SAN FRANCISCO, CA - October 3 - Key Jo Lee, Monetta White, Dewey Crumpler and Eric McDonnell attend MoAD's 2026 AFROPOLITAN Ball on October 3rd 2026 at Ferry Building in San Francisco, CA (Photo - Drew Altizer)
Event: MoAD Afropolitan Ball 2026 Date: October 3, 2026 Location: San Francisco Ferry Building Photos:Drew Altizer, Mahelly Ferreira and Dave Ortega for Drew Altizer Photography
The Museum of the African Diaspora (MoAD) held its 2026 Afropolitan Ball at the San Francisco Ferry Building on the evening of October 3, 2026, raising over $1 million for the museum, its programs, and its global mission to center artists of the African diaspora. This year’s edition introduced the inaugural MoAD Vanguard Award, presented to legendary Bay Area artist Dewey Crumpler for his lifelong dedication to artistic vision, cultural leadership, influential teaching, and mentorship. Guests from the fields of art, entertainment, academia, and philanthropy came together for the momentous evening, marking the culmination of the largest and most energetic Nexus: SF/Bay AreaBlack Art Week since its launch in 2024. Highlights from the seated program included a live auction by Naomi Lewis and unique culinary offerings by Foxtail Catering & Events. The evening concluded with dancing and a vinyl DJ set from DJ Jihaari.
The Afropolitan Ball anchored the third annual Nexus: SF/Bay Area Black Art Week, which kicked off on Wednesday, September 30 at MoAD with the opening of their new fall exhibitions: Dewey Crumpler:Sonic Lineages, After the Island: Ornament and Ceramic Practice in the Jamaican Diaspora, and the EAP exhibition Calling All Cats! by Dorian Reid. This year’s Nexus was the most expansive, with more than 100 participating artists and over 200 exhibitions, open studios, programs, and immersive experiencescelebrating the impact of Black art and culture across the region. New this year were events connecting the Bay Area and Southern California, including Art eXodus: From North to South, The Coast, presented by Jac Forbes Contemporary, andA Call Home: Bay to LA at Streetlight Gallery.
The evening kicked off with a special performance by Michael Wayne Turner III presented by George McCalman, highlighting the living exhibit and educational salon A March Through Time. MoAD’s Board Chair Eric McDonnell welcomed attendees to the Afropolitan Ball with remarks on MoAD’s strength and clear vision for the future as the museum continues to deliver on its mission to place the contemporary art and artists of the African Diaspora at the center of the global cultural conversation. Afropolitan Ball Co-Chairs Charles & Cheryl Ward followed, speaking to the museum’s vital role in shaping contemporary art for generations to come while paying tribute to honoree Dewey Crumpler’s lasting impact on the Bay Area arts community.
Salesforce President and Chief Operating and Financial Officer Robin Washington provided further remarks, detailing Salesforce’s long-standing partnership with the museum for the past six years to help strengthen the institution’s capacity, programming, and reach. MoAD’s Executive Director and CEO Monetta White took the stage to remark upon MoAD and this year’s Nexus as meeting places in which artists from all over the world can see their ideas and stories come to life.
“The community we serve is much bigger than San Francisco. The African Diaspora stretches across cities, countries, continents, languages, and generations. Tonight, that diaspora is represented here in this room,” said Monetta White, Executive Director and CEO, during the seated portion of the gala. “To those who have traveled to be with us this evening, MoAD is your museum too. Wherever you come from, and wherever the diaspora has taken root, you should be able to see your stories, feel your ideas, and unlock your creative possibilities here. That is the museum we are building.”
Following a jazz performance by the Ashley Jemison Quartet highlighting the musical themes of Crumpler’s MoAD exhibition Sonic Lineages, Monetta White was joined by MoAD’s Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Public Programs Key Jo Lee. The pair presented the inaugural MoAD Vanguard Award to Dewey Crumpler which included a $10,000 prize. Crumpler reflected on his early years as an artist, when he and his peers dreamed of an institution like MoAD dedicated to showcasing local and international Black artists. The new, annual Vanguard Award recognizes an artist whose vision, creative practice, and cultural leadership have advanced contemporary art and expanded the global conversation around the African Diaspora.
“We, as artists, gathered together in 1965. As a 16 year-old among giant artists – who spoke to how important it would be for us to have a place to show what we did – MoAD is the unimaginable expression of that,” said Dewey Crumpler. “Monetta White, Key Jo Lee, and Cornelia Stokes have shaped a vision and a process. This is far greater than anything I could have expected.”
After remarks, Benefit Auction Specialist Naomi Lewis led an energetic live auction of two lots: a caviar experience from Caviar Dream along with a private wine tasting at Napa Valley’s first Black-owned winery, Brown Estate, and a private dinner for eight at MoAD with Monetta White and Key Jo Lee. The auction contributed significantly to the over $1 million amount raised for MoAD’s operations, exhibitions, unique programs, and education initiatives.
The 2026 Afropolitan Ball featured a variety of notable attendees and guests from art, entertainment, academia, and philanthropy. In attendance were MoAD leadership including Executive Director and CEO Monetta White, Chief of Curatorial Affairs and Public Programs Key Jo Lee, Board Chair EricMcDonnell, Vice Chair Peggy Woodford Forbes, and Afropolitan Ball Co-Chairs Charles & CherylWard; notable figures including San Francisco Arts Commission President At Large Chuck Collins, Ethan Beard & Wayee Chu, Debra Chase, Mia & Danny Conway, Tina M. Davis, Cheryl Finley, Freda Isingoma, Wright Lassiter III, George McCalman, Leigh Raiford, V. Joy Simmons, and Robin Washington; artists, institutional and gallery figures including Natasha Becker, Bonita Buford, Adrian Burrell, Owen Christoph, Laetitia Coustar, Dewey Crumpler, Ashara Ekundayo, Jac Forbes, Marta Thoma Hall, Mildred Howard, Ayana V. Jackson, Karen Jenkins-Johnson, Bradley McCallum, Emma McKee, Helina Metaferia, Jessica Monette, Dorian Reid, Mari Robles, Esteban Samayoa, Shinique Smith, Jeremy Patricia Stone, and Lava Thomas.
