The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA), will celebrate 16 years of serving the community through the arts with its second annual MoCADA Masquerade Ball, Thursday, May 19, 2016, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) Lepercq Ballroom.
Established in 1999, The Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts (MoCADA) was Brooklyn’s first and only museum dedicated to the creation and interpretation of contemporary black arts and culture.
Today, MoCADA has expanded from a grassroots startup with a social justice mission, to an internationally recognized arts institution having produced more than 60 exhibitions and 500 public programs, spreading from the museum’s main gallery to the streets, parks, schools, and public housing of Brooklyn and beyond.
MoCADA uses art, including exhibitions and programming, to strengthen community, both locally and internationally. With the work done at MoCADA, dialogue on pressing social and political issues facing the African diaspora incites as the museum fosters a dynamic space for the creation and continuous evolution of culture.
MoCADA challenges the traditional definitions of the museum by using art to impact lives both within its physical walls and throughout the wider community.
The fundraising at this annual Spring Gala will benefit MoCADA as it embarks upon a new capital campaign to raise monies for community programs and to continually fund the development of MoCADA’s new larger museum in Brooklyn.
“At this year’s gala, I am excited to announce more details about the future of MoCADA as we prepare to move into our brand new museum space,” said Executive Director, James Bartlett. “We’ve grown from a tiny, donated space in a Bedford-Stuyvesant brownstone, to one of the most influential arts organizations in New York City & MoCADA is now undertaking several major initiatives that will greatly increase the organization’s impact within the local and international arts and social justice ecologies.”
The 2nd annual MoCADA Masquerade Ball will celebrate 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 include Maxwell, Estelle, and Bevy Smith.
There will be a VIP cocktail reception; guests will also get access to an intimate performance by R&B artist Bilal, plus live art by Nigerian visual artist Laolu Senbanjo.
To purchase tickets to the 2nd annual MoCADA Masquerade Ball, please click here.