The spring art party season is in full swing, and earlier this week, the Brooklyn Museum and Dior joined forces to honor the incomparable Darren Walker at the fourteenth annual Brooklyn Artists Ball. This always dazzling event, you may recall, is the museum’s most important fundraiser of the year and a keystone moment on the New York art world’s May calendar. Walker—philanthropic powerhouse, social justice advocate and Ford Foundation president—was celebrated not only for his transformative impact on the arts but also for his steadfast commitment to equity, access and artists. With the design house’s backing and event curation by artist Jeffrey Gibson, the evening raised more than $4 million to support exhibitions and museum programming—a number made even more impressive by the speed at which it was paddled.
The cocktail hour, staged beneath the lobby’s two monumental KAWS sculptures, featured a rousing high-energy dance performance by the Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet. From there, the crowd—equal parts cultural luminary and glitterati—ascended to the Beaux-Arts Court, which was transformed by Gibson into a world of kaleidoscopic light inspired by his exhibitions “When Fire Is Applied to a Stone It Cracks” and “the space in which to place me.” During dinner, museum director Anne Pasternak announced a $1 million gift from the Ford Foundation, which will bring numerous works by African-American artists out of storage and onto the institution’s walls. There was, of course, the usual cavalcade of speechifying that included inspiring remarks by Walker, whose influence on the art world has arguably been transformative.
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Spotted wearing—you guessed it—Dior were Kerry Washington, Zazie Beetz, Auli‘i Cravalho, Alexandra Daddario and Keri Russell. Lily Allen, Emma Roberts and Caleb McLaughlin made the rounds, but the true pulse of the party came from the artists themselves: Bisa Butler, Hank Willis Thomas, Mickalene Thomas, Carrie Mae Weems, Antwaun Sargent, Anne Collier, Titus Kaphar and Hayal Pozanti were among the revelers. And where the artists go, the collectors and philanthropists naturally follow: Jeffrey Citrin and Rona Citrin, Saundra Williams-Cornwell and W. Don Cornwell and Fabiola Beracasa Beckman mixed and mingled. The omnipresent Thelma Golden made an appearance on the step-and-repeat, as did starchitect Shohei Shigematsu, curator Isolde Brielmaier and multi-hyphenate Sylvana Ward Durrett.
The official program closed with a beautiful performance by Icelandic singer and songwriter Laufey, wearing Maria Grazia Chiuri for Dior Spring/Summer 2025 Haute Couture. But that was only the halfway mark. Following dessert, the ball’s assembled power players and tastemakers drifted downstairs for the afterparty, where museum trustee and seasoned art collector Swizz Beatz took over. His DJ set signaled the start of the next phase of the celebrations, which extended well past midnight.
