Hyde Park Art Center, the renowned non-profit hub for contemporary art located on Chicago’s vibrant South Side, hosts its 2026 Gala activating the entire building on Saturday, November 14, from 5:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with an afterparty that goes till 11:30 p.m. The lively event honors American painter Candida Alvarez and Chicago arts leader Nora Daley, and is packed with hands-on art activities, commissioned performances, open studios, art auctions, and DJs from Lumpen Radio. The gala co-chairs are Chicago art patrons Trissa Babrowski and Sundeep Mullangi, Maria Christina and Guy-Karim Caland Puymartin, and Chicago gallerists Monique Meloche and Evan Boris. The Gala after-party is hosted in partnership with Lumpen Radio, with standalone tickets at $75 available for purchase on the Art Center’s website. Guests may RSVP and make donations at www.hydeparkart.org/gala.
With a “creative cocktail” dress code, the evening will feature a cocktail party running from 5:30-7:00 p.m., followed by a seated dinner with remarks by Art Center leadership and artists. With a reputation as one of the city’s most “hands-on” art parties, the Gala will feature an after-party in collaboration with Lumpen Radio from 8:30 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. that includes the popular Interactive Artist Interventions, resident artist open studios, performances, DJs, late-night bites, and more.
Interactive Artist Interventions have been a highlight of past Art Center Galas, where guests were engaged in inventive interactions, such as getting inked by a tattoo artist and eating cake off a wall. This year’s participating artists will be announced soon at hydeparkart.org/gala.
Gala tickets are available for $750 with host committee sponsorship levels beginning at $2,500. Guests may RSVP and make donations at hydeparkart.org/gala. For more information on sponsorship levels, please contact Destinee Johnson at djohnson@hydeparkart.org.
About the honorees
Candida Alvarez is widely regarded as one of her generation’s most highly innovative and experimental painters. Her work has been collected by the Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Whitney Museum, San Jose Museum of Art, El Museo del Barrio, among others. She has been granted the Anonymous was a Woman Award, Trellis Art Fund Award, Arts and Letters Award in Art by the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Mellon Foundation Latinx Artist Fellowship, Helen Frankenthaler Award for Painting, and the Joan Mitchell Foundation Painter and Sculptors Grant. Alvarez is an alum of Yale School of Art, and held the F.H. Sellers Professorship in Painting at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where she is now Professor Emerit. In Fall 2024 Alvarez was the Alex Katz Chair in Painting at The Cooper Union. Her career-spanning solo exhibition at El Museo del Barrio titled Circle, Point, Hoop was on view until August 2025, running concurrently with Real Monsters in Bold Colors:Bob Thompson and Candida Alvarez, GRAY New York. Alvarez is represented by GRAY New York and Monique Meloche Gallery.
Nora Daley has focused on helping people and tirelessly strengthening communities throughout her life. In 2025, she was named the board co-chair of the Chicago Architecture Biennial, the largest exhibition of architecture and urbanism in North America. She was appointed Chair of the Illinois Art Council Agency by Governor JB Pritzker in September 2022, and continues to work with other agencies throughout the state to partner and provide access and opportunity for the creative sector. She has been in leadership as chairman of the Board of Trustees and executive committee member of multiple organizations, including Steppenwolf Theatre Company, the Terra Foundation for American Art, After School Matters, Navy Pier, Inc., Frances Xavier Warde School and the Richard J. Daley Global Cities Forum. Daley has served as an advisor to and active participant in various organizations, including the Illinois Justice Project, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Museum of Science and Industry, Hyde Park Art Center, University of Illinois Chicago and Harris School of Public Policy University of Chicago. From 2011-2019 she chaired the City of Chicago’s Cultural Advisory Council under Mayor Rahm Emanuel. In 2022 Daley established Raven Partners, a strategic advisory firm, to continue to build upon her work with various businesses and organizations. As a former Managing Director of Wonderworks, an immersive experiential art museum that disrupts the traditional nonprofit model, she led the relaunch, rebuild and rebrand of the museum. From 2002-2014 Daley worked as a Senior Advisor and Director of Outreach for Metropolis Strategies, an initiative from the Commercial Club of Chicago that created a civic organization focused on the growth of the regional economy to promote sustainable development and create safer communities throughout the Chicago region. Daley received a BA in Art History from Fairfield University. She lives in Chicago with her husband and three children.
