Evening Celebrates Culmination of National YoungArts Week and Features the Announcement of the Jorge M. Pérez Award
Tony Award Nominee Lorna Courtney to Emcee the Evening and Caleb Teicher to Direct Performances by YoungArts Award Winners
MIAMI (December 12, 2024) –Acclaimed dancer Misty Copeland will be honored with the Arison Award at the annual YoungArts Miami Gala on Saturday, January 11, 2025, at the Rubell Museum. The evening will recognize Copeland’s contributions and work as an advocate for diversity in dance; commemorate the culmination of National YoungArts Week; and highlight YoungArts’ efforts to bring vital career-long support to more artists throughout the country. The YoungArts Miami Gala brings together artists, influential field leaders and philanthropists for an unforgettable evening of artistry, dining and community.
The YoungArts Miami Gala will be emceed by Tony award nominee Lorna Courtney (2016 YoungArts Winner in Voice), who has thrilled Broadway audiences with her roles in & Juliet, West Side Story and Dear Evan Hansen, among others. Caleb Teicher (2011 YoungArts Winner in Dance) will direct performances by fellow YoungArts award winners presented throughout the evening. The event is hosted by honorary co-chairs Sarah Arison and Thomas Wilhelm, Chloe Berkowitz, Rona and Jeff Citrin, Dr. Christina Pérez, Craig Robins and Jackie Soffer, and Randi Wolfson and Chris Adamo.
“We are thrilled to gather our community for an evening of celebration spotlighting Misty Copeland,” said Sarah Arison, chair of the YoungArts Board of Trustees and honorary event co-chair. “At YoungArts, we believe that artists are vital to building a better world—which is what Misty Copeland has done throughout her singular career, to the benefit of artists of all backgrounds.”
“With gratitude to Misty Copeland for inspiring hundreds of young artists during National YoungArts Week, we are thrilled to present her with the Arison Award at this year’s YoungArts Miami Gala,” said Clive Chang, president and CEO of YoungArts. “Her impact on the artistic field and influence in our wider cultural dialogues further underscores the necessity of our work in supporting artists in their every endeavor.”
The Arison Award, designed by Jean Shin (1990 YoungArts Winner in Visual Arts & U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts), is given annually to individuals who, like the Arison family, have had a significant influence on the development of young American artists.
Born in Kansas City, Missouri and raised in San Pedro, California, Misty Copeland began her ballet studies at the late age of thirteen. At fifteen, she won first place in the Music Center Spotlight Awards. She studied at the San Francisco Ballet School and American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive on full scholarship and was declared ABT’s National Coca-Cola Scholar in 2000. Misty joined ABT’s Studio Company in September 2000, joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in April 2001, and in August 2007 became the company’s second African American female Soloist and the first in two decades. In June 2015, Misty was promoted to principal dancer, making her the first African American woman to ever be promoted to the position in the company’s 75-year history.
Misty is an avid philanthropist and is an ambassador of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, of which she is also an alum. In 2022, Misty launched The Misty Copeland Foundation, with its first signature program BEBOLD, which aims to bring greater diversity, equity and inclusion to dance, especially ballet. In 2023, she launched the women’s line of Greatness Wins, an athletic wear business she co-founded with Derek Jete and Chris Riccobono. Misty is the New York Times best-selling author of Life In Motion, Ballerina Body, Black Ballerinas, and a picture book titled Bunheads. She is also author of the award-winning children’s picture book, Firebird. Misty’s book, The Wind At My Back, in tribute to her late mentor and friend, pioneering ballerina Raven Wilkinson, published November 2022. In 2021, Misty was the recipient of the Spingarn Medal, the NAACP’s highest honor and in 2023, she received the Trailblazer Icon Award at The Grio Awards, was named to The Root 100 list, and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from New York University. Prior honors include Glamour’s Women of the Year, Black Girls Rock! Awards, and Time 100 Most Influential People.
The gala will feature the announcement of the winner of the annual Jorge M. Peréz Award. First established in 2018, the award honors a YoungArts Visual Arts award winner who has succeeded in strengthening their community through artistic endeavors with a $25,000 cash prize.
Support for the YoungArts Miami Gala is provided by MARNI and Dry Farm Wines.
For more information or to purchase tickets or tables, visit 2025 YoungArts Miami Gala – YoungArts.
Support for YoungArts
YoungArts programming throughout the year is made possible by the support of its most generous donors, including Anthropologie; American Foundation for Bulgaria; Aon; Micky and Madeleine Arison Family Foundation; Sarah Arison and Thomas Wilhelm; Berkowitz Contemporary Foundation; Estate of Ruth P. Cohen; Jeffrey Davis and Michael Miller; Jonathan and English Flack; The Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation; Agnes Gund; Barbara and Amos Hostetter; Michi and Charles Jigarjian / 7G Foundation; Kirsh Foundation; John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; Leslie and Jason Kraus; Melony and Adam Lewis; Ashley Longshore; Steven and Oxana Marks / Podhurst Orseck, P.A.; Miami-Dade County Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs Council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners; Northern Trust Bank; The Jorge M. Pérez Family Foundation at The Miami Foundation; PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP; Emily and Mitch Rales; Christopher Rim / Command Education; Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Jen Rubio and Stewart Butterfield; Sidney and Florence Stern Family Foundation; Sandra and Tony Tamer; Bruce and Ellie Taub; UBS Financial Services, Inc.; Todd White and Cameron Carani; and Lynn and Louis Wolfson II Family Foundation.
About YoungArts
YoungArts—the national foundation for the advancement of artists—was established in 1981 by Lin and Ted Arison to identify exceptional young artists, amplify their potential, and invest in their lifelong creative freedom. YoungArts provides space, funding, mentorship, professional development and community throughout artists’ careers. Entrance into this prestigious organization starts with a highly competitive application for talented artists ages 15–18, or grades 10–12, in the United States that is judged by esteemed discipline-specific panels of artists through a rigorous adjudication process.
For more information, visit youngarts.org, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook.
