On Thursday, October 19th, the Brooklyn Museum hosted the Yes! Gala and presented the 2017 Sackler Center First Awards, celebrating the accomplishments of pioneering women who've made an impact on arts, culture, and society. BroadwayWorld has photos from the evening below!
The evening drew over 350 guests, including feminist icon/author Gloria Steinem, Jennifer Morrison (actress), Laura Flanders journalist); and evening honorees Judy Chicago (artist); Deborah Berke (architect); Jodi Archambault Gillette (attorney and activist);; Carol Jenkins (journalist and news anchor); Roberta Kaplan (litigator and attorney); Kathy Kusner (pioneer female jockey); Ruth Simmons (first African American Ivy League University president), along with the team behind feminist manifesto, Our Bodies, Ourselves.
Brooklyn Museum's Shelby White and Leon Levy Director Anne Pasternak; The Yes! Benefit Committee - Jill and Jay Bernstein, Stephanie Ingrassia, Ellen and Bill Taubman and the 10th Anniversary Committee members - Marjorie D. Egan, Marjorie Martay, Leslie Puth, Elizabeth A. Sackler, Lauren J. Wachtler, and Lola C. West, Regina Aldisert, Sarah Arison, Leslie Puth, Eric Wareheim and Jessica Williams - rounded out the celebration. Shirley Chisholm (politician/educator) and Edie Windsor (gay marriage activist) were acknowledged in absentia as was Rita Moreno (award-winning performer and activist).
Guests began the evening with cocktails before shifting into the auditorium for the Sackler First Awards presentation. Afterwards, the crowd shifted back to the Beaux Arts Court for a dinner featuring décor and food inspired by Judy Chicago's iconic Dinner Party installation.
The 2017 Sackler Center First Awards celebrates women who are first in their fields. The evening's honorees join the ranks of extraordinary women who have received the Sackler Center First Awards including Activist/Educator Angela Y. Davis, former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, Noble Laureate in Literature Toni Morrison, art historian Linda Nochlin, and attorney and professor Anita Hill, even pop culture icon Miss Piggy - all of whom have been recognized by the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art for their herstoric trailblazing.
The Yes! Gala is the culmination of the "Year of Yes" at the museum and kicked off the first-ever Brooklyn Conference: Inspiring Social Change, which will continue through October 22.
Photo Credit: Jerry Speier for the Brooklyn Museum
Chirlaine McCray (left) and Anne Pasternak (right). The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum
Gloria Steinem. The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
Gloria Steinem (left) and Judy Chicago (right). The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum
Blaine Spesak (left) and Jessica Williams (right). The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
Laura Flanders. The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
Elizabeth A. Sackler. The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
Anne Pasternak (left) and Judy Chicago (right). The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
Judy Chicago. The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
Carol Jenkins (left) and Gloria Steinem (right). The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
Jodi Archambault Gillette (left) and Elizabeth A. Sackler (right). The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
Ruth Simmons (left) and Elizabeth A. Sackler (right). The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
Anne Pasternak (left) and Judy Chicago (right). The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
The 2017 YES! Gala at the Brooklyn Museum.
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