Alicia Keys and her husband Kasseem Dean, better known as Swizz Beatz, are among the honorees of The Gordon Parks Foundation’s annual Awards Dinner and Auction.
The event will take place Tuesday, May 21, at Cipriani 42nd Street in New York City.
The power couple, who have co-chaired the Gordon Parks Foundation Awards gala for a decade, will receive the Patrons of the Arts Award.
“We are deeply honored to be receiving the Gordon Parks Patrons of the Arts Award in 2024,” says Keys and Dean. “We truly appreciate the Foundation’s work providing scholarships and fellowships to the next generation of students and artists whose creative work reflects and extends Gordon’s important legacy.”
Other honorees include activist and former NFL player Colin Kaepernick, mixed-media artist Mickalene Thomas, and civil rights activist and former Chairman of the NAACP Myrlie Evers-Williams.
Additionally, there will be a special tribute to the late Richard Roundtree, who starred in the Gordon Parks-directed film Shaft. Roundtree passed away on Oct. 24, 2023. He was 81.
“Our annual gala is a celebration of Gordon Parks’s lasting impact on art, film, music, and activism,” says Peter W. Kunhardt, Jr., executive director of The Gordon Parks Foundation. “We are proud to honor Colin, Alicia, Swizz, Richard, Mickalene, and Myrlie – all visionaries whose brilliant work and deep commitment to advancing social justice span multiple generations over 60 years and continue Parks’s legacy.”
The upcoming gala will include a live auction of Parks’ photographs.
All proceeds from the event will be used to support year-round educational programming, fellowships, prizes and scholarships provided by The Gordon Parks Foundation. For ticket information, visit gordonparksfoundation.org.
In other art news, Keys and Swizz Beatz recently announced Giants: Art from the Dean Collection of Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keys.
The exhibit will be available from Feb. 10 through July 7 at the Brooklyn Museum in New York.
According to press materials, “The first major exhibition of the Dean Collection, Giants showcases a focused selection from the couple’s world-class holdings.”
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On a music front, Keys recently contributed to The Color Purple soundtrack, which is out now on gamma. Her uplifting anthem, “Lifeline,” was released as the lead single on Nov. 27, 2023.
The official “Lifeline” video, directed by Diane Martel, premiered Dec. 21.
Weeks before sharing the video, Keys released The Diary of Alicia Keys 20 to commemorate the 20th anniversary of her groundbreaking sophomore album. The deluxe edition includes nine bonus tracks.
On March 28, Keys’ Hell’s Kitchen musical will debut on Broadway at Shubert Theatre.
The musical was inspired by Keys’ upbringing in the Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan. Tickets to the show are available at hellskitchen.com.
