School of the Arts Celebrates its 60th Anniversary Gala

With the 60th anniversary year of the School of the Arts drawing to a close, nearly 250 guests gathered under a swirling night sky—projected on the magnificent dome of Columbia University's Low Library—to celebrate the school and its incredible legacy at its Gala celebration.

The star-studded evening—which raises funds for critical student scholarships—boasted the attendance of several titans of the art world, including award-winning film director Jennifer Lee '05 (one of the night's honorees) and her actor husband Alfred Molina, playwrights Lynn Nottage and David Henry Hwang (another of the evening’s tributes), theatre director Saheem Ali '07, Broadway star Danny Burstein, and many more, all of whom came out to enjoy a special evening celebrating the importance of artmaking and arts education. 

Following photo ops and a cocktail reception in the Faculty Room, Acting President of Columbia University Claire Shipman (CC '86, SIPA '94) took the stage to give generous opening remarks, reminding attendees about the importance of artmaking in challenging times. 

"I know none of you here tonight need to be convinced of the centrality of the arts," Shipman said, "in fact, you are the strongest advocates for their necessity. In this spirit, I want to reference the great Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, who wrote: 'Our holy trade / Has existed for a thousand years… / With it even a world without light would be bright.'

"Anna Akhmatova—for those of you who may not know—lived in truly dark times under Stalin. Yet to her, the role of the poet—and we can extend that to artists generally—was absolutely vital. In her poem “To the Artist,” she writes: 'Your work keeps haunting me, / your God-given task.'

"The School of the Arts has made it possible for so many artists to haunt us, to inspire us, to entertain us, and to challenge us—to bring us outside of ourselves in ways that forever change us," Shipman concluded. "Thank you for our holy trade. Thank you for being so bright." 

Dean of the School of the Arts and Parr Professor of English and Comparative Literature, Sarah Cole, echoed the sentiment in her own opening remarks, emphasizing that "especially during these extremely challenging times, the arts have the power to uplift and inspire us; and we especially need artists—and the next generations of artists—to be present, and active, and expressing themselves through their work."

To celebrate this milestone year for the School of the Arts, Cole then introduced a special video produced to showcase the school's extraordinary history and bright future. 

​​"I love that video," Cole said over applause from the audience after the video concluded. "I hope it captures for you a sense of the energy and spirit that is palpable every day in the School of the Arts, the excellence of the School. The excellence derives from our exceptional faculty, some of the greatest artists and scholars in the world, from our amazing staff, who make it all happen, and from our students and our alums with their boundless creativity. It would be hard to overstate the special quality of this place."

The evening's honorees included Oscar-winning writer/director of the Frozen franchise and School of the Arts alum Jennifer Lee '05, who was recognized with the Excellence in the Arts Award in recognition of her illustrious career in the film industry and all that she has accomplished over the last two decades. 

Also honored at the gala was The Stern Family, who received the Champion of Arts Award in recognition of their continual commitment to our students through the Betty Lee Stern Prize for Artists at Columbia University. Betty Lee’s daughters, Jenny Klein and Lauren Rosenkranz (who are also members of the School of the Arts Dean’s Council), accepted the award, followed by a special photo op with the four recipients of the Betty Lee Stern Prize, Linus Borgo '22, Garrett Ball '23, Aristotle Forrester '24 and Zelmira Rizo '25.

The evening also featured special tributes to two titans of our Theatre faculty who will be retiring in the year ahead, Professors Anne Bogart and David Henry Hwang, alongside electric performances by Tony award-winning actor Santino Fontana and Patti Murin. 

As part of the evening's festivities, Cole also unveiled a special exhibition featured in the 21 display cases surrounding the Low Library rotunda and the Faculty Room. On view through the end of the Fall 2025 semester, the celebratory exhibition (designed by Graphic Designer Bernardo Valencia) spotlights the incredible history of the School of the Arts and its alums, many of whom have blazed history-making trails in their industries and helped define the artistic culture of New York City and beyond. 

After the conclusion of this remarkable night of programming, attendees enjoyed a selection of sweet treats in the Faculty Room and received a gift bag with a beautiful Frozen 2 lithograph, courtesy of Jennifer Lee, as well as a bookmark featuring a poem by Writing alum Marie Howe '83, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry earlier this year.