Press Room

With performances from Roseanne Cash & Alvin Ailey Dancers; Emcee MX Justin Vivian Bond

New York, NY (September 28, 2020)

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) will hold its annual MAD Ball on October 15, a virtual benefit honoring Judy Chicago for her unparalleled contributions to the fields of art, craft, and design. MAD BALL begins with a pre-show and cocktails led by MX Justin Vivian Bond starting at 6:00 PM ET. The evening’s festivities include a live conversation at 7:00 PM ET with Judy Chicago and MAD’s own William and Mildred Lasdon Chief Curator and Deputy Director Elissa Auther. At 7:15 PM ET Rosanne Cash delivers a heartfelt message and song, followed by a performance by 39 women from Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at the site of Chicago’s legendary creation The Dinner Party. 

As part of the ceremony of honor, Judy Chicago will be presented with a special award created by artist Trulee Hall.

Rather than gather en masse, this year’s MAD Ball goes virtual with simultaneous intimate gatherings hosted at various unique locations, and participants connected through Zoom, allowing for a global celebration of Judy Chicago's life, while addressing safety and social-distancing needs. The evening is presented in conjunction with The Feminist Institute and T. Edward Wines & Spirits, with segments produced and directed by Chiara Clemente, including a special tour of The Dinner Party with Carmen Hermo, Associate Curator of Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center, the world’s only permanent museum space dedicated to feminist art.

Simona and Jerome A. Chazen, Laura and Lewis Kruger, Nanette L. Laitman (in memoriam), and Barbara and Donald Tober, all longtime trustees of MAD and generous patrons, will be the first recipients of the MAD Champions Award. This new honor has been created to recognize innovative leaders that have made significant contributions to the Museum and the world of contemporary art and design. MAD Ball also includes an auction powered by Artsy with works from Judy Chicago, as well as Jane Adam, Lindsey Adelman, Sanford Biggers and Marianne Boesky Gallery, Caroline Broadhead, Ashley Buchanan, Orly Cogan, Liz Collins, Erin Dailey, Christian Dior, Jen Dwyer, Andrew Erdos, Sebastian Errazuriz, Paula Giecco, Danielle Gori-Montanelli, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Beth Lipman, Linda Lopez, Issey Miyake, Margo Morrison, Nick Moss, Carrie Moyer, Jen Neame-Collins, Todd Pavlisko, Sheila Pepe, Uli Rapp, Faith Ringgold and ACA Galleries, Vania Ruiz, Eduardo Sarabia, Kiki Smith, Katie Stout, Francesca Vitali, David Weeks, Brian Weissman, Rob Wynne, and Jeff Zimmerman and R and Co Gallery.

Tickets for the gala can be purchased here.

If you cannot attend MAD Ball 2020, or do not wish to participate in the virtual gathering, but would like to support our event, you can make a contribution here.

ABOUT JUDY CHICAGO

Judy Chicago is an artist, author, feminist, educator, and intellectual whose career now spans five decades. Her influence both within and beyond the art community is attested to by her inclusion in hundreds of publications throughout the world. Chicago has remained steadfast in her commitment to the power of art as a vehicle for intellectual transformation and social change and to women’s right to engage in the highest level of art production. As a result, she has become a symbol for people everywhere, known and respected as an artist, writer, teacher, feminist and humanist whose work and life are models for an enlarged definition of art, an expanded role for the artist, and women’s right to freedom of expression. In 2018 Chicago was named one of Time magazine’s “100 Most Influential People”. For more information, visit judychicago.com.

Judy Chicago has had a long and significant history with the Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) including exhibitions, publications, and works in the MAD permanent collection.  Through the generous gift of tapestry weaver Audrey Cowan and her husband Bob, MAD acquired the cycle of tapestries designed by Chicago and woven by Cowan, her longtime collaborator. The gift includes two major tapestries, The Creation and The Fall, from the Birth Project and the Holocaust Project, five other tapestries, and many of Chicago’s most important cartoons and studies. MAD also houses the archive documenting Audrey’s collaboration with Judy Chicago. In 2011, The Creation was exhibited at MAD as part of an exhibition titled Judy Chicago Tapestries: Woven by Audrey Cowan, the first survey of Chicago’s tapestry designs.

ABOUT THE MUSEUM OF ARTS AND DESIGN

The Museum of Arts and Design (MAD) champions contemporary makers across creative fields and presents the work of artists, designers, and artisans who apply the highest level of ingenuity and skill. Since the Museum’s founding in 1956 by philanthropist and visionary Aileen Osborn Webb, MAD has celebrated all facets of making and the creative processes by which materials are transformed, from traditional techniques to cutting-edge technologies. Today, the Museum’s curatorial program builds upon a rich history of exhibitions that emphasize a cross-disciplinary approach to art and design, and reveals the workmanship behind the objects and environments that shape our everyday lives. MAD provides an international platform for practitioners who are influencing the direction of cultural production and driving twenty-first-century innovation, and fosters a participatory setting for visitors to have direct encounters with skilled making and compelling works of art and design. For more information, visit madmuseum.org.