American Federation of Arts Celebrates Three Visionaries at 2026 Cultural Leadership Awards Gala

The American Federation of Arts (AFA) presented the 2026 Cultural Leadership Awards to three visionaries of the art world: Estrellita B. Brodsky, Michael Govan, and Hank Willis Thomas at The Pierre in New York City.

The annual gala gathered national leaders in art and culture to celebrate the AFA's 117-year legacy, and the outstanding contributions to the arts by these three honorees. Proceeds from the event will support the AFA's touring exhibitions and public programs that reach millions of museumgoers across the country.

"We were truly honored to celebrate this year's Cultural Leadership Award recipients: Estrellita B. Brodsky, Michael Govan, and Hank Willis Thomas. Each of them, in their own way, has changed how people encounter and understand art: making it more open, more urgent, and more alive for the audiences who experience it," said Pauline Forlenza, the Director and CEO of the American Federation of Arts.

"The evening was a powerful reminder of why this work matters. We're proud to celebrate honorees who reflect the communities and experiences that make our field richer, and we're so grateful to everyone who came together in support of the AFA's mission to bring exceptional art to audiences everywhere."

The AFA was founded in 1909 as the national leader in traveling exhibitions worldwide, and for more than a century this marquee annual event has brought together the country's leading artists, museum directors, philanthropists, collectors, and art professionals.

"I am honored to receive the American Federation of Arts' Cultural Leadership Award," said Estrellita B. Brodsky.

"As a curator, collector, and advocate, I have been committed to bringing greater visibility to artists and perspectives that have too often been overlooked, particularly from Latin America and its diaspora."

"AFA's mission of bringing art to audiences across the country through traveling exhibitions, educational programs and publications is rooted in what I believe deeply: that access to the arts can change how we understand ourselves, our histories, and instill an appreciation of one another and our shared humanity," adds Brodsky. "I am grateful to be recognized by an organization that for over a century has made that principle central to its work. Thank you."

"I am so grateful to be part of this year's AFA event in such inspiring company as Estrellita B. Brodsky and Hank Willis Thomas," said Michael Govan, LACMA's CEO and Wallis Annenberg Director. "Sharing art with regional communities is one of our highest priorities at LACMA. Year after year, the American Federation of Arts has been doing that beautifully on a national scale. Sharing the power of art widely is ever more important to our lives and our nation."

"What an honor, and in such inspiring company," said Hank Willis Thomas. "When art is out in the world, it belongs to everyone, and I find that humbling. All of my work is about framing and context, and about how, depending on where you're standing, it really shapes your perspective of the truth.

"In bringing art to audiences across the country and internationally for nearly 120 years, the American Federation of Arts has played a transformative role in fostering connection and deeper understanding. I am grateful to the American Federation of Arts for supporting artists, and for the care they take in how our work meets the public," said Thomas.

More About the 2026 Honorees

Estrellita B. Brodsky

Estrellita B. Brodsky, PhD, is a curator, collector, and philanthropist, internationally recognized for championing Latin American art on the global stage. Of Uruguayan and Venezuelan heritage, she has combined scholarly research with philanthropy to advance the visibility of artists from the region and its diaspora.

Brodsky earned her PhD in Art History from NYU's Institute of Fine Arts, where her dissertation, Latin American Artists in Post-War Paris, received the Association of Latin American Art's award for best doctoral dissertation.

She has curated landmark exhibitions, including Julio Le Parc: Form into Action (Pérez Art Museum Miami, 2016-17; later in São Paulo and Buenos Aires), Jesús Soto: Paris and Beyond, 1950-1970 (Grey Art Gallery, NYU, 2012), and Carlos Cruz-Diez: (In)Formed by Color (Americas Society, 2008).

In 2015, she founded ANOTHER SPACE, a curatorial initiative of the Daniel and Estrellita B. Brodsky Foundation dedicated to fostering global dialogues around Latin American art.

Brodsky has also driven institutional change by establishing curatorial positions and initiatives at The Met, MoMA, Tate Modern, Centre Pompidou, and the Hirshhorn, and by endowing fellowships at Hunter College and NYU's Institute of Fine Arts. Brodsky was also the former co-chair of the board of El Museo del Barrio, and Board Chair of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden.

Michael Govan

Michael Govan joined the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as Chief Executive Officer and Wallis Annenberg Director in 2006.

In this role, he oversees all activities of the museum. During his tenure, LACMA has acquired by donation or purchase more than 46,000 works for the permanent collection, doubled gallery space and programs, and more than doubled its average annual attendance to well over one million.

In 2026, the museum opened a new, state-of-the-art permanent collection building designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Peter Zumthor.

Hank Willis Thomas

Hank Willis Thomas is a conceptual artist based in Brooklyn whose interdisciplinary practice, spanning sculpture, photography, retroreflectives, quilting, and film, examines identity, perspective, commodity, and popular culture.

Thomas's collaborative projects include Question Bridge, The Truth Booth, The Gun Violence Memorial Project, and For Freedoms, an artist-led organization advancing creative civic engagement. Thomas's public art can be found across the country, including The Embrace on the Boston Common, REACH at O'Hare International Airport, and Duality at The Underline in Miami.

His work is held in major public collections such as MoMA, the Whitney, the Guggenheim, and the National Gallery of Art, and he has mounted solo exhibitions at institutions including Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art and the Henry Art Gallery. He holds a B.F.A. from New York University and an M.F.A. from California College of the Arts, along with honorary doctorates from four institutions.

Thomas is a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Gordon Parks Foundation Fellowship, and the 2022 U.S. Department of State Medal of Arts.

Each honoree was invited to speak at the event.

Through the years, some of the past recipients of the AFA Cultural Leadership Awards have included: Ann Temkin, Howardena Pindell, Eli and Edythe Broad, Alice Walton, Wangechi Mutu, Charles and Valerie Diker, Rosa and Carlos de la Cruz, Marina Abramović, Sheikh Sultan Bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Frank Gehry, Roy Neuberger, Sarah Sze, and Eugene V. Thaw, among others.

The AFA is honored to collaborate with a network of more than 100 distinguished museum partners, including:

Northeast: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC), Philadelphia Museum of Art, The Jewish Museum (NYC).

South: High Museum of Art (Atlanta), Dallas Museum of Art, Gibbes Museum of Art (Charleston), the Lowe Art Museum at University of Miami, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (Richmond).

Midwest: Art Institute of Chicago, Cleveland Museum of Art, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kansas City), and Wichita Art Museum.

West: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and Seattle Art Museum.

International: Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery (U.K.), Musée du Louvre (Paris), The British Museum (London), and Vancouver Art Gallery (Canada).

About the American Federation of Arts

The American Federation of Arts (AFA) is the leader in traveling exhibitions in the U.S. and worldwide. One of the first to successfully tour art exhibitions on a national and international level, the organization unites American art institutions, collectors, artists, and museums.

The AFA has toured more than 3,500 exhibitions that have been viewed by millions of people in museums in every U.S. state, and in Canada, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.

For more than a century, the AFA has brought world-class exhibitions to communities everywhere, ensuring that art is not only something people travel to see ‒ art travels to the people. The AFA partners with museums of all sizes, expanding access to meaningful cultural experiences.

A nonprofit organization founded in 1909, AFA is dedicated to enriching the public's experience and understanding of the visual arts through organizing and touring art exhibitions for presentation in museums around the world, publishing exhibition catalogues featuring important scholarly research, and developing educational programs.