2019 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal Gala

Honoring Candice Bergen, Gail Collins, and Laura Walker

Join us as we present the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal, the Municipal Art Society’s highest honor, to three extraordinary New Yorkers. The Medal is given each year to individuals who have made an outstanding contribution to New York City. This year, MAS celebrates the role of art, criticism and commentary in our famously outspoken city.

Online ticket sales are now closed. If you would like to purchase tickets, please email jkogala@mas.org

SEE TICKET LEVELS

Thursday, May 30
7:00 PM

The Tisch Skylights at The Shed
W 30th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues
New York, NY 10001

Tickets:
$1,500+ (All amounts in excess of $250 per ticket are tax deductible)

Philip Johnson, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Bess Myerson, and Ed Koch outside Grand Central Terminal.

About MAS and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal

For 125 years, the Municipal Art Society of New York (MAS) has worked to educate and inspire New Yorkers to engage in the betterment of our city. As a nonprofit advocacy organization with a high profile and proven track record, MAS mobilizes diverse allies to act on issues that affect New York from sidewalk to skyline. Through planning, policy, and preservation, each of our advocacy initiatives seeks to create a just, livable environment for over 8.5 million New Yorkers. We also strive to provide replicable urban policies and practices for the benefit of other cities throughout the nation and the world.

Due to the efforts of MAS since our founding, iconic landmarks such as Grand Central Terminal, Radio City Music Hall, Jefferson Market Courthouse, and St. Bartholomew’s Church were saved from demolition. Other notable accomplishments have included preserving the Garment District and lights of Times Square and advocating for construction of Rockefeller Center and the Second Avenue Subway. Our advocacy has also led to the creation of the New York Planning Commission, the Public Design Commission, the Landmarks Preservation Commission, as well as the conservation of more than 50 works of public art. MAS was also instrumental in the founding of important civic organization such as the Public Art Fund, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, P.S. 1, the Historic Districts Council, the Park Avenue Armory Conservancy, and the Waterfront Alliance.

Learn more about our history →

The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal was established in 1994 to honor Mrs. Kennedy Onassis, her passionate efforts to preserve great architecture in New York City, and her remarkable partnership with The Municipal Art Society over nearly two decades.

Learn more about the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal →

Honorary Chairs

Audrey and Danny Meyer

Chairs

Lisa and Dick Cashin

Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio

Adam Flatto

Susan K. Freedman

Janet C. Ross

Candice Bergen. Photo: Robert Trachtenberg.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal Honoree Candice Bergen

Candice Bergen is a former model, actor, author and philanthropist. Though perhaps best known for her role as Murphy Brown in the television series (1988-1998) of the same name for which she won 5 Emmys and two Golden Globe awards, Candice also appeared for 5 seasons as lawyer Shirley Schmidt on Boston Legal and garnered 2 Emmy nominations. Last fall, after 20 years, Candice returned to the iconic of role of Murphy Brown for 13 episodes on CBS. Since the 1960’s Ms. Bergen has appeared in more than 30 films including The Group, Carnal Knowledge, The Sand Pebbles, The Wind and the Lion, The Women, Sweet Home Alabama, Miss Congeniality and more recently The Book Club. She received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress in 1979 for her work in Starting Over and received the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Ghandi in 1982.

She made her Broadway debut in the 1984 play Hurlyburly and went on to star in the revivals of The Best Man (2012) and Love Letters (2014).

She was not only the first woman to host Saturday Night Live in 1975 but also the first woman to host five times.

As a model, she appeared on the cover of Vogue multiple times and represented brands such as Chanel in the 1960s and 1970s. She is the author of two New York Times best-selling memoirs, Knock Wood published in 1984 and A Fine Romance in 2015. In 2016 she created BergenBags, which is a personal customization business in which she paints images and monograms on beloved handbags. All proceeds go to charity.

Gail Collins. Photo: Earl Wilson, The New York Times.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal Honoree Gail Collins

Gail Collins is an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times and writes about American politics and culture. Ms. Collins joined The New York Times in 1995 as a member of the editorial board. In 2001 she was appointed Editorial Page Editor – the first woman to hold that post at The Times.

Ms. Collins is also the author of five books: When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present; America’s Women: Four Hundred Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates and Heroines; As Texas Goes: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda; a biography of William Henry Harrison, Scorpion Tongues: Gossip, Celebrity and American Politics and The Millennium Book which she co-authored with her husband, Dan Collins. She is currently at work on a history of older women in America to be published in October 2019.

Before joining The Times, Ms. Collins was a columnist at New York Newsday, The New York Daily News, and a reporter for United Press International. Since 2013, Ms. Collins has been a member of the Pulitzer Prize Board.

Laura Walker. Photo: Janice Yi, WNYC.

Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal Honoree Laura Walker

Laura Walker was President and CEO of New York Public Radio from 1996 through 2019. It is the largest public radio station group in the nation. Ms. Walker joined NYPR to oversee its transition from city-owned agency to an independent nonprofit.

New York Public Radio currently owns and operates eight public radio stations, including WNYC and WQXR, the most-listened-to public radio station and one of the most-listened-to classical stations in America, respectively. NYPR produces influential radio programs and podcasts (including Radiolab, On the Media, and The New Yorker Radio Hour.)

Under her leadership, NYPR has increased its monthly audience from one million to 26 million. Since 2000, NYPR has been honored with 10 George Foster Peabody Awards and five Alfred I. DuPont Columbia Awards.

Ms. Walker was honored with an Edward R. Murrow Award from the Corporate for Public Broadcasting. In 2009 and again in 2017, she was named by Crain’s as one of New York City’s 50 Most Powerful Women. Ms. Walker began her professional career as a print journalist. She later moved to National Public Radio where she worked as a producer. At Carnegie Hall, where she launched the award-winning series, AT&T Presents Carnegie Hall Tonight. She later joined Sesame Workshop as the Vice President of Development. Ms. Walker sits on the boards of The Commonwealth Fund, Yale Center for Customer Insights, Tribune Media Company, and the Eagle Picher Trust.

Ms. Walker holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and a BA in History magna cum laude, from Wesleyan University, where she was an Olin Scholar.

The Shed under construction, as seen from the High Line, December 2018. Photo: Brett Beyer. Project Design Credit: Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Lead Architect, and Rockwell Group, Collaborating Architect.

The Tisch Skylights at The Shed

Diane von Furstenberg, Robert B. Tierney, and Carolyn Wakeman at the 2011 Gala
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2013 Gala at Grand Central Terminal
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Dan Doctoroff receives the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal from Jay Kriegel at the 2015 Gala
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Bill Moyers (L) presents 2016 Medal to Ambassador vanden Heuvel
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After Dark Party 2018
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Christy MacLear, Frances Bronet, Stephen Johnson, Elizabeth Goldstein, Elaine Barfield, and Michael Holder at 2018 Gala
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Guests at the 2018 Gala
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2018 Honorees Danny & Audrey Meyer
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2018 Gala guests.
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View of Manhattan from the Bay Room at the 2018 Gala.
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Pittas Eleftherios, Jack Klein, Caitlyn Dewitt, Chris McCartin, and Kimberly Garcia at the 2018 Gala.
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Honorees Kathy and Ken Chenault with family and friends at the 2018 Gala
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Honorary Chair Caroline Kennedy at the 2018 Gala
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