For a second, the annual Gordon Parks Basis gala felt like a church service.
The celestial voices of a choir echoed all through, resonating from the marble flooring to the vaulted ceiling of Cipriani on forty second Road. They sang and stomped powerfully whereas patrons took their seats.
The service had begun.
The night time included a reverent efficiency from Patti Smith, an public sale that felt a bit like tithing and one thing of a sermon from the artist Carrie Mae Weems celebrating the artist Mickalene Thomas — who was additionally within the crowd. It was capped off with a name to motion from Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of the slain civil rights chief Medgar Evers.
Yearly, the Gordon Parks Basis, named for Gordon Parks, the famed photographer, director and musician, honors a neighborhood of artists and athletes at a gala to lift funds for fellowships and scholarships. Those that admire Mr. Parks, who died in 2006, get collectively to eat, dance, push each other ahead of their activism and worship expression that spurs social change.
This yr’s honorees, who have been celebrated for his or her work of their respective fields, included Ms. Thomas; Ms. Evers-Williams; Alicia Keys and her husband, Swizz Beatz, whose title is Kasseem Dean; and Colin Kaepernick, the previous N.F.L. quarterback turned activist. Richard Roundtree, who performed the primary character in Mr. Parks’s 1971 movie “Shaft” and died in October, acquired a posthumous award.
The gala, now in its 14th yr, additionally held an public sale of pictures by Mr. Parks, which raised about $640,000.
A single photograph from 1956 of a Black household at an ice cream stand set off a gritty bidding battle between Usher, the R&B singer, and Gail Yabuki, the director of the Yabuki Household Basis, who gained with a bid of $200,000.
“I’ve a aggressive nature, so it’s exhausting for me to cease,” Ms. Yabuki stated. “I used to be simply going to maintain going.”
The fund-raiser raised about $2.3 million, however the occasion, very similar to a church service, was not all about cash or how a lot the muse collected to maintain itself operating.
Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., the chief director of the muse, stated one among its objectives is to verify Mr. Parks’s legacy “is cemented in time.”
“There’s younger artists as we speak who weren’t alive when Gordon Parks was alive that at the moment are understanding the breadth and depth of his profession,” he stated.
An admiration of Mr. Parks’s affect was handed right down to Chelsea Clinton, who stated she appreciates his images.
“I grew up realizing Gordon Parks, his work, by means of my dad and mom,” Ms. Clinton stated, chatting with reporters on a pink carpet. “Now, I’m the proud proprietor of some Gordon Parks pictures.”
A couple of recognizable faces slid into the occasion a bit late.
Spike Lee took his seat between Mr. Kaepernick and Usher about half-hour after this system had began. “I’m filming my fifth film with Denzel Washington,” stated Mr. Lee, who was sporting a vest and observe pants. “That’s why I’m not dressed up.”
Clive Davis, the document trade mogul, who was sporting a lime inexperienced tie, skipped the pink carpet altogether. “I so admire the historical past, the background — it’s all very distinctive, very particular and transferring,” Mr. Davis stated of the occasion, which he has attended many instances.
Gayle King, the published journalist, started the award portion of the night by introducing Ms. Evers-Williams, 91. She didn’t attend the occasion in particular person, however appeared by way of recorded video. Her otherworldly voice, wealthy with knowledge, boomed by means of the audio system.
“This award is a testomony to the progress now we have made and a reminder of the work that also lies forward,” she stated from her dwelling in Mississippi, the place she was sitting in entrance of a portray of her husband.
Ms. Smith, who stated she was moved to tears at a latest exhibit of Mr. Parks’s work, took the stage together with her longtime bandmate Tony Shanahan. Her white hair and shirt shone below the lights, giving her an angelic aura. She carried out her track “Peaceful Kingdom.”
Honoring activism was an enormous a part of the night time, however underscoring that message was a dialog about methods to shield the legacies of individuals like Mr. Parks, who dedicate their lives to bringing about change.
Sporting a pinstripe Dolce & Gabbana go well with, Mr. Dean, who together with Ms. Keys has one of many largest privately owned collections of labor by Mr. Parks, stated amassing the photographer’s items was central to preserving his legacy.
“As a substitute of telling folks what they’re not, we needed to encourage them to be,” Mr. Dean stated.
After the honors had been handed out, images had been taken, tears had been shed and Mr. Lee had delivered a few somber anecdotes about his beloved New York Knicks, who had simply been defeated within the playoffs, the congregation started to lose steam.
Usher left the constructing and D.J. D-Good, a born-again celeb, performed the R&B gospels: Stevie Marvel and Frankie Beverly.
It was time for fellowship or an Uber experience dwelling.
