2025 Speakers and Artists

  • Sanford Biggers

    Conceptual Artist

  • Melissa Chiu

    Director, Hirshhorn Museum

  • Eric Latzky

    Former Head of Communications, New York Philharmonic

  • Edwaard Liang

    Artistic Director, Washington Ballet

  • Mark D. Sikes

    Interior Designer

  • Anna Deavere Smith

    Actress, Playwright, Teacher, and Author

Past Speakers and Artists

2024

  • Megan Beyer

    Director, Art in Embassies

  • Elsabé Johnson Dixon

    Visual Artist

  • Her Excellency Maguy Maccario Doyle

    Ambassador of Monaco to the United States and Canada

  • Nicole Elkon

    Deputy Assistant Secretary for Professional and Cultural Exchanges, Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, U.S. Department of State

  • Emilio Estefan

    Music, Television, and Film Producer

  • Gloria Estefan

    Singer, Actress, Songwriter, and Author

  • Lorrie Fair

    Sports Envoy and Chief Program Director, Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project

  • Halim Flowers

    Visual Artist

  • Jeffrey Gibson (Mississippi Choctaw/Cherokee)

    Visual Artist

  • Jerome Grant

    Executive Chef, Sweet Home Café

  • Danita Johnson

    President of Business Operations, D.C. United

  • Scott Kratz

    Director, 11th Street Bridge Park

  • Aba Kwawu

    President and Founder, TAA PR

  • Dan Mickelson

    Sports Diplomacy Chief, U.S. Department of State

  • Ana Navarro

    Co-Host, The View

  • Rose Previte

    Owner, Compass Rose & Maydan

  • Ali Rogin

    Correspondent, PBS NewsHour

  • AJ Ross

    Correspondent, CBS Sports

  • Virginia Shore

    Co-Curator, Mother Earth

  • Sarah Tanguy

    Co-Curator, Mother Earth

  • Alan van Capelle

    Executive Director, Friends of the High Line

Past Speakers and Artists

2023

  • Nolen V. Bivens

    President and CEO, Americans for the Arts

  • Irina Bokova

    Former Director-General, UNESCO

  • Marianne Boesky

    Founder, Marianne Boesky Gallery

  • Kaitlan Collins

    Host, CNN’s The Source

  • Nekisha Durrett

    DC Artist, For Freedoms

  • Vanessa Friedman

    Fashion Editor, New York Times

  • Tuliza Fleming

    Curator of Visual Art at the National Museum of African American History and Culture

  • Maria Fernanda Garcia Velazco

    Cultural Attaché, Embassy of Uruguay

  • Eric Gottesman

    Co-founder, For Freedoms

  • Jonathan Katz. Ph.D.

    Founding Figure in Queer Art History, University of Pennsylvania

  • Richard Kurin

    Smithsonian Distinguished Scholar and Ambassador-at-Large, Smithsonian

  • Aba Kwawu

    Founder & President, TAA PR

  • Deborah Lehr

    CEO and Managing Partner, Edelman Global Advisory

  • Patricia Michaels

    Native Designer and Project Runway finalist

  • Marilyn Minter

    Artist

  • T.H. Lee Satterfield

    Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs

  • Dr. Kateryna Smagliy

    First Secretary, Public and Cultural Diplomacy, Embassy of Ukraine

  • Hank Willis Thomas

    Artist and Co-founder, For Freedoms

Past Speakers and Artists

2022

  • Laura Ballman

    Founder, Capital Art Strategies

  • Def-i

    Musician

  • Krista Kim

    Digital Artist and Founder, Techism Movement

  • Faridah Mohammed

    Representative, Embassy of Nigeria

  • Symone Sanders

    Host, MSNBC’s SYMONE

  • Ngaire Blankenberg

    Director, Smithsonian National Museum of African Art

  • Kevin Gover

    Under Secretary for Museums and Culture, Smithsonian

  • Kate Knibbs

    Senior Writer, WIRED

  • Wanda Nanibush

    Curator of Indigenous Art, Art Gallery of Ontario and Author, Violence No More: The Rise of Indigenous Women.

  • Mark V. Vlasic

    Senior Fellow and Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center

  • David Breslin

    Director of Curatorial Initiatives, Whitney Museum of American Art

  • Christiana Ine-Kimba Boyle

    Global Director of Online Sales, Pace Gallery NYC

  • Courtney M. Leonard

    Artist and Filmmaker

  • Jami Powell

    Curator of Indigenous Art, Hood Museum of Art

Past Speakers and Artists

2021

  • Bela Bajaria

    Head of Global TV, Netflix

  • Carla Canales

    Classical Singer/Advocate

  • Jonathan Capehart

    Journalist

  • Allison Janae Hamilton

    Visual Artist

  • Kal Penn

    Actor; Former Associate Director

    White House Office of Public Engagement

  • Art Smith

    Chef, Culinary Diplomacy Project

  • Laurent Claquin

    President, Kering Americas

  • Midori

    Violinist

  • Pedro Reyes

    Visual Artist

  • Fred Tomaselli

    Visual Artist

  • Alan Yang

    American Screenwriter

  • Massimiliano Gioni

    Artistic Director, The New Museum

  • Rachel Lehmann

    Co-founder, Lehmann Maupin

  • Shirin Neshat

    Visual Artist

  • Divinity Roxx

    Musician/Composer

  • Darren Walker

    President, Ford Foundation