Anna Deavere Smith To Host New York Live Arts 2018 Live Ideas Gala: Radical Vision

New York Live Arts 2018 Live Ideas Gala, co-chaired by Slobodan Randjelovi? and Jon Stryker and Ruth and Stephen Hendel and hosted by award-winning performer and playwright Anna Deavere Smith, pays tribute to Live Arts' annual Live Ideas Festival. The Gala will take place at Irving Plaza, 17 Irving Place, New York City on Monday, April 16, starting with a cocktail reception at 6:30pm and followed by the dinner and program at 7:15pm.

The 2018 Live Ideas Award will be given to Bryan Stevenson, public interest lawyer, social justice activist, Professor of Law at New York University, and founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative. Stevenson is a widely acclaimed public interest lawyer who has dedicated his career to helping the poor, the incarcerated, and the condemned. For his work, he has received numerous awards including the prestigious MacArthur Foundation "Genius" Prize, the National Medal of Liberty from the American Civil Liberties Union, and the Olof Palme Prize in Stockholm, Sweden, for international human rights. Stevenson is also the author of the New York Times Bestseller Just Mercy.

Live Ideas Gala Honorees include Elizabeth A. Sackler, a public historian and social activist. Sackler is the founder of the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art at the Brooklyn Museum and founder of the American Indian Ritual Object Repatriation Foundation. Sackler is also President of the Arthur M. Sackler Foundation and a Trustee of the Brooklyn Museum. The second Honoree is Ed Zimmerman, Chair of the Tech Group at Lowenstein Sandler LLP, Adjunct Professor of VC at Columbia University's Graduate School of Business, and an Expert Panelist for The Wall Street Journal. He is a published columnist, the founder of VentureCrush, and - for more than 20 years - the pro bono legal advisor to New York Live Arts.

The evening will feature special performances by four time Grammy Award winning American jazz bassist, vocalist and composer Esperanza Spalding, the 2017 Juried Bessie Award-winning choreographer Abby Z and The New Utility, composer and pianist Samora Abayomi Pinderhughes, known for large multidisciplinary projects and for his use of music to examine sociopolitical issues, and performances by the legendary Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company.

"Each year, our Live Arts Gala plays tribute to the Live Ideas Festival. This year, Live Ideas: Radical Vision is informed by the desire to protect our democracy and make it stronger," states Bill T. Jones, Live Arts' Artistic Director. "We are pleased to award activist Bryan Stevenson for his radical vision, and to honor Elizabeth A. Sackler and Ed Zimmerman for their ongoing support."

Laurie Anderson**, Anonymous, Kyle Abraham**, Sarah Arison*, Patricia Blanchet, Mx Justin Vivian Bond**, Gale A. Brewer, Manhattan Borough President**, Lisa Pevaroff & Gary Cohn, Kim Cullen*, Claire Danes & Hugh Dancy, David Dechman & Michel Mercure, Terence Dougherty* & Pierre Duleyrie, Margaret Doyle, Temple St. Clair & Paul Engler, Adam Flatto, Eleanor Friedman, U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand**, Agnes Gund, Helen Haje*, Ruth & Stephen* Hendel, NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson**, Bill T. Jones* & Bjorn Amelan*, Suzanne Karpas, Patricia Karpas, Colleen Keegan*, Hedy Klineman, Lorraine Gallard & Richard H. Levy*, Delroy Lindo**, Robert Longo, Lowenstein Sandler, Barbara & Alan Marks*, Amy Newman* & Bud Shulman, Okwui Okpokwasili**, Randy Polumbo*, Plant Construction, Ellen M. Poss, Matthew Putman*, Slobodan Randjelovi?* & Jon Stryker, Alanna Rutherford*, Democratic Leader Charles E. Schumer**, Jane Bovingdon Semel*, Ruby Shang*, Cindy Sherman, Jennifer & Jonathan Allan Soros, Gloria Steinem**, Catharine R. Stimpson*, David Thomson*, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer**, Diana Wege*

*Board of Directors, **Honorary Committee

Individual tickets to the event are $1,500 or $5,000 for four tickets. Table purchases range from $15,000 to $25,000. For information about purchasing tickets and tables to the New York Live Arts 2018 Gala, please contact Ali Burke at 212.691.6500 x377 or aburke@newyorklivearts.org. For updates, please visit the New York Live Arts website.

New York Live Arts is an internationally recognized destination for innovative movement-based artistry offering audiences access to art and artists notable for their conceptual rigor, formal experimentation, and active engagement with the social, political, and cultural currents of our time. At the center of this identity is Artistic Director Bill T. Jones, a world-renowned choreographer, dancer, theater director, and writer. New York Live Arts commissions, produces, and presents performances in its 20,000 square-foot home, which includes a 184-seat theater and two 1,200 square-foot studios that can be combined. New York Live Arts serves as home base for the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company, supports the continuing professional development of artists, and provides an extensive range of participatory programs for adults and young people.. For more information, please visit www.newyorklivearts.org.

Support for New York Live Arts is provided by Con Edison, the Joseph and Joan Cullman Foundation for the Arts, the Ford Foundation, the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Harkness Foundation for Dance, Humanities New York, the Alice Lawrence Foundation, the Samuel M. Levy Family Foundation, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, Metropolitan Capital Bancorp, Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation, the National Performance Network, the New England Foundation for the Arts, New York Community Trust, The O'Donnell Green Music and Dance Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the Jerome Robbins Foundation, The Fan Fox & Leslie R.Samuels Foundation, the Scherman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Stavros Niarchos Foundation, and the Theatre Development Fund.

Public support for New York Live Arts is from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Photo Credit: Titus Kaphar