The Hammer Museum at UCLA said Friday that TV creator Darren Star and artist Betye Saar will be the guests of honor at its 21st annual Gala in the Garden. The event, which recognizes innovators who have made profound contributions to society, is slated for May 2.
The Gala in the Garden serves as the museum’s largest fundraising effort of the year, drawing a high-profile crowd of cultural and civic leaders, artists, collectors and arts patrons. Funds raised are vital to supporting the Hammer’s internationally acclaimed exhibitions and free public programs. Last year’s gala successfully raised $2.4 million for the institution.
This year’s honorees represent two distinct but equally influential facets of the arts. Saar, who is celebrating her 100th birthday this year, is regarded as one of the most impactful artists to emerge from Los Angeles. Star has spent decades shaping popular culture as the creative force behind global TV hits such as Beverly Hills, 90210, Melrose Place, Sex and the City and Emily in Paris.
“Betye Saar and Darren Star are two visionaries whose work has profoundly shaped the cultural and art landscape, and we could not be more honored to recognize them at this year’s Gala in the Garden,” said Hammer Museum director Zoë Ryan.
For more than two decades, the Hammer’s Gala in the Garden has maintained a tradition of pairing an artist with a cultural luminary. Star and Saar will join a roster of past honorees that includes literary figures Joan Didion and Margaret Atwood, Hollywood stars Jane Fonda and Jordan Peele, and artists such as Kara Walker, Mark Bradford and Ed Ruscha.
Exhibitions on view at the time of the Gala in the Garden will include Arthur Jafa: The White Album, Five Centuries of Works on Paper: The Grunwald Center at 70, Several Eternities in a Day: Form in the Age of Living Materials, Space Is the Place: Selections from the Hammer Contemporary Collection, and Hammer Projects: Mike Cloud.
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