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BY CYNTHIA HELMS
HONORARY TRUSTEE
OF THE FREER AND
SACKLER GALLERIES |
The combined
Freer and Sackler
galleries are
also one of the
secret pleasures
of the Mall with
incomparable riches
inside, and we were looking for a way to give the
institution a presence. The Freer opened its doors
in 1923 while the Sackler was only two years
old when Milo and I put our heads together,
and came up with the idea for the gala. I invited
David Rockefeller and Brooke Astor – both of
whom were immersed in the arts and cultures
of Asia – who fl ew down from New York City
for the evening. “I knew it would be
a glamorous affair, so I wore my pearls,”
Brooke told me before she departed. Of
course, her pearls were as large as eggs!
To that end, the galleries have
used proceeds from the annual galas
to fund programs of music and
poetry, to host school groups both in the museum
and in their own classrooms, to offer meaningful
and creative hands-on programs for children in
the ImaginAsia family classroom, and to present
fi lms, lectures, and important exhibitions as
well. In many ways, the museum is a bridge to
understanding worlds different from our own.
It may start with a party, but the annual gala
allows us to roll up our sleeves and do the real
work of the museum: to get people to focus on
the arts and cultures of Asia and how much we
owe to that part of the world.
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In the eighteen years since the Freer and
Sackler Galleries – the national museum
of Asian art at the Smithsonian – held
their fi rst gala on the mall, the annual
gathering has turned into one of the highlights
of the year. In addition to a black-tie evening, the
gala became a way to educate the public about
the arts and cultures of Asia. Almost twenty years
later, with geographical literacy very much on
peoples’ minds and funding for institutions like
the Smithsonian often on shaky ground, that
need is still great. “Encompassing the Globe:
Portugal and the World in the 16th
and 17th Centuries” opens in both
the Sackler and the neighboring
National Museum of African Art.
This tremendous undertaking
traces Portugal’s infl uence around
the globe, from Japan to India, from
Africa to China, and will resonate
with the public long after the
exhibition has moved on.
A black-tie opening gala for
the exhibition to be held on June
20 will be attended by Portuguese
President Anibal Cavaco Silva and
other high-level government and
corporate partners from Portugal
and Oman.
The first gala, in 1987, was a
smaller affair. Then, director Milo
Beech and I were thinking of
ways to not only fund educational
programming at the museum, but to
encourage more visitors to come to
the Freer, a rather esoteric museum.
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