2022 Louis Auchincloss Prize

Each Fall, the Museum of the City of New York presents the Louis Auchincloss Prize to writers and artists whose work is inspired by and enhances the five boroughs of New York City. On November 14, 2022, the Museum honored Anna Deavere Smith and her impactful work as an actor, playwright, author, and professor.

The award was presented by Glenn D. Lowry, The David Rockefeller Director, The Museum of Modern Art. After the award presentation, Anna discussed her career in an insightful conversation with Kate D. Levin, Arts Program Lead, Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Monday, November 14, 2022

6:00 p.m.  Cocktail Reception
7:00 p.m. Louis Auchincloss Prize Presentation

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street

VIEW ADDITIONAL EVENT PHOTOS

ABOUT ANNA DEAVERE SMITH
 

Anna Deavere Smith is a playwright and actress. She’s credited with having created a new form of theater. Her plays, which focus on contemporary issues from multiple points of view, are composed of excerpts of hundreds of interviews. Plays and films based on them include Fires in the Mirror, Twilight: Los Angeles, Let Me Down Easy, and Notes from the Field about the school-to-prison pipeline. Her work as an actress on television includes: Inventing Anna, The West Wing, Nurse Jackie, and Black-ish. Mainstream movies include Philadelphia, The American President, Rachel Getting Married and Billy Crystal’s new movie Here Today. President Obama awarded Smith the National Endowment for the Humanities Medal. She’s the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship, several Obie awards, a Drama Desk award, and the George Polk Career Award in Journalism and the Dean’s Medal from Stanford University School of Medicine. She was a runner-up for the Pulitzer Prize and nominated for two Tony Awards. She’s a professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. She has several honorary doctorate degrees including those from Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Spelman College and Juilliard and Oxford.

ABOUT THE LOUIS AUCHINCLOSS PRIZE

The Louis Auchincloss Prize is presented to writers and artists whose work is inspired by and enhances the five boroughs of New York City. Disciplines include literature, architecture, art, music, playwriting, and photography. The Prize honors Louis Auchincloss (1917-2010) for his many years of service to the Museum of the City of New York as well as for his literary contributions that established him as one of the leading American novelists of the 20th and 21st centuries. Louis Auchincloss accepted the first Prize himself in 2007.

Chair of the Louis Auchincloss Prize
Elizabeth Graziolo
Founder & Principal of Yellow House Architects 

Distinguished Past Louis Auchincloss Prize Recipients
Faith Ringgold ● Toshiko Mori ● Robert A.M. Stern ● Jason Robert Brown ● Gloria Steinem ● Whoopi Goldberg ● Michiko Kakutani ● Tony Kushner ● Wynton Marsalis ● Philip Glass ● Stephen Sondheim ● Lynne Meadow ● Elliott Erwitt ● Pete Hamill ● Sheldon Harnick ● Ada Louise Huxtable ● Louis Auchincloss

TICKETS

Benefactor  $10,000
• 10 tickets to the reception & award presentation with premium seating in Ronay Menschel Hall

Sponsor  $5,000
• 8 tickets to the reception & award presentation with prime seating in Ronay Menschel Hall

Patron  $2,500
• 4 tickets to the reception & award presentation with preferred seating in Ronay Menschel Hall

Supporter  $1,000
• 2 tickets to the reception & award presentation with select seating in Ronay Menschel Hall

Friend  $500
• 1 ticket to the reception & award presentation with seating in Ronay Menschel Hall

Program-Only**  $100
• 1 ticket to the award presentation. Cocktail reception is not included. 

**Please note that the program-only ticket level only grants access to the award presentation starting at 7 p.m. The cocktail reception is not included. You also may receive a simulcast viewing of the award presentation from the Frederick A. O. Schwarz Classroom if ticket sales exceed the capacity of the Ronay Menschel Hall.


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For more information, please contact specialevents@mcny.org.


All sales are final; refunds are not permitted. Programs and dates may be subject to change. The Museum of the City of New York reserves the right to refuse admission to latecomers.