Wednesday, October 28
6:30-11:00 PM
The Pierre
2 E 61st St, New York City
On Wednesday, October 28, the AFA will host its 2026 Gala & Cultural Leadership Awards.
The AFA’s annual Gala brings together an evening of art, culture, and community, serving as an opportunity to highlight the AFA’s important work of touring exhibitions around the country. For nearly 120 years, our community of artists, curators, museum professionals, and patrons join together in support of our shared commitment to expanding meaningful access to the arts.
We are honored to recognize Estrellita B. Brodsky, whose exceptional leadership as a curator, collector, and philanthropist has championed artists across generations and geographies, bringing new voices to the forefront of the cultural landscape, Michael Govan, CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of LACMA, who has led the remarkable transformation of the museum’s campus, civic presence, and public engagement, and Hank Willis Thomas, acclaimed conceptual artist whose work challenges audiences to examine the images, histories, and narratives that shape how we see the world.
We hope you will join us for this special evening celebrating the power of art and philanthropy. All proceeds from the event will directly support the research, development, and touring of AFA exhibitions and programs—making transformative art experiences accessible to museums of all sizes and the diverse communities they serve.
To purchase tickets, please visit our Eventbrite page by clicking the button below or contact us directly by emailing events@amfedarts.org.
Purchase Tickets HereABOUT THE HONOREES
Estrellita B. Brodsky, PhD is a curator, collector, and philanthropist, internationally recognized for championing Latin American art on the global stage. Of Uruguayan and Venezuelan heritage, she has combined scholarly research with philanthropy to advance the visibility of artists from the region and its diaspora.
She earned her PhD in Art History from NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, where her dissertation Latin American Artists in Post-War Paris received the Association of Latin American Art’s award for best doctoral dissertation.
In 2015, she founded ANOTHER SPACE, a curatorial initiative of the Daniel and Estrellita B. Brodsky Foundation dedicated to fostering global dialogues around Latin American art. Brodsky has also driven institutional change by establishing curatorial positions and initiatives at The Met, MoMA, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, and the Hirshhorn, and by endowing fellowships at Hunter College and NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts.
Michael Govan joined the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as Chief Executive Officer and Wallis Annenberg Director in 2006. In this role, he oversees all activities of the museum. During his tenure, LACMA has acquired by donation or purchase more than 46,000 works for the permanent collection, doubled gallery space and programs, and more than doubled its average annual attendance to well over one million. In 2026, the museum opened a new, state-of-the-art permanent collection building designed by Pritzker Prize–winning architect Peter Zumthor.
Hank Willis Thomas (b. 1976, Plainfield, NJ) is a conceptual artist based in Brooklyn whose interdisciplinary practice—spanning sculpture, photography, retroreflectives, quilting, and film—examines identity, perspective, commodity, and popular culture. His collaborative projects include Question Bridge, The Truth Booth, The Gun Violence Memorial Project, and For Freedoms, an artist-led organization advancing creative civic engagement.
Thomas’s public art can be found across the country, including The Embrace on the Boston Common, REACH at O’Hare International Airport, and Duality at The Underline in Miami. He holds a B.F.A. from New York University and an M.F.A. from California College of the Arts, along with honorary doctorates from four institutions. Thomas is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship, and the 2022 U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts.
ABOUT THE AWARDS
The AFA Cultural Leadership Awards are given annually to artists, museum leaders, cultural institutions, or philanthropists in recognition of their outstanding contributions to the art community. The event brings together leading museum directors, collectors, artists, philanthropists, and art professionals at an elegant gala to celebrate the American Federation of Arts and honor significant individuals in the arts.
Past recipients have included: Ann Temkin, Howardena Pindell, Eli and Edythe Broad, Alice Walton, Wangechi Mutu, Charles and Valerie Diker, Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz, Marina Abramović, Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Frank Gehry, Roy Neuberger, Sarah Sze, and Eugene V. Thaw.
Your support enables us to continue to create meaningful connections between art and audiences. Thank you for your leadership and commitment to the AFA and our valuable mission!