2026 AFA Gala & Cultural Leadership Awards
About this Event
Join the AFA in making a lasting impact on arts accessibility by supporting the 2026 Gala & Cultural Leadership Awards. Our 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.
This year, the AFA is proud to honor three distinguished leaders whose work has made a significant impact on the arts:
- Dr. Estrellita B. Brodsky, art historian, curator, collector, and philanthropist whose work has advanced the visibility of Latin American and Latine art across major international institutions.
- Michael Govan, is the CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director of LACMA, where he has led a major transformation of the museum’s campus, civic presence, and public engagement.
- Hank Willis Thomas, acclaimed conceptual artist whose interdisciplinary practice explores identity, perspective, commodity, and popular culture, and whose work has helped expand the role of art in civic life.
ABOUT 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. She has curated landmark exhibitions, including Julio Le Parc: Form into Action (Pérez Art Museum Miami, 2016–17; later in São Paulo and Buenos Aires), Jesús Soto: Paris and Beyond, 1950–1970 (Grey Art Gallery, NYU, 2012), and Carlos Cruz-Diez: (In)Formed by Color (Americas Society, 2008).
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. Brodsky was also the former co-chair of the board of El Museo del Barrio, and Board Chair of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.
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. His work is held in major public collections such as MoMA, the Whitney, the Guggenheim, and the National Gallery of Art, and he has mounted solo exhibitions at institutions including Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Henry Art Gallery.
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!
Please note that Eventbrite charges a handling fee. To purchase tickets directly from the AFA, contact or 917.583.4642. Estimated fair-market value of the dinner is $325 per person. Contributions in excess of that amount are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 0.00 to USD 53355.49
