Leaving a Legacy

Friends of the Gordon Parks Foundation—which carries on the legacy of the philanthropic African-American photographer through progressive art scholarships, educational programs, and archival preservation—trekked downtown on Tuesday night, for the non-profit’s annual art awards gala at Ciprani Wall Street. George Lucas and his wife Mellody Hobson received The Patron of the Arts Award for their significant support of the foundation and were toasted alongside the evening’s other honorees, including designer Vera Wang and artist Lorna Simpson. A lively auction of Parks’s photographs punctuated the decadent dinner with one work leaving in the hands of the night’s host Kasseem Dean (a.k.a. Swizz Beats) and his wife Alicia Keys. But it was a different diva, Janelle Monae, who brought guests like Karlie Kloss to their feet with her mash-up of Jackson 5 classics like “I Want You Back” and “ABC.”