The UW art museum’s Black and White Gala will fund programs, exhibitions, and other events throughout the year with auctions, dinner and dancing.
“The gala is really important to the museum and it’s vital to what we’re able to provide to the public,” art museum director and chief curator Nicole Crawford said.
According to Crawford, the gala has historically raised around 60% of the museum’s programming funds, making it one of the museum’s most important fundraising events.
“It’s just an amazing event because it shows how much people support the museum; not just general public but campus partners as well,” Crawford said.
This year’s black and white theme is inspired by the gala held by Truman Capote in 1966 at the Plaza Hotel in NYC.
“Much like Capote’s Ball, our 2022 gala is a festive evening of fine food, libations, music, and friendship, all to support the extensive programs of the UW Art Museum,” The art museum said on its website.
The last gala held by the art museum was in 2019.
“We thought this year black and white is just a nice coming out because we haven’t had gala in a few years because of Covid and other reasons, so we thought this would be a nice homage to gala,” Crawford said. “The idea behind it is bringing back this idea of vintage gala.”
The gala is supported by the UW Art Museum National Advisory Board, which Crawford said was instrumental in the planning of the gala.
Crawford said that the programs funded by the gala will help engage the community and showcase art to more people.
“Part of the gala fund helps bring in the artists to give artist talks. They do class visits on campus, they do public workshops,” Crawford said.
“So it’s a way to engage the academic community and the local community at the art museum, because what’s the point of putting art up if nobody comes to see it?”
Additionally, Crawford said the gala is the first opportunity since before the COVID-19 pandemic for people to come together to support the museum.
“I think for me I’m most excited to see everyone because we haven’t had a chance to get together in two years and we have a great group of constituents who support the museum,” Crawford said. “I really miss the people and I think its going to be really fun to get together and see everyone again.”
Crawford also said that the gala is an opportunity to engage with and celebrate campus partners and other community supporters.
“People have an opportunity to buy tables and several departments and colleges on campus are buying tables, so that shows how much they support our role on campus, and I think that is important.”
In addition to the gala, the museum is currently displaying an exhibition titled “Contemporary in Black and White,” which brings together a selection of achromatic pieces designed to coincide with the gala theme.
“The intentionality of casting aside the color spectrum and focusing on the visual power of black and white results in surprising and thought-provoking imagery,” the art museum’s website said.
The gala is black tie, with attendees asked to wear hues of black and white to match the theme of the event.
The Gala will take place at the art museum Saturday at 6:00 p.m. and is free and open to the public.
