Last Saturday night at the Hammer Museum unfolded like an Ed Ruscha canvas—washed with purples, blues, and reds. It was the 20th annual Gala in the Garden, and the mood was more electric than reverent at a sold-out soirée raising $2.4 million for the Angeleno institution. The funds will support the Hammer’s acclaimed exhibitions and public programming, while the evening itself paid tribute to two icons who’ve never played it safe: artist Lauren Halsey and actor and activist Jane Fonda.
Gala co-chair and collector Jarl Mohn kicked things off before handing the mic to director Zoë Ryan, who reminded the room—filled with attendees including basketball legend LeBron James; actors Dustin Hoffman and Will Ferrell; singer Stormzy; and artists Ed Ruscha, Catherine Opie, Mark Bradford, and Andrea Bowers—that the Hammer isn’t just a museum. It’s also a refuge. “At times like these,” she said, “our cultural institutions are even more essential to amplifying the voices of artists and thought leaders.”
And amplify they did. The Studio Museum’s Thelma Golden offered a powerful nod to Halsey’s radical imagination, while actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen turned their salute to Fonda into a masterclass in irreverence. “She got me arrested once,” Danson said. “It changed me.”
By the time U.K. singer-songwriter Griff closed the night with a stripped-down set, it was clear: When art meets activism under a California sky, something more moving than a routine gala takes place.
in your life?
