Artists Dined and Danced Inside the MoMA’s 2024 Party in the Garden

New York’s Museum of Modern Art is known for its groundbreaking exhibitions, its support of practicing artists, its exemplary permanent collection, and its ability to host a rollicking party. At MoMA’s 2024 Party in the Garden, the museum’s annual fundraising gala, the full footprint of the museum was on display, including the lobby, garden, and The Modern restaurant. The result was simply splendid.

The Party in the Garden commenced with a cocktail party in the museum’s garden, followed by dinner in the lobby, then an after-party back in the garden. Arriving guests were greeted by a colorful Sol LeWitt tetraptych, then ushered into the museum’s garden for cocktails. Festive attire was true to form, with guests in midi frocks adorned with sequins, florals, and plenty of pinks. Artists in attendance included Derrick Adams, KAWS, Rashid Johnson, Simone Leigh, Glenn Ligon, and Sarah Sze.

The party honored Refik Anadol, Latoya Ruby Frazier, Ronnie Heyman, and Joan Jonas, all of whom were in attendance. “I am a creative servant for the people. Showing at MoMA is a total affirmation that the work I make is much bigger than me, and it is proof that the art I make is useful to society,” Frazier shared with Vogue. Frazier is currently exhibiting Monuments of Solidarity at MoMA, and already researching her next body of work about the Battle of the Monongahela.

The seated dinner in the lobby of the museum was a spectacle, featuring an explosion of color and flora. MoMA’s talented in-house team brought the garden indoors, with flower pots of red moss rose, purple blooms, and green foliage throughout the venue. Floating votives, colorful candelabras, technicolored carpeting, and color-blocked tablescapes made the museum’s lobby sing. Dinner guests included Glenn Lowry, Jeffrey Deitch, Thelma Golden, Gayle King, An-My Lê, Robert Soros, and Jamie Singer Soros.

As the dinner came to a close, the music volume turned up, and streams of partygoers poured into the museum’s garden for an al fresco dance party. A line of young and fashionable after-party attendees wrapped around the block to enter the MoMA for a performance by FLETCHER and DJ sets by Mette and Heron Preston. The party itself was not only ultra-cool but also ultra-successful, raising well over five million dollars in support of the venerable institution.