“Joyful!” “Optimistic!” “Galvanizing!” “Zesty!” These were among the uplifting adjectives heard around the dinner table on Friday evening at Ned’s Club in Washington, DC during the inaugural Making Their Mark forum. Guests were enthusiastically responding to the conference’s mastermind, California collector and philanthropist Komal Shah, who had asked them for a one-word review to describe their experience of the three-day gathering.
“Inspiring,” added Jodie Foster, who led a keynote conversation with Rajendra Roya, MoMA’s chief curator of film, at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, a few hours earlier. Other keynote speakers included Dr. Chelsea Clinton and Ava Duvernay; the highest grossing Black woman director in American box office history.
It was this spirit of camaraderie among many of the arts and culture world’s most influential and ambitious women that defined the entire forum, which was attended by some 350 rapt guests, nearly all of whom were personally invited by Shah. Devoted to amplifying the achievements of women artists and advancing gender equity in the arts, Shah also has a foundation and roving exhibition named Making Their Mark. (Since debuting in 2023 in New York, the Cecilia Alemani-curated exhibition has been displayed at several American institutions; it opened at DC’s National Museum of Women in the Arts this February and will continue traveling through at least 2027.) After the resounding success of her Manhattan show’s sold-out conversation series, Shah told Vogue that she felt compelled “to take a more active stance.” This all-encompassing three-day forum format, she hopes, will help ignite “lasting change.”
“I was very intentional with the people who came to the stage and the audience. It was important
that we create something that’s inspiring, but also steeped in reality,” Shah said of the
programming, which covered arts education, museum acquisition practices, and legacy planning, as well as a data-driven overview of the position of women artists in the contemporary art market. Performances, film screenings, poetry readings, and museum visits were also on the itinerary.
Shah added: “Constructing the story—and an argument—is what I do best.” It seems a close second would be throwing a party. During the forum’s VIP dinner, which was presented by Audemars Piguet Contemporary (the Swiss watchmaker’s art commissioning program), every detail was considered, right down to the custom Monse scarves each guest received. As an investor in the fashion brand helmed by Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia, Shah commissioned an exclusive design featuring a hand-painted cherry print from the pre-fall 2026 collection.
The guest list was largely composed of the forum’s trailblazing speakers, such as museum directors Anne Pasternak (Brooklyn Museum) and Kaywin Feldman (The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC; artists Joyce J. Scott and Tschabalala Self; and auction veterans Bonnie Brennan (Christie’s CEO) and Amy Cappellazzo (Art Intelligence Global founder). Other industry heavy-hitters present included Mariët Westermann (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation director and CEO), Sarah Arison (president of MoMA’s board), and Ann Philbin (the former director of LA’s Hammer Museum).
Also in attendance was intrepid artist and forum speaker Marilyn Minter, whose recent documentary Pretty Dirty screened during the conference. “Honored” to be in the presence of such esteemed activists and artists, Minter told Vogue that one of her biggest takeaways of the event came courtesy of Jodie Foster. “She blew my mind,” Minter said, quoting Foster’s stance to “trust your gift” and the importance of being in a calm headspace to produce one’s best work. Additionally on Minter’s list of “mind-blowing” speakers was Dr. Clinton, who discussed how culture influences policy with her close friend, Dr. Sarah Lewis. “It was powerful to be with the Making Their Mark community today; a group indefatigably committed to ensuring more women artists are seen and heard in this moment and for the future,” Dr. Clinton told Vogue earlier in the day. “It was inspiring and galvanizing—and only a beginning.”
Mutual admiration and collective urgency to incite change were pervasive sentiments. “To see
100 powerful people—mostly powerful women—coming together, celebrating, and looking
beautiful inside and out, has made this such an unforgettable evening,” Shah reflected. “Every single table told me they had a wonderful conversation.”
The art of a Shah-hosted dinner party? Even after a delectable, sticky-toffee-pudding-topped meal, guests’ appetite for real change was even stronger.