On Thursday, May 19th, the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) celebrated its 16th anniversary and 2nd Annual Masquerade Ball with an exquisite affair at the Brooklyn Academy of Music – Lepercq Ballroom.
The Ball celebrated 16 years of serving the community through the arts by acknowledging individuals who have positively influenced the Contemporary African Diasporan Arts and the community, including Derrick Adams for the Artist Advocacy Award, The Rockefeller Foundation for the Philanthropic Advocacy Award, and Studio One Eighty Nine Founders Rosario Dawson and Abrima Erwiah for the Social Justice Advocacy Award.
Honorary gala chairs Estelle and Maxwell shared warm accounts of what the MoCADA mission means to them and the work they’re looking to do to push the museum’s agenda forward.
During the Gala’s VIP cocktail reception, guests enjoyed an open bar with a specialty cocktail menu that featured Martell Cognac favorites and sipped freely while enjoying the beauty and community that art fosters.
Nigerian visual artist Laolu Senbanjo treated attendees to live body art and beautified an already stunning model with his Sacred Art of the Ori. You may be familiar with some of Senbanjo’s recent work on Beyoncé’s critically acclaimed visual album, Lemonade.
The spring gala partnered with Paddle8, the award-winning online auction house that offers museum-worthy works and contemporary collectibles, for an unprecedented online auction curated by Mickalene Thomas that included works from artists such as Renee Cox, Sanford Biggers, and Carrie Mae Weems.
Those of us who may not have had a bidding budget were still able to enjoy the ballroom’s art with several moving displays throughout the venue.
Sponsors of the 2nd Annual MoCADA Masquerade Ball include Black Enterprise, Cholula Hot Sauce, FOX Audience Strategy, Habana Outpost, HBO, JetBlue and Martell Cognac.
Guests of the ball left full off delectable fried chicken, gourmet mac and cheese, sandwiches, pastas, and dessert. We also received information on upcoming MoCADA events and were amused to find Cholula hot sauce in our bags, swag.
To learn more about MoCADA and the work their doing to incite dialogue on pressing social and political issues facing the African diaspora through use of the visual arts, visit mocada.org.
Be on the lookout for the 3rd Annual MoCADA Masquerade gala in 2017 as it is, quite obviously, an event you don’t want to miss.