Common to Honor Mavis Staples, Jon Batiste and More at Gordon Parks Foundation Event
The Gordon Parks Foundation awards dinner and auction is scheduled to go down on June 6 in New York City, and we're finally getting some updates on performers, as well as honorees, that will be attending. Common has reportedly been recruited to perform at the special event, where he will honor singer Mavis Staples and Jon Batiste, as well as philanthropist Alexander Soros, Congressman John Lewis (D-Georgia), American Express chairman/CEO Kenneth Chenault and his wife, philanthropist Kathryn Chenault.
Reports say that Stephen Colbert, Usher, and Harvard University professor/historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. have already been chosen as guest presenters for the evening, with co-dinner chairs including Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, Karl Lagerfeld, Janelle Monaé as well as Usher and his wife Grace Raymond. It's definitely going to be an extremely memorable night, which will be capped off with an auction that incorporates "seven lots of the late Parks’ work and recognition of the first two recipients of the inaugural Gordon Parks Fellowship."
Executive director of the Gordon Parks Foundation, Peter W. Kunhardt Jr., wrote, "Each year we come together to celebrate the lasting legacy of Gordon Parks and to honor the artists, humanitarians, and philanthropists who are making a meaningful impact in the arts and across humanity. We are so proud to recognize this year’s honorees and to introduce our inaugural class of fellows who are exploring themes of social justice -- an issue that is becoming more and more urgent with each passing day in our current political climate."