{"id":204778,"date":"2026-04-21T15:15:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:15:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/204778\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T15:15:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T15:15:09","slug":"inside-tribeca-ball-2026-honoring-alan-cumming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/204778\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Tribeca Ball 2026 Honoring Alan Cumming"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tOn Monday night, block party season got an early kickoff courtesy of the New York<\/a> Academy of Art.<\/p>\n

\n\tA jazz band kept the artfully dressed Tribeca Ball crowd \u2014 and curious onlookers across the street \u2014entertained as guests lined the Franklin Street sidewalk, inching closer to the main event as stilt walkers ushered them inside.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cShe brought dessert, I brought dinner,\u201d quipped one guest, holding a golden fish-shaped bag as Carla Shen walked by with a cake-shaped clutch.<\/p>\n

\n\tBefore the evening\u2019s actual dinner, Will Cotton, Rose Dergan, Dustin Yellin, Nicole Miller, Brynn Whitfield and more explored the school\u2019s upper floors, where students were stationed in their studio spaces with work on display \u2014 and in some cases, were mid-creation. <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Rose<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRose Dergen, Will Cotton and Carla Shen.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLexie Moreland\/WWD<\/p>\n

\n\tThe evening honored Alan Cumming<\/a>, alongside Eileen Guggenheim and Russell Wilkinson.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe are living in a time where both the arts in general and education itself \u2014 and learning \u2014 is under threat, and is so looked down upon and not encouraged,\u201d Cumming said of his support for the New York<\/a> Academy of Art. \u201cI\u2019ve always loved the fact that this school is about going back to traditional forms and ensuring a rounded education about the fine arts,\u201d he added. \u201cSo many people get so much pleasure from the arts and sadly in this country, it\u2019s not supported by the government. So it\u2019s our duty to do that work.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAsked what qualities he\u2019s drawn to most within the arts, Cumming noted a commitment to vulnerability and authenticity. \u201cIn whatever way that manifests itself, I think that\u2019s what I respond to,\u201d he said. \u201cTruth, authenticity and idiosyncrasy are my catnip.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLast year\u2019s Tribeca Ball<\/a> marked a changing of the guard, as David Kratz stepped down as Academy president, and Paul R. Provost stepped into the role.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u200aThe highlight for me has been getting to know the students. The students are just extraordinary,\u201d said Provos, marking his first year on the job. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe through line of all of this is creativity. Alan is fearless with his creativity,\u201d Provost added, highlighting the contributions of the evening\u2019s honorees, from Guggenheim and Wilkinson\u2019s four-plus decade involvement to Cumming\u2019s enthusiastic support. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe Academy is about creativity and what our artists do, and celebrating emerging artists,\u201d he continued. \u201cThe excitement for me is embracing that mission and that vision, and bringing it forward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Gigi<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGigi Powers, Cynthia Rowley and Kit Keenan.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tLexie Moreland\/WWD<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On Monday night, block party season got an early kickoff courtesy of the New York Academy of Art.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":204779,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9,11,10,8368],"class_list":{"0":"post-204778","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-headlines","10":"tag-new-york-news","11":"tag-parties"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204778\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}