AAR raccoglie $ 1 milione al Gala di New York del 2022

Four men of varying skin tones standing in front of a step and repeat
Gala Cochair Slobodan Randjelovíc, Honoree Bill T. Jones, AAR President Mark Robbins, and 2010 Resident and Gala Cochair Calvin Tsao (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Huiwang Zhang, Nayaa Opong, and Shane Larson from the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
A man and a woman standing in front of a step and repeat
Yaacob Dweck and 2007 Fellow and Honoree Marina Rustow (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
David Sanford, 2003 Fellow and the presenter of Ned Rorem’s medal (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Mezzo soprano Devony Smith (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Blythe Mayne and AAR Trustee Thom Mayne (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
2022 Rome Prize Fellows Eugenio Refini and Jessica Hagedorn (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Jorge Otero-Pailos (2022 Resident), Rhonda Collier (2022 Affiliated Fellow), Phylicia Houston, and Laurence Lafforgue (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
AAR Trustee Michelle Hobart and 1995 Fellow Kevin Walz (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Mortimer Lebigre, Emmy Lebigre, Catherine McGurn, and AAR Trustee Bill McGurn (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Pier Luigi Consagra and 1988 Resident Judy Pfaff (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Patricia Cronin (2007 Fellow), Kelly D. Powell (2002 Fellow), and Deborah Kass (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Color photograph of a place setting at a dining table, with a printed event program resting on the plate
A place setting at the 2022 New York Gala (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Cary Davis, chair of the AAR Board of Trustees (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Tables at the 2022 New York Gala (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Lydia Fenet (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)
Shane Larson and Huiwang Zhang from the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (photograph by Sean Zanni/PMC)

At the American Academy in Rome’s New York Gala, held on November 2, nearly three hundred guests gathered to celebrate the achievements of three outstanding individuals—the dancer, choreographer, and artistic director Bill T. Jones; the musical composer Ned Rorem (2003 Resident); and the historian Marina Rustow (2007 Fellow)—who have advanced the arts and humanities and demonstrate exceptional commitment to scholarship and creativity. Our generous donors raised more than $1 million to support the Academy’s programs during a very special evening. The gala, held for the second consecutive year at Cipriani 25 Broadway, was cochaired by Calvin Tsao (2010 Resident) and Slobodan Randjelović, both members of the Academy’s Board of Trustees. The architects Billie Tsien (2000 Resident) and Tod Williams (1983 Fellow) served as honorary cochairs.

Luminaries from the worlds of art, music, fashion, food, finance, and higher education enjoyed cocktails and passed hors d’oeuvres followed by a seated dinner. After opening remarks by AAR President and CEO Mark Robbins (1997 Fellow) and Board Chair Cary Davis, guests were treated to a stirring performance of Rorem’s composition “From whence cometh song?” (1981), sung by mezzo soprano Devony Smith with piano by Danny Zelibor.

This presentation was the first of several highlights, including an unforgettable performance by Jones, who narrated spoken word from an excerpt of a new work while Shane Larson, Nayaa Opong, and Huiwang Zhang, all from the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, danced individually, in pairings, and as a trio. Smith and Zelibor performed a second song by Rorem, “Early in the Morning” (1958). The evening ended with dancing and music from DJ Timo Weiland.

The gala featured a live auction of Experience Packages with the author and Christie’s Ambassador Lydia Fenet, as well as the screening of “A Fountain of Creativity for Americans in Rome,” a CBS Sunday Morning story that aired in July, featuring several 2022 Fellows describing their projects, their interdisciplinary collaborations, and the amazing setting on the Janiculum for their Rome Prize experience.

A professor at Princeton University, Marina Rustow is considered among the foremost experts of the history of religion, and especially of Judaism, and the medieval period. Her books include The Lost Archive: Traces of a Caliphate in a Cairo Synagogue (2020) and Heresy and the Politics of Community: The Jews of the Fatimid Caliphate (2008). Yaacob Dweck, a historian and Rustow’s colleague at Princeton, presented her medal to her.

Ned Rorem is among the most important and prolific living American composers. He has composed hundreds of works, from choral pieces to piano concertos to symphonies to operas. Rorem has also authored sixteen books, including five volumes of diaries that influenced the then-emerging gay liberation movement. The composer David Sanford (2003 Fellow) spoke of these accomplishments, though his medal was bestowed in absentia. Rorem, who recently celebrated his ninety-ninth birthday, expressed his gratitude in a message read by Sanford.

Bill T. Jones is one of the most widely recognized figures in modern dance whose work has been recognized with a 2008 MacArthur Fellowship, two Tony Awards (for Spring Awakening and Fela!), five Bessie Awards, the Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, and the National Medal of the Arts. He has choregraphed and performed around the world with his late partner, Arnie Zane, and established the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company in 1982, where he serves as artistic director. He is also the artistic director of New York Live Arts. Randjelovíc extolled accolades to Jones, shortly before his memorable performance.

The Academy extends a gracious thank you to everyone who supported this year’s New York Gala. Additional photographs of the event are available on patrickmcmullan.com. Please visit aarome.org/support in February for details about our next major fundraising event, the McKim Medal Gala, to be held at the Villa Aurelia in Rome in June 2023.

Press inquiries

Andrew Mitchell

Director of Communications

212-751-7200, ext. 342

a.mitchell [at] aarome.org (a[dot]mitchell[at]aarome[dot]org)

Maddalena Bonicelli

Rome Press Officer

+39 335 6857707

m.bonicelli.ext [at] aarome.org (m[dot]bonicelli[dot]ext[at]aarome[dot]org)