The Phillips Collection's 2016 Annual Benefit Gala Celebrates Artistic Exchange and Cultural Diplomacy

April 16, 2016

WASHINGTON—Director Dorothy Kosinski, the Board of Trustees, and host AT&T with Kay and Sunny Kapoor are thrilled to announce that The Phillips Collection’s Annual Benefit Gala will be held on Friday, May 13, 2016. The Embassy of the State of Qatar, the Lockheed Martin Corporation, and the University of Maryland will serve as the 2016 Gala Co-Chairs and His Excellency Mohammed Jaham Al-Kuwari, the Ambassador of the State of Qatar, will serve as 2016 Diplomatic Chair.

The Annual Gala, Arabesque: Patterns of Beauty East–West, A Salute to Qatar, pays homage to the impact of the arabesque on Modern art, and celebrates artistic exchange and cultural diplomacy between the State of Qatar and the United States. An evening unlike any other in Washington, the Annual Gala attracts 500 cultural, political, diplomatic, and business leaders to dine among the Phillips’s masterworks. With the support of many local and national partners, the black-tie event includes a cocktail reception and dinner followed by live music, dessert, and champagne. The evening coincides with the Contemporaries Bash: Dreaming of Doha—a dazzling night of cocktails, music, food, fashion, and dancing at Dock 5 at Union Market that attracts more than 700 of the city’s young professionals.

PATTERNS OF BEAUTY

The great masters of Modern art, including Paul Klee and Wassily Kandinsky, were inspired by the calligraphic ornamentation of the Middle East, patterns that influenced their evolving abstract works. Whether combined, duplicated, interlaced, or arranged in intricate combinations, patterns are at the heart of Islamic art. These abstract designs adorn the surfaces of Qatari architecture and function as the major decorative elements in objects and books that are essential to that rich culture.

One can trace the subtle impact of the arabesque in the evolution of Modern art, notably in the works of Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Klee, and Kandinsky, artists who figure prominently in The Phillips Collection. Arabesque was a vehicle for these artists to move away from representation toward abstraction.

While geometric patterns can be aesthetically pleasing and have symbolic resonance, geometry, patterns, seriation, and repetition are fundamental to mathematics and science. Using the Phillips’s arts- integration teaching framework, we help educators more effectively teach math and science through thinking and learning with art. The Phillips’s award-winning educational programs for audiences of all ages align with Qatar’s commitment to excellence and innovation in the arts and education.

2016 HONOREES

The Phillips’s Annual Gala provides a platform to acknowledge individuals who play critical roles in the reform of K–12 education and forwarding arts-integration. This year, the museum recognizes two Congressional Honorees, STEAM Caucus Co-Chairs the Honorable Suzanne Bonamici and the Honorable Elise Stefanik, for their efforts to change the vocabulary of education to recognize the benefits and intersections of both the arts and sciences.

Additionally, the Phillips will honor Board of Trustees member Lynne Horning for her outstanding service on the museum’sEducation Committee as well as her commitment to the Phillips’snew partnership with the Town Hall Education Arts Recreation Campus (THEARC) in Anacostia. Distinguished scholar, artist, educator, and visionary leader in the arts David C. Driskell will be honored for his efforts to preserve the rich heritage of African American visual art and culture through the Driskell Center at the University of Maryland, also a new Phillips partner.

SUPPORTING ARTS-INTEGRATED EDUCATION

The Annual Gala raises critical resources for the museum’s award-winning education programs that forward K–12 education reform, art and wellness, and lifelong learning in the Washington, DC, community, across the country, and globally. Phillips programs deeply engage students, teachers, families, and adults in mindful, arts-integrated experiences that foster greater understanding of our world. The museum catalyzes K–12 education reform with Prism.K12, the Phillips’s nationally-tested methodology for educators of any core subject area to develop robust arts-integrated lessons.