Director and Chief Curator, said, “Tonight we express our gratitude for Ray McGuire’s visionary leadership, which has been crucial to the Studio Museum in Harlem. As Chairman of our Board of Trustees, Ray dedicated himself for years to guiding this institution through some of its most significant milestones—championing artists of African descent, strengthening our connection to the Harlem community, and driving the ambitious campaign to build our new home on 125th Street. His extraordinary stewardship, strategic vision, and deep devotion to our mission have elevated the Studio Museum’s legacy and ensured its impact for generations to come.”

Kathryn C. Chenault, Chair of the Board, said, “Over this extraordinary inaugural year, we have had the joy of seeing our beautiful new spaces fill with art, dialogue, celebration, and creation. As we look back tonight, we pause for a moment to remember our friend and Trustee Gordon J. Davis, who did so much for the Studio Museum, supporting it through nearly every chapter of our journey. In Gordon’s spirit, we also look forward, as we continue in our mission of being the sanctuary for Black art and culture. On behalf of the Board, I thank everyone who has supported and continues to support the Studio Museum.”

In an annual tradition, Thelma Golden presented the Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize to this year’s winner, Kevin Beasley. One of the most significant awards given to individual artists in the United States today, the Prize was established by jazz impresario, musician and philanthropist George Wein to honor his late wife, Joyce Alexander (1928–2005), a long-time Trustee of the Studio Museum. Multidisciplinary artist Kevin Beasley was cited for exemplifying the Prize’s criteria of great innovation, promise, and creativity by an African American artist.

The Gala’s Lead Corporate Sponsors were Lafayette Square and HarbourView Equity.

In attendance were Studio Museum Trustees Kathryn C. Chenault, Carol Sutton Lewis, Dr. Amelia Ogunlesi, Damien R. Dwin, Jacqueline L. Bradley, Rodney M. Miller, Nicholas Antoine, Dr. Anita Blanchard, Danielle Cooper Williams, Sherrese Clarke, Sandra Grymes, Jamila Justine Willis, Natasha A. Holiday, Russ Hutchinson, C.C. Melvin Ike, Bernard I. Lumpkin, Victoria Rogers, and Lise Wilks.

Other notable attendees included:

Mayor of New York City Zohran Mamdani and First Lady of New York City Rama Duwaji; TV Host Star Jones; Artists Derrick Adams, Lyle Ashton Harris, Firelei Báez, John Edmonds, Lorna Simpson, Rashid Johnson, Julie Mehretu, Derriann Phar, Amy Sherald, Taylor Simmons, Simonette Quamina, Mickalene Thomas, Dawoud Bey, Glenn Ligon, Carrie Mae Weems, Tyler Mitchell, Sanford Biggers, and Deborah Willis; News Anchor Deborah Roberts; Filmmakers Spike Lee, Tonya Lewis Lee, Crystal McCrary, and Stanley Nelson; Actor Lake Bell; LACMA Director Michael Govan; Whitney Museum Director Scott Rothkopf; Brooklyn Museum Director Anne Pasternak; David Zwirner Director Ebony L. Haynes; Gagosian Director and Curator Antwaun Sargent; Metropolitan Museum of Art Allison and Lary Berg Curator Akili Tommasino; Pérez Art Museum Miami Director Franklin Sirmans; Mellon Foundation President Elizabeth Alexander; Dance Theatre of Harlem Executive Director Anna Glass; National Black Theatre Chief Executive Officer Sade Lythcott; LACMA Vice President Naima Keith; Whitney Museum Arnold Associate Curator Rujeko Hockley; Getty Presidential Scholar Sandra Jackson-Dumont; President and CEO of Anonymous Content Darren Walker; Philanthropist Marva Smalls; Nicola Vassell Gallery Founder Nicola Vassell; and scholars Romi Crawford and Kellie Jones.

About the Wein Artist Prize
The Joyce Alexander Wein Artist Prize, one of the most significant awards given to individual artists in the United States today, was established in 2006 by jazz impresario, musician and philanthropist George Wein to honor his late wife, Joyce Alexander (1928–2005), a long-time Trustee of the Studio Museum and a woman whose life embodied a commitment to the power and possibilities of art and culture. Presented each year at the Studio Museum’s fall Gala, the award recognizes and honors the artistic achievements of an African American artist who demonstrates great innovation, promise, and creativity. Past winners include Derrick Adams, Diedrick Brackens, Njideka Akunyili Crosby, Kenturah Davis, Leonardo Drew, Torkwase Dyson, Samuel Levi Jones, Cy Gavin, Trenton Doyle Hancock, Leslie Hewitt, Jennie C. Jones, Caroline Kent, Simone Leigh, Glenn Ligon, Toyin Ojih Odutola, Robert Pruitt, Nadine Robinson, Gary Simmons, Lorna Simpson, and Cauleen Smith.

About Kevin Beasley
Kevin Beasley (b. 1985, Lynchburg, VA) attended the College of Creative Studies in Detroit, studying automative design before graduating with a BFA in painting and sculpture in 2007, and an MFA in sculpture from Yale University, New Haven in 2012. He lives and works in New York.

With a multidisciplinary practice incorporating sculpture, drawing, installation, sound, music, and performance, Beasley probes the material and cultural conditions that shape our perception of history. Harnessing the personal and political associations of objects, he alchemizes ordinary materials into works that are simultaneously transcendent and familiar. In drawing out these latent meanings, Beasley connects the histories of power and race in America with our present.

In November 2026, Beasley will present a sound installation with Ralph Lemon at Kunsthaus Zürich. In 2025, he inaugurated Storm King Art Center’s Tippet’s Field with the monumental installation PROSCENIUM | Rebirth / Growth: The Watch / Harvest / Dormancy: On Reflection (2024–25). His work and performances have appeared in notable biennials and group exhibitions, including the 15th Gwangju Biennale (2024) and solo presentations at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2018–19); Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2018); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2017); and The Studio Museum in Harlem, New York (2016).Beasley’s work is in museum collections worldwide, including the Art Institute of Chicago; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago; Museum of Modern Art, New York; Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM); San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Studio Museum in Harlem; and Tate Modern, London; among others.

About the Studio Museum in Harlem 
Founded in 1968 by a diverse group of artists, community activists, and philanthropists, the Studio Museum in Harlem is internationally known for its catalytic role in promoting the work of artists of African descent. The Studio Museum’s new home, situated at its longtime location on West 125th Street, opened to the public on November 15, 2025. Designed by Adjaye Associates, with Corgan (formerly Cooper Robertson) serving as executive architect, the building—the first created expressly for the institution’s program—enables the Studio Museum to better serve a growing and diverse audience, provide additional educational opportunities for people of all ages, expand its program of world-renowned exhibitions, effectively display its singular collection, and strengthen its trailblazing Artist-in-Residence program.

For more information, visit studiomuseum.org.