Jessica Vosk, Mandy Gonzalez, and More Set For Arts Ignite 20th Anniversary Illuminate Gala

Arts Ignite has announced the performers and presenters of their 20th Anniversary Gala event, entitled Illuminate, taking place on Monday, October 12, 2026, at City Winery NYC.

Hosted by Jessica Vosk (Beaches), the milestone celebration will honor Danielle Brooks, Whitney White, and Tom Viola, three leaders whose artistry, service, and commitment to the arts reflect Arts Ignite's ongoing mission to empower young people through arts education.

Featured performers include Tony nominee Charles Busch (The Tale Of The Allergist's Wife), Aneesa Folds and Kaila Mullady (freestyle+); Drama Desk Award winner Mandy Gonzalez (Hamilton), Kayla Davion (Liberation), Grammy Award winner, Emmy nominee, and three-time Tony nominee Brandon Victor Dixon (Hell's Kitchen), and Grammy Award winning duo ARKAI.

Presenters include Tony recipients Joaquina Kalukango (Paradise Square), Bess Wohl (Liberation), and Mary-Mitchell Campbell.

The Arts Ignite House Band will feature Alex Eckhardt on bass, Rich Mercurio on drums, with Campbell on piano and serving as Music Director.

Earlier this year, Mary-Mitchell Campbell, President and Founder of Arts Ignite, received the 2026 Isabelle Stevenson Tony Award, recognizing her decades-long commitment to advocacy and humanitarian work through the arts. 'Twenty years ago, we created Arts Ignite with a simple belief: Access to the arts can change the trajectory of a young person's life,' said Campbell. 'Our 20th Anniversary Gala will honor three extraordinary individuals who inspire, and commend dozens of artists, educators, students and supporters who've made that work possible. Illuminate will highlight what we can accomplish — together — in the next 20 years.'

The evening will gather members of the Broadway and entertainment communities, Arts Ignite supporters, educators and artists for an electric evening of performances, tributes and stories celebrating the young people at the heart of Arts Ignite's work and its 20-year history. Proceeds from the gala will support Arts Ignite's arts education programs, which connect young people with professional artists and educators and create opportunities to build creativity, confidence, collaboration and community through the arts.

Illuminate is produced by Joy Huang and directed by Jonathan Bernstein and three-time Tony nominee Dick Scanlan. The Illuminate Award is designed and crafted by Yazmany Arboleda, People's Artist at the NYC Civic Engagement Commission. Lindsay Roberts Greene is Executive Director of Arts Ignite.

PERFORMER BIOGRAPHIES

ARKAI, GRAMMY-winning, is among the most dynamic and visionary string duos today, receiving international acclaim for their boundary-pushing artistry, innovative collaborations, and electrifying live performances. Graduates of The Juilliard School, their versatility has led to opening for Jon Batiste, tours with violinist Lindsey Stirling, and chart-topping releases with pianist Tony Ann. ARKAI's album Brightside recently won a GRAMMY Award for Best Contemporary Instrumental Album.

Charles Busch is the author of The Tale of the Allergist's Wife, which ran nearly two years on Broadway and received a Tony nomination for Best Play, and Vampire Lesbians of Sodom, one of the longest running plays in Off-Broadway history. Mr. Busch is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Obie Award and in 2024, he was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.

Kayla Davion is an actor, producer, writer, and educator whose work spans Broadway, Off-Broadway, television, and film. Broadway: TINA: The Tina Turner Musical, Elf, Waitress, King Kong, and the Tony Award-winning play Liberation. Other notable credits: White Girl in Danger, Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical, and The Color Purple. Screen credits: The Good Fight, Power Book III: Raising Kanan, and Better Nate Than Ever.

Brandon Victor Dixon Awards: Grammy Award, Emmy and Tony (3x) nominee. Broadway: Hell's Kitchen, Hamilton, Shuffle Along, The Color Purple, Motown, Chicago. Off Broadway: The Scottsboro Boys. TV: NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar, Fox's Rent: Live, The Best Man, Power, She's Gotta Have It, Modern Love, The Good Wife, This Is Us, Firebuds. Film: 88. Producer: Broadway's Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Recordings: 'Maybe,' 'We Are,' 'Hotel California.'

Aneesa Folds just finished playing an 11-year-old white girl off-Broadway in Ginger Twinsies. She is the creator and star of Why Am I Here? and can be heard as Cleon on The Warriors album by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis. Broadway: Freestyle Love Supreme. Other credits: Trading Places and Co-Founders. Film/TV: tick, tick…BOOM!, Vivo, Alma's Way, Sesame Street. @aneesafolds.

Mandy Gonzalez - Broadway: Angelica Schuyler in Hamilton; originated the role of Nina Rosario in In The Heights (Drama Desk Award); Elphaba in Wicked; Norma Desmond (guest star) in Sunset Blvd. Off-Broadway: Eli's Comin' (OBIE Award). TV: Madam Secretary, BULL, Quantico, Only Murders in the Building, Alice's Wonderland Bakery. Film: Across the Universe; Man on a Ledge; Mulan 2. Her concert, Everything I Know: Mandy Gonzalez sings Lin Manuel Miranda has been performed with symphonies across the country. She is also the author of Fearless, a young adult series published by Simon and Schuster.

Kaila Mullady is a two-time World Beatbox Champion and a performer in Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway hit Freestyle Love Supreme. As Founder of The Academy of Noise, she empowers people to find their voice through beatboxing, storytelling, and creativity. Her work blends music, improv, and education to inspire confidence, connection, and self-expression on and off the stage.

HONOREE BIOGRAPHIES

Danielle Brooks is an Oscar-nominated actress and Grammy Award-winning singer whose immense talent and dedication to her craft continues to pave a way for diversity and inclusion on stage and screen. She starred in The Color Purple, the Warner Bros. feature film adaption of the Broadway musical, produced by Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg. Brooks first played Sofia during her Broadway debut in the revival of The Color Purple musical, for which she earned a Tony Award nomination. She portrayed Taystee on Netflix's breakthrough series Orange is the New Black and can be seen in the critically acclaimed indie feature If I Go, Will They Miss Me? Her new podcast, The InnerMission, intimately explores the subconscious of today's leading creatives. In 2022, she co-founded Black Women on Broadway, which honors the legacy of Black Women's contributions to the Theatre community.

Brooks served as a teaching artist with Arts Ignite early in the organization's history. We are thrilled to honor her extraordinary artistic journey and our shared commitment to young people and the arts.

Whitney White is a two-time Tony Award nominee, Obie Award and Lilly Award-winning director, writer and performer. Her Broadway debut, Jocelyn Bioh's Jaja's African Hair Braiding (2023) earned White a Tony nomination for Best Direction of a Play, making her the third African-American woman to ever be nominated in this category. White followed this with a fresh staging of Jason Robert Brown's The Last Five Years and Bess Wohl's Liberation, the latter for which she received her second Tony nomination. For her work off-Broadway on Walden and the premiere of Liberation, White was awarded the Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in Directing. She was also awarded the Drama League's Founders Award for Excellence in Directing.

White's artistry exemplifies the qualities Arts Ignite seeks to foster in the next generation: curiosity, courage, collaboration, and a belief in the power of the arts to create meaningful change.

Tom Viola is the former Executive Director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the philanthropic heart of Broadway and one of the nation's leading industry-based not-for-profit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. Since its founding in 1988, BC/EFA has awarded over $350 million for essential services for people living with HIV/AIDS and other critical health issues nationwide. Viola oversaw the expansion of Broadway Cares grant-making mission and the awarding of over $151 million to sustain the safety net of social services provided by the Entertainment Community Fund, as well as strategically awarding an additional $172 million awarded to hundreds of social service providers, public policy and advocacy organizations across the country.

In 2010, Viola received the Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre 'in recognition of the leadership, advocacy and creativity with which he has mobilized the theatre community's response to AIDS and other critical health issues.' In December 2025, Tom Viola was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame.