Pérez Art Museum Miami Announces 12th Annual Art + Soul Celebration, Honoring Curator Thelma Golden
Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM) is pleased to announce the 12th annual Art + Soul Celebration , one of Miami's premier social and fundraising events in support and celebration of the PAMM Fund for Black Art. Taking place on February 1, 2025 , this year's celebration honors Thelma Golden, director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem. The event is led by co-chairs Holly Gaines and Eric Johnson, Tracey Robertson Carter and Christopher Carter, and Patricia Howell.
Thelma Golden. Photo by Julie Skarratt.
“No one has had a greater impact on the history of American Art in the last three decades, than this year's honoree, whose resolute focus on Black Art, has changed the fields of art history and cultural criticism,” said PAMM Director Franklin Sirmans. “As a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art and as the director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem since 2005, Golden has presented numerous groundbreaking exhibitions. In 2015, Golden joined the Barack Obama Foundation's Board of Directors, and in 2024, she was listed in Time's TIME100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. It is truly an honor to recognize her singular and ongoing achievements in the world of art and culture and beyond.”
The evening will feature cocktails, music, and dancing, as well as a curated dinner by Akino West. Art + Soul also welcomes arts supporters and PAMM Ambassadors for Black Art for the reveal of the Ambassadors' most recent art acquisition. The PAMM Fund for Black Art allows the museum to purchase and showcase contemporary art by Black artists for its permanent collection. Past Art + Soul honorees include Dr. Lowery S. Sims, Pamela Joyner, David Alan Grier, Jesse Williams, and Mashonda Tifrere.
In 2024, PAMM raised over $1 million for the fund and acquired Ogun's Return (Once Again… Statues Never Die) (2022) by Isaac Julien and wild wild country (2023) by Kennedy Yanko. Since 2013, the annual Art + Soul celebration has raised $7 million for the PAMM Fund for Black Art.
Since the inception of the fund, PAMM has acquired 27 artworks for the museum's permanent collection, including pieces by Dawoud Bey, Calida Rawles, Terry Adkins, Romare Bearden, Kevin Beasley, Ed Clark, Theresa Chromati, Nari Ward, Lorraine O'Grady, Ebony G. Patterson, Faith Ringgold, Tschabalala Self, Vaughn Spann, and Juana Valdes. Initiatives like the PAMM Fund for Black Art further the museum's commitment not only to raising public awareness and appreciation for the artistic legacy of Black artists, but also to expanding on conversations of diversity and inclusion. The Art + Soul celebration annually ignites these conversations, and the museum serves as a catalyst to ensure that these works will be enjoyed and valued by Miami's diverse community for generations to come.
Proceeds from Art + Soul benefit the fund.
For more information and ticketing, please contact Sabrina Flores at sflores@pamm.org .
COCKTAILS + DINNER 6:15pmJoin us for cocktails and a seated dinner designed by Chef Akino West. Enjoy the program and the unveiling of the Ambassadors' most recent art acquisition. Includes access to the Celebration.
CELEBRATION 10pmThe party continues with cocktails, desserts, and dancing under the stars with live entertainment. Gallery access begins at 9pm.
HONOREE Thelma Golden
CO-CHAIRS Holly Gaines and Eric JohnsonTracey Robertson Carter and Christopher CarterPatricia Howell
HONORARY CHAIR Deryl McKissack
ABOUT THELMA GOLDEN
Thelma Golden is the director and chief curator of the Studio Museum in Harlem, the world's leading institution devoted to visual arts by artists of African descent. She began her career in 1987 as an intern at the Studio Museum, then joined the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1988. Golden returned to the Studio Museum in 2000 as the deputy director for exhibitions and programs and was named the director and chief curator in 2005. Under her leadership, the Studio Museum has gained renown as a global leader in the exhibition of contemporary art and a cultural anchor in the Harlem community. Now in her 24th year at the museum, she is ushering in a new era for the institution with the construction of the first-ever purpose-built facility in its over 50-year history.
John Butler, Jessica Sirmans, Bisa Butler, Carrie Mae Weems, Kennedy Yanko, Mashonda Tifrere, Franklin Sirmans and Samuel Karim at PAMM Art + Soul 2024. Photo by WorldRedEye.com.
Golden serves on the board of directors for the Barack Obama Foundation, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Mellon Foundation. In 2024, Golden was awarded the WEB DuBois Medal by Harvard University and the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. She was also listed in Time Magazine's TIME100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world. In 2023, Golden was the first curator to be awarded The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize. She holds a BA in Art History and African American Studies from Smith College. She has received honorary degrees from Barnard College, the City College of New York, Columbia University, Moore College of Art and Design, San Francisco Art Institute, and Smith College. Golden was appointed to the Committee for the Preservation of the White House by President Obama in 2010. She is a recognized authority on contemporary art by artists of African descent and an active lecturer and panelist who speaks about art and culture at national and international institutions.
ABOUT THE PAMM FUND FOR BLACK ART
The PAMM Fund for Black Art was established in 2013 as the Fund for African American Art with a $1 million donation, funded equally by Jorge M. Pérez and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, for the purchase of contemporary art by African American artists for the museum's permanent collection. In 2021, PAMM renamed the fund to the Fund for Black Art, to more inclusively describe the various identities represented by the fund, including from Latin America and the Caribbean in addition to the African Diaspora. Through the Fund, the museum first acquired works by Al Loving, Faith Ringgold, and Xaviera Simmons, which joined other significant pieces in the museum's collection by African American artists such as Leonardo Drew, Sam Gilliam, Rashid Johnson, Lorna Simpson, James Van Der Zee, Carrie Mae Weems, Kehinde Wiley, and Purvis Young.
ABOUT PAMM
Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM), led by Director Franklin Sirmans, promotes artistic expression and the exchange of ideas, advancing public knowledge and appreciation of art, architecture, and design, and reflecting the diverse community of its pivotal geographic location at the crossroads of the Americas. The 40-year-old South Florida institution, formerly known as Miami Art Museum (MAM), opened a new building, designed by world-renowned architects Herzog & de Meuron, on December 4, 2013, in Downtown Miami's Maurice A. Ferré Park. The facility is a state-of-the-art model for sustainable museum design and progressive programming and features 200,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor program space with flexible galleries; shaded outdoor verandas; a waterfront restaurant and bar; a museum shop; and an education center with a library, media lab, and classroom spaces.
Taking Place February 1, 2025, Evening Supports PAMM's Fund for Black Art