American Academy in Rome Raises $1 Million at Annual New York Gala

Photo Credit: Christine Butler

American Academy in Rome Raises $1 Million at Annual New York Gala on November 2, 2023, Gala Featured Special Performance by Laurie Anderson. The American Academy in Rome, America’s oldest overseas center for advanced scholarship and independent study, raised over $1 million at a gala benefit at the Altman Building in Chelsea, New York, held the evening of November 2, 2022. The gala honored three individuals who advance the arts and humanities and exemplify outstanding commitment to scholarship and creativity: filmmaker and installation artist Sir Isaac Julien, philanthropist and arts patron Agnes Gund, and architect and cultural leader Mark Robbins (former President of the American Academy in Rome, 2014-2023).

Photo Credit: Christine Butler

The gala was chaired by Slobodan Randjelović. The honorary chair was Her Excellency Mariangela Zappia, Italian Ambassador to the United States. The gala included a live performance by acclaimed musician and multimedia artist Laurie Anderson that was created especially for the benefit. HONOREES: Born in London in 1960, Sir Isaac Julien is a filmmaker and installation artist whose work breaks down barriers between film, dance, photography, music, theater, painting, and sculpture, combining disciplines into powerful narratives and multi-channel film installations. His work is in the public collections of prestigious institutions internationally, including the Tate (London), the Museum of Modern Art (New York), and Centre Pompidou (Paris), and was recently the subject of a survey exhibition at Tate Britain. He is a Distinguished Professor of the Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where he runs the Isaac Julien Lab, which was established in 2018 with his partner and independent curator, Mark Nash.

Photo Credit: Christine Butler

In 2017, he became a Royal Academician, and in 2022, he was the recipient of prestigious honors, including a Knighthood and the Goslarer Kaiserring. He was the Mary Miss Resident in Visual Art at the American Academy in Rome in 2015. Sir Isaac’s medal was presented by Sarah Lewis, professor of history of art and architecture and African American Studies at Harvard University. Agnes Gund is president emerita of the Museum of Modern Art and chair of its International Council. She joined the MoMA Board in 1976 and served as president from 1991-2002.

Photo Credit: Christine Butler

In 1977, Gund founded Studio in an American Academy in Rome in response to budget cuts that virtually eliminated arts classes from New York City public schools. A philanthropist, collector of modern and contemporary art, civic leader, and staunch supporter of education, environmental efforts, and social justice, Gund is co-founder of the Center for Curatorial Leadership and serves on the boards of MoMA PS1, the Cleveland Museum of Art, the Foundation for Art and Preservation in Embassies, and the Morgan Library & Museum. She is the trustee emerita of the Barnes Foundation and YoungArts.

Photo Credit: Christine Butler

In 2017, Gund launched Art for Justice to support criminal justice reform in the U.S. Gund holds a B.A. in History from Connecticut College and an M.A. in Art History from Harvard University. She is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Academy of Arts and recipient of the National Medal of the Arts, the J. Paul Getty Medal, the inaugural Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Woman of Leadership Award, the French Legion of Honor, and the W.E.B. Du Bois Medal. She was a Trustee of the American Academy in Rome from 1997 to 2022 and thereafter became a Trustee Emerita. Ms. Gund’s medal was presented by Darren Walker, President of the Ford Foundation.

Photo Credit: Christine Butler

Mark Robbins served as President and CEO of the American Academy in Rome from 2014 to 2023. He was also the Marion O. and Maximilian E. Hoffman Foundation Rome Prize Fellow in Design in 1997. An artist, architect, educator, and longtime advocate for the arts and design, Robbins was previously executive director of the International Center of Photography in New York and, from 2004 to 2012, dean and professor at Syracuse University’s School of Architecture. Prior to that, as director of design for the National Endowment for the Arts during the Clinton administration, Robbins led a series of national programs to strengthen the presence of innovative design in the public realm, including the New Public Works initiative and the Mayors Institute on City Design. He held additional posts as curator of architecture at the Wexner Center for the Arts and associate professor at the Knowlton School of Architecture at Ohio State University.

Photo Credit: Christine Butler

Robbins has edited two five-book series on design and social impact and is a frequent lecturer on art and architecture. He is a recipient of numerous awards, including fellowships from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University and the New York Foundation for the Arts.

Photo Credit: Christine Butler