The Gordon Parks Foundation Celebrates the Arts Activism With Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Colin Kaepernick, and More

Cipriani 42nd Street all lit up, tables of crystal glasses and white hydrangeas, Ben Stiller, Hannah Bronfman, and Alicia Keys—these are the markings of gala season officially underway (one could also say it doesn t get any more New York than that). On a Tuesday night in the heart of Manhattan, the worlds of visual arts, music, fashion, and philanthropy melded to celebrate The Gordon Parks Foundation s awards dinner and auction. The annual fete is about "celebrating art and activism" and the continued legacy of the late Gordon Parks. "It s the night where Gordon Parks is no longer just an icon of the 20th century, he s a 21st-century legend," Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., Executive director of the foundation, tells Vogue.

The Gordon Parks Foundation preserves Park s work while doubling as an incubator to support emerging artists in the spirit of his legacy. And that presence was ever present from the moment guests walked into the landmark building. They were greeted in the marble lobby by a series of Gordon Parks images (to be auctioned off later in the night) and a queue of VIPs like Gayle King, Hazel N. Dukes, Carrie Mae Weems, Ming Smith, Maxwell Osborne, and Park s daughter, Leslie Parks Bailey, walking the red carpet.

"It s [the gala] a memory; it s about my father who I deeply miss," Leslie Parks Bailey tells Vogue. "It s a celebration of Black art and moving forward." Parks Bailey paid homage to her father even further through her ensemble, a pink Dior flared skirt set with delicate gloves, harkening back to her father s Vogue and Life magazine fashion imagery of Dior gowns in the late ‘50s.

The night s program was a testament to the diverse talents and contributions celebrated by The Gordon Parks Foundation. Over burrata and champagne, attendees dressed in everything from Zankov to Sandy Liang enjoyed the soulful performance of the Anthony Morgan Inspirational Choir of Harlem. The program also included a special tribute to the late actor Richard Roundtree, a thrilling live auction, and segments honoring changemakers Colin Kaepernick, Mickalene Thomas, Civil Rights luminary Myrlie Evers-Williams, and Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz.

Along with the distinguished honorees, the evening also acknowledged the 2024 Gordon Parks Foundation Art Fellows image maker Larry W. Cook, artist Tonika Lewis Johnson, and author D. Watkins.

Photographer, composer, author, and film director Gordon Parks was a multidisciplinary artist, and those same intersections within the arts were ever so present throughout the night. From Amy Sherald announcing Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz on stage while wearing a full Khaite ensemble and Lena Waithe and Colin Kaepernick engaged in conversation to Chelsea Clinton cheering on friends on the red carpet and Usher bidding on a few Gordon Parks images (he won them both). It was indeed an evening of the connective power of art and using it to further “the common search for a better life and world.”

After a record-breaking auction (Gordon s vibrant, color works from the segregated south sold for a historic $200,000+), a surprise performance by Patti Smith, and closing remarks, D-Nice took the room from dinner to discotheque, all under the ornate Italian palazzo-inspired marble arches.