Danny Glover and Alfre Woodard honored at MoAD gala.
Leading the 450-strong choir at the Palace Hotel, haute haberdasher Wilkes Bashford and museum interim Executive Director Deborah Santana presided over a dazzling evening of glitz and glamour during the World’s Canvas, a benefit gala for the Museum of the African Diaspora on Oct. 12.
“I think even Willie Brown would agree this room is filled with the best-dressed crowd ever,” said Bashford of his pal, who, during his mayoral administration, spearheaded the redevelopment project that created MoAD. “I just wish people dressed like this all the time.” Grammy Award-nominated singer Ledisi entertained fans, and KRON news anchor Pam Moore emceed the swell soiree, which raised a record $500K in support of MoAD’s exhibition and education programs.
“MoAD,” toasted Bashford, “carries out a courageous mission to present and protect the history and artistry of the black culture.”
The lively evening honored actoractivist Danny Glover (Patron of Culture), S.F. Foundation CEO Sandra Hernandez (Legacy of Philanthropy) and actor Alfre Woodard (Performing Arts Program honoree) and presented the Corporate Leadership Award to Moet Hennessy USA.
Woodard delivered a dramatic recitation of a poem by Nikki Giovanni that describes how NASA scientists could learn about the travails of space missions from the experience of her African ancestors who survived grueling captivity aboard slave ships. Among fans: MoAD kick-starter Belva Davis; Denise Bradley and her husband, Kaiser Permanente CEO Bernard Tyson; MoAD Board chairman Wade Rose; Morgan Stanley V.P. Kimberly Brandon; Tommy Moon and his wife, Giants announcer Renel Brooks-Moon; Wells Fargo exec Brenda Wright; Lennar Corp.
honcho Kofi Bonner; Susan Brown; Union Bank’s Social Responsibility E.V.P. Julius Robinson; Supervisor London Breed; Maxwell Gillette and his wife, Abidjan-S.F. Sister City Committee chairwoman Frankie Gillette; ABC-TV anchor Carolyn Tyler; Farah and Victor Makras; Sonya Molodetskaya; and Jeff Garelick, Wilkes Bashford director of sales.
The gala was also a prelude to MoAD’s new exhibition, “Cultivating Crosscurrents: Africa & Black Diasporas in Dialogue,” which opened this week. Honorary chairman Lawrence Bancroft spoke on the power of the museum’s mission and exhibition schedule. Last year’s “Kinsey Collection” touched him deeply.
“That ‘Kinsey” exhibition centered on the works depicting and exploring Jim Crow laws and the civil rights movement,” he said. “Its display expressed an appreciation of our history. And that’s what MoAD is all about. And there’s no way we can stop saying, ‘Yes’ to our history, to our culture, to our artistry and to the museum’s mission of educating people from all walks of life.”