The Metropolitan Museum of Art held its annual Spring Gala on Thursday, June 9, raising more than $2.6 million in support of the Museum’s education programs, conservation efforts, and exhibitions.
Honoree Brian Moynihan, Chair of the Board and Chief Executive Officer, Bank of America, was presented with the Business Committee Civic Leadership Award for his commitment to and generous support of cultural institutions.
“This event is a critical fundraiser for the Museum, and we are deeply grateful to Bank of America and to Brian Moynihan for their support of both The Met and cultural and community organizations around the country,” said Daniel H. Weiss, President and CEO of The Met.
“Bank of America’s partnership with The Met is a crucial pillar in our support for the arts, and we believe in the power of the arts to help local economies thrive, educate, and enrich societies,” said Moynihan. “On behalf of Bank of America and my teammates, it is an honor to receive this award and I am grateful to The Met for this recognition.”
The evening kicked off with a cocktail reception for nearly 400 attendees and a viewing of the exhibition Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents, followed by a seated dinner at the Temple of Dendur then dessert in the Great Hall. Bank of America is the corporate sponsor of Winslow Homer: Crosscurrents, which is on view at The Met Fifth Avenue through July 31.
At the event, Bank of America announced the Museum as one of the recipients of its Art Conservation Project grants, which provide funds to museums around the world to conserve historically or culturally significant works of art that are in danger of degeneration. This year marks the first Art Conservation Project award for The Met; it will support its efforts to conserve some 500 photographs in the Museum’s newly acquired archive of American photographer James Van Der Zee (1886–1983). A repository of New York history, the archive features portraits of thousands of Black families marking life’s many milestones from birth to death and also likenesses of such luminaries as Mamie Smith, Muhammad Ali, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Adam Clayton Powell, Sr. The James Van Der Zee Archive and this critical conservation effort will allow the Museum to tell a more comprehensive and accurate account of the history of American photography and simultaneously celebrate Black culture from the first decade of the 20th century to the 1980s.
