NYU Tisch School of the Arts 2025 Gala Honors Winnie Holzman and Daniel Dae Kim

Over 500 alumni, donors and supporters gathered at Cipriani South Street on Monday night for the NYU Tisch School of the Arts 2025 Gala, raising over $1.7 million to support the critical needs of talented Tisch students. The event brought together the NYU Tisch community to highlight the school's immense impact on the arts and celebrate the incredible accomplishments of its alumni, mentors, teachers and friends. This year held particular significance as it marked Dean Allyson Green's final year at the helm of the school. 

Notable Tisch Alumni were honored at the gala, including award-winning writer Winnie Holzman ('83), best known for “Wicked,” “thirtysomething” and “My So Called Life,” and award-winning actor, director and founder of production company 3AD Daniel Dae Kim ('96). Kim took the opportunity to announce a $500K donation to form a new NYU Tisch Grad Acting scholarship. In attendance at the gala were NYU Tisch Dean Allyson Green, NYU President Linda G. Mills, Provost of NYU Georgina “Gigi” Dopico, and Oscar and Tony-winning Costume Designer Paul Tazewell. Emmy-nominated and Golden Globe-winning actress Claire Danes, Emmy-winning actor Billy Crudup ('94) and actor and writer Karl Kenzler ('94) were also on hand to honor Holzman and Kim. Photos from the purple carpet and gala are available for download at NYU Tisch Gala 2025 Press Pics (Photo credit: Steve Myaskovsky, courtesy of NYU Photo Bureau).

“We are surrounded this evening by an array of artists, scholars, faculty, staff and supporters who together illuminate our world,” said Dean Allyson Green, “reminding us of the vital role that the arts play in our lives.”

“I can't tell you how much it means to be back here and honored like this. Especially with the many people who helped make NYU such a special place and my time there such a special experience,” said Daniel Dae Kim. “I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that everything I am as an actor and almost everything I know about this art form is because of my time at NYU and the people sitting at the table with me tonight.”
 

“Being a writer is an act of faith,” said Winnie Holzman. “[NYU professors] had faith in us. You could feel it. You could lean on it,” she continued. “I'm so grateful to every one of the students, to those incredible artists who were our teachers. I'm grateful to share this beautiful evening with my extremely loyal and loving friends who are here tonight and I'm grateful to all the people I had the privilege of collaborating with over the years.”

"Her spirit is thoroughly infused in her work,” said Claire Danes of Holzman. “[...] I often call Winnie my fairy godmother because she played such a pivotal role in my life, as an artist and person, but it turns out she is everyone's fairy godmother. She basically defined the contemporary iteration of fairy godmother for an entire generation.”

Speaking of Kim, Billy Crudup and Karl Kenzler said, “[Dan] spent the better part of his life in service – to his family, classmates, and colleagues, to plays and later on TV shows and films, to his industry and to his community. But, to our little group, the word that best describes him is friend. All of the wonderful things he has done can't be there without that part.”

The gala featured several performances by current Tisch students in recognition of the honorees and Dean Allyson Green. Professor, actor and playwright Anna Deavere Smith gave a special toast to Dean Green, and NYU Trustee and Tisch Dean's Council member Sharon Chang presented her with a custom award.

Presenting partners for the 2025 NYU Tisch Gala were Tisch alumnus and Dean's Council member David R. Bernon and the Bernon Family Charitable Foundation, NYU alumna Ceci Chan, and Preethi Krishna and Ram Sundaram, members of the Tisch Dean's Council. 

The gala highlighted the impressive variety and scope of what NYU Tisch has to offer, including programs in acting, dance, cinema studies, collaborative arts, design for stage and film, dramatic writing, film and television, game design, interactive media arts, interactive telecommunications, moving image archiving and preservation, musical theatre writing, performance studies, photography, public policy and recorded music.

Since its founding in 1965, the NYU Tisch School of the Arts has established itself as one of the leading arts schools in the country. It draws on the vast artistic and cultural resources of New York City and New York University to create an extraordinary training ground for artists, scholars and innovators. Today, students learn their craft in a spirited, risk-taking environment that combines the professional training of a conservatory with the liberal arts education of a premier global university, with campuses in New York, Abu Dhabi, Shanghai and 13 other academic centers around the world.

Thousands of Tisch alumni have gone on to enjoy fulfilling careers in the arts and have received numerous accolades and nominations from prestigious institutions such as the Academy Awards, the Grammys, the Emmys, the Golden Globes, the MacArthur Foundation, Pulitzer Prizes and many others. These alumni include Mahershala Ali, Kyle Abraham, Annie Baker, Denzel Baptiste, Rachel Bloom, David Biral, Beowulf Boritt, Mark Bridges, Rachel Brosnan, Sterling K. Brown, Sam Catlin, Rachel Chavkin, Billy Crudup, Billy Crystal, Ayo Edebiri, Lady Gaga, Amber Gray, Vince Gilligan, Donald Glover, Danai Gurira, Amy Heckerling, Marcia Gay Harden, Winnie Holzman, Stephanie Hsu, Michael R. Jackson, Branden Jacobs-Jenkin, Steve Kazee, Daniel Dae Kim, Tony Kushner, Spike Lee, Mimi Lien, Michael Mayer, Tyler Mitchell, Idina Menzel, Brett Morgen, Todd Phillips, Gina Rodriguez, Maggie Rogers, Rick Rubin, Adam Sandler, Martin Scorsese,  Molly Shannon, Jenn Statsky, Corey Stoll, Oliver Stone, Ali Stroker, Shaina Taub, Paul Tazewell, Colin Trevorrow, Brandon Uranowitz, Camille Utterback, Susan Kelechi Watson, Jon Watts, George C. Wolfe, Doug Wright, Leo Villareal and Chloe Zhao.