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THE
GORDON PARKS FOUNDATION HOSTS ITS ANNUAL AWARDS DINNER &
AUCTION
CELEBRATING THE ARTS & HUMANITARIANISM
2017 Celebration to Honor
Congressman John Lewis, Mavis
Staples, Alexander Soros,
Jon Batiste and Kathryn &
Kenneth Chenault
Evening to Feature Appearances by Stephen
Colbert, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Usher Raymond IV,
Valerie Jarrett, Congressman Keith Ellison
and more
Special Performance by Grammy and
Academy-Award Winning Recording Artist Common
NEW YORK,
NY – On Tuesday,
June 6, at Cipriani 42nd Street, The
Gordon Parks Foundation will
host its Annual Awards Dinner and Auction celebrating Parks’
rich legacy and honoring those that continue to make an
impact in the performing and visual arts and
humanitarianism. Honorees for the 2017 Awards include: The
Honorable Congressman John Lewis, philanthropist Alexander
Soros, singer and activist Mavis
Staples, musician Jon
Batiste, American Express Chairman and CEO, Kenneth Chenault and
his wife, philanthropist Kathryn
Chenault. The
evening will also feature performances by Grammy and Academy
Award-winning recording artist, Common. In
addition, an auction featuring seven lots of Gordon Parks
works will be led by Sotheby’s Americas Vice Chairman, Hugh
Hildesley. All proceeds from the evening will support the
Foundation’s ongoing artistic and educational programs and
initiatives.
Guest presenters for the evening include Late
Night with Stephen Colbert host, Stephen
Colbert; historian and Harvard University professor, Henry
Louis Gates, Jr.; and singer, Usher
Raymond IV (additional
presenters to be announced at a later date). Additional
special guests includeValerie
Jarrett, civic
leader and Former Senior Advisor to President Barack Obama,
and Congressman
Keith Ellison. Alicia
Keys & Kasseem
“Swizz Beatz” Dean, Karl
Lagerfeld, Leonard
Lauder & Judy
Glickman Lauder, Janelle
Monáe and Grace
Raymond & Usher
Raymond IV will
serve as Co-Chairs, and Dinner Chairs include Ronald
O. Perelman, Russell
Simmons, Richard & Lisa
Plepler, Gloria
Vanderbilt and Sheila
Nevins.
In addition to
recognizing this year’s distinguished honorees, the
Foundation will also highlight the first two recipients of
the Inaugural Gordon Parks Fellowship-Baltimore-based
photographer Devin
Allen and New
York-based British journalist,
photographer, and filmmaker Harriet
Dedman. The
fellowship was established
to support photographers, artists, filmmakers, and musicians
working within the theme of social justice.
“Each year we come
together to celebrate the incredible and lasting legacy of
Gordon Parks and to honor
the artists, humanitarians, and philanthropists who are
making a meaningful impact in the arts and across humanity,” says Peter
W. Kunhardt, Jr., Executive Director of The Gordon Parks
Foundation. “We are so incredibly proud
to recognize this year’s group of honorees, and to introduce
our inaugural class of fellows who are exploring themes of
social justice in their work—an issue that is becoming more
and more urgent with each passing day in our current
political climate.”
For the past
decade, The Gordon Parks Foundation has provided
scholarships to
help further the exploration of visual and performing arts
to students
across the country whose artistic
talent reflect the passion, vision and humanity of Gordon
Parks. The Foundation’s longtime partner institutions
include: the Fashion Institute of Technology, Ghetto Film
School, Harlem School of the Arts, New York University’s
Tisch School of the Arts, Purchase College (SUNY), Rush
Philanthropic Arts Foundation, and YoungArts National Arts
Foundation. This
year, the Foundation is proud to add the Pratt Institute to
its list of partners, and that three of the twenty-four
young scholarship recipients will have an opportunity to
participate in programs on their Brooklyn campus.
For more information about The Gordon Parks
Foundation, please visit: gordonparksfoundation.org. To
purchase tickets for the 2017 Gordon Parks Foundation Awards
& Auction, please contact Buckley Hall Events at
914-579-1000 or GPFGala@buckleyhallevents.com.
# # #
ABOUT
THE GORDON PARKS FOUNDATION
Gordon
Parks believed
that the power of transforming lives was through
self-expression – through art. He used his camera, his
words, and his music to tell stories to give a voice to the
voiceless. Widely known as the most important
African-American photographer of the twentieth century,
Parks exposed the face of American poverty with sympathy and
dignity, using his artistic skill to champion social change.
Today the Gordon Parks Foundation provides scholarships to
students whose creative work reflects the mission and vision
of Gordon Parks and continues to preserve Parks’ vast
archive, publish books, and work with museums and schools
throughout the world. |