Charlotte Moore and Ciarán O'Reilly of The Irish Repertory Theatre, To Be Honored By NY Landmarks Conservancy

On November 2, 2022, The New York Landmarks Conservancy will host its 29th Living Landmarks Celebration at The Plaza. This year's honorees are Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts III, Andreas C. Dracopoulos, Marlene Hess, Earl Monroe, Charlotte Moore and Ciarán O'Reilly, Faith Ringgold, and Oscar Tang. The following previous honorees will also participate: Stephen S. Lash as host, and Frank Bennack, Marina Kellen French, Gilbert C. Maurer, Patricia D. Klingenstein and Cynthia and Thomas Sculco as Honorary Co-Chairs for the evening.

"Our amazing group of honorees reflects the talent and diversity of New York," said Peg Breen, President of The New York Landmarks Conservancy. "Each has made significant contributions that have added to everyone's enjoyment of the City."

2022 Living Landmarks Honorees

Rev. Dr. Calvin Butts, III has served as Pastor of the internationally acclaimed Abyssinian Baptist Church for more than 30 years, and as president of the SUNY College at Old Westbury for 20 years, retiring in 2020. He now serves as President Emeritus. Rev. Butts also helped found, and is the Chairman of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, a community-based NGO responsible for more than $1 billion in housing and commercial development in Harlem. He played a key role in establishment of the Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change - a public, state-of-the-art middle and upper school in Harlem. In addition, Rev. Butts is the visionary behind the Thurgood Marshall Academy Lower School. During his tenure at Old Westbury, he reinvigorated one of the most diverse public college campuses in the country to its largest enrollment ever, adding full-time faculty and expanding student support services.

Rev. Butts serves on the leadership board of New Visions for Public Schools, Chairman Emeritus of the Board of the National Black Leadership Commission on Health and was a founding member of its Board of Commissioners. Previously, Rev. Butts served as President of Africare NYC and a trustee of the Board of the September 11th Fund. His lifelong dedication to education and faith has been recognized with honorary degrees from Addis Ababa University, the City University of New York/The City College of New York, and many others. His numerous honors and accolades include the United Negro College Fund's Shirley Chisholm Community Service Award, Medal for Distinguished Services from Teachers College, Columbia University, and Morehouse College Alumni Association.

Andreas C. Dracopoulos is Co-President of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), an international philanthropic organization that has made over 5,200 grants to nonprofits worldwide aiming to achieve broad, lasting, and positive impact for society.

Andreas is a Trustee of The Rockefeller University, Johns Hopkins University (JHU), and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). He is also an Honorary Trustee of the New York Public Library, which recognized him in 2012 for his contributions to the Library's educational programs. He has provided longstanding personal support to many projects in education, arts and culture, and medicine, including the founding grant to establish the Dracopoulos iDeas Lab at CSIS. He also supported the creation of the Dracopoulos-Bloomberg Bioethics iDeas Lab and endowed the directorship at JHU's Berman Institute of Bioethics.

In 2021, Andreas was invested as Archon Grand Orator by Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I and made an Honorary Battalion Chief by the Fire Department of the City of New York, the organization's highest civilian honor. The Republic of France awarded Andreas the rank of the Officer of the Legion of Honor in 2016, and H.E. the President of the Hellenic Republic awarded Andreas the ranks of Grand Commander of the Order of the Phoenix in 2012 and Grand Cross of the Order of Honor in 2018. A longtime supporter of mental health care, he was honored by the Child Mind Institute in 2015 for his longstanding commitment in providing mental health resources for children.

Andreas was born and raised in Athens, Greece, and graduated from Athens College. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School of Business. In June 2021, Andreas received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Simon Fraser University. He lives in New York City.

Marlene Hess is a Board Vice Chair of the Museum of Modern Art (and Chair of the Drawings and Prints Committee) and a Board Vice Chair of Rockefeller University (and Chair of the Educational Affairs Committee). She also serves on the boards of the American Museum of Natural History, Lincoln Center Theater (Treasurer, past Vice Chair), the Metropolitan Opera, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Sesame Street Workshop, and the WNET Group. She is an active member of the Council on Foreign Relations and has participated in several of its task forces.

She has served on the boards of the American Theatre Wing, Central Park Conservancy, Guild Hall of East Hampton, International Women's Health Coalition (past Chair), Jazz at Lincoln Center, Lenox Hill Hospital (past Vice Chair), New York City Ballet (past Vice Chair), and Women In Need, a New York City non-profit for homeless women and their children.

A graduate and former trustee of Mills College, California, she has been a member of the Harvard College Board of Overseers' Committee to Visit the College, and Harvard University's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies. She is a past Trustee of the Episcopal School, St. Bernard's School, and the Trinity School, all in New York City.

Ms. Hess is the former Managing Director of Global Philanthropic Services at J.P. Morgan Private Bank, and prior to that, at Chase Manhattan Bank. As the Director of Not-for-Profit Relations for Chase, she enhanced the bank's philanthropic activities and formed extensive partnerships between corporate and non-profit sectors, including the award-winning "Child Vaccination Program" in collaboration with the Children's Defense Fund and the New York City Department of Health. She also served on the Capital Commitment Task Force of the New York City Partnership's 9/11 Financial Recovery Fund to aid in the rebuilding of lower Manhattan.

Earl Monroe is a Hall of Fame basketball player who was voted one of the 50, and most recent, 75 greatest players in NBA history. He was the 1968 Rookie of the year, 4-Time NBA All-star, and a member of the 1973 New York Knickerbocker Championship team. After a successful career in basketball, he spent more than 30 years in the entertainment industry, from producing off-broadway musicals to running his own record and publishing company. He has also won the coveted Peabody Award for producing the critically acclaimed documentary "Black Magic", which helped launch the ESPN series, "30 for 30". He was also a producer on the ESPN 10 part series, "Basketball, A Love Story".

As a collegiate basketball player, Earl led his Winston-Salem State University Rams to the NCAA College Division championship, while leading the nation with a 41.7 ppg average. WSSU became the first HBCU to win an NCAA national title. He was voted College Division Player of the Year and Sporting News' first team All American. He was the only college division player to achieve such an honor. As the number two pick of the 1967 NBA draft, by the Baltimore Bullets, he is the highest small college player ever chosen in the NBA. He graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education, from Winston-Salem State University.

Earl has been a frequent motivational guest lecturer and has written two books, his autobiogrphy, "Earl The Pearl, His Story" and his most recent endeavor, a self-help book called, "Getting Back In The Game." He has three honorary Doctorates. One from Manhattanville College in Purchase, NY, one from Medgar Evers College, in Brooklyn and the other from his alma mater, Winston-Salem State University, in North Carolina. Earl has run his own union painting and flooring company, the Earl Monroe Group of NJ. He's also been a TV and radio commentator for the NY Knicks and NBC. Earl has been a spokesperson for such companies as Emblem Health, American Heart Association, Bohringer-Ingelheim and more recently, Merck, where he led an award winning campaign called, Diabetes Restaurant Month, among others. He is still involved with his Reverse Spin Entertainment Group, which is an entertainment, sports, and consulting firm. Currently he is involved with The Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School, which is the first specialized public high school with an academic curriculum entirely designed around basketball. "We hope to ensure that our students' futures are filled with possibility-whether they play the game or not". Earl resides in Harlem with his wife, daughter and grandson.

Charlotte Moore and Ciarán O'Reilly founded the Irish Repertory Theatre in 1988 to focus on classic and contemporary Irish and Irish American plays. The two actors found an appreciative audience, eventually created a permanent home on West 22nd Street, and earned numerous awards for their productions and for the Theatre itself.

Irish Rep has now presented more than 190 productions and worked with more than 500 company members. More than 50,000 audience members attend annually. Their on-line productions during the pandemic reached an international audience. Irish Rep has earned an Outer Critics Circle Special Achievement award, a special Drama Desk Award for "Excellence in Presenting Distinguished Irish Drama" and a Lucille Lortel Award for "Outstanding Body of Work." It was named 2019 "Company of the Year" by The Wall Street Journal.

The two co-founders received the 2019 Irish Presidential Distinguished Service Award for the Irish Abroad and are included in the Irish America Hall of Fame.

Ms. Moore's honors include two Tony Award nominations, The Eugene O'Neill Lifetime Achievement Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Drama League Award, Drama Desk Award and the Irish America Top 100 Irish Award. Her directing credits include London Assurance, Love, Noel, The Plough and the Stars, New York premiere of Brian Friel's The Home Place and world premiere of Larry Kirwan's Rebel in the Soul. She has been listed three times as one of the "Top 50 Power Women" in Irish America Magazine and was named "Director of the Year" by The Wall Street Journal in 2011.

Mr. O'Reilly's favorite directing credits include Lady G: Plays and Whisperings of Lady Gregory, Dublin Carol, Shadow of a Gunman, The Seafarer, The Dead, The Weir and Banished Children of Eve. He has acted in Da, Juno and the Paycock, Dancing at Lughnasa, Molly Sweeney, Candida, Aristocrats, and The Irish and How They Got that Way. He appeared in the Roundabout Theatre Company production of A Touch of the Poet with Gabriel Byrne and has appeared at The Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Films include "The Devil's Own" starring Harrison Ford. He has also appeared in "Law and Order."

Faith Ringgold, born 1930 in Harlem, New York, is a painter, mixed media sculptor, performance artist, writer, teacher, and lecturer. She received her B.S. and M.A. degrees in visual art from the City College of New York in 1955 and 1959. Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of California in San Diego, Ringgold has received 23 Honorary Doctorates.

During the early 1960's Ringgold traveled in Europe. She created her first political paintings, The American People Series from 1963 to 1967 and had her first and second one-person exhibitions at the Spectrum Gallery in New York. In the early 1970's Ringgold began making tankas (inspired by a Tibetan art form of paintings framed in richly brocaded fabrics), soft sculptures and masks. She later utilized this medium in her masked performances of the 1970's and 80's. Although Faith Ringgold's art was initially inspired by African art in the 1960's, it was not until the late 1970's that she traveled to Nigeria and Ghana to see the rich tradition of masks that have continued to be her greatest influence.

She made her first quilt, Echoes of Harlem, in 1980, in collaboration with her mother, Madame Willi Posey. The quilts were an extension of her tankas from the 1970's. However, these paintings were not only bordered with fabric but quilted, creating for her a unique way of painting using the quilt medium. Ringgold's first story quilt Who's Afraid of Aunt Jemima? was written in 1983 as a way of publishing her unedited words. The addition of text to her quilts has developed into a unique medium and style all her own.

Crown Publishers published Faith Ringgold's first book, the award-winning Tar Beach in 1991. It has won over 20 awards including the Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King award for the best-illustrated children's book of 1991. An animated version with Natalie Cole as the voice over was created by HBO in 2010. The book is based on the story quilt of the same title from The Woman on a Bridge Series, 1988. The original painted story quilt, Tar Beach, is in the permanent collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Her second children's book Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky was published in 1992. In 1993 she published Dinner at Aunt Connie's, and Ringgold's third book based on The Dinner Quilt, in 1986. Her autobiography and first book for an adult audience We Flew Over the Bridge: The Memoirs of Faith Ringgold was released 1995 as well as the children's book My Dream of Martin Luther King. To date she has illustrated 17 children's books. Faith's most recent books are Harlem Renaissance Party and We Came to America.

Oscar Tang has demonstrated extraordinary dedication and leadership in supporting and advancing education, arts, culture, athletics and social justice in New York City and beyond.

Oscar is Co-Chairman of the New York Philharmonic, a member of the Board of Lincoln Center of the Performing Arts, and is part of the team that led the historic renovation of David Geffen Hall. Oscar is a longtime trustee and benefactor of The Metropolitan Museum of Art. His 2021 landmark gift enables the museum to renovate and expand the Modern and Contemporary Wing, further galvanizing the museum's collecting and curatorial approaches to move beyond the traditional Western canon. He has led The Met's Asian Art Visiting Committee and helped build the department with gifts of masterpieces; curatorial, conservation and exhibition support; as well as gifts to renovate and expand galleries and study spaces.

Oscar has also supported other institutions including Skidmore College, the Asia Society, the Gordon Parks Foundation, and the USA Bobsled/Skeleton Foundation. He co-founded the Committee of 100 with Yo-Yo Ma, I.M. Pei, and others to advance United States/China relations and Chinese American inclusion. Oscar was appointed to the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities and the New York State Council on the Arts. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

A graduate of Phillips Academy Andover, Oscar served on the Board of Trustees and as President. Under his leadership Andover became the first American boarding school to go "need blind". Oscar attended Yale University and Harvard Business School, and has founded centers of academic excellence at Andover, Princeton, Columbia, Berkeley and Oxford. Most recently, Oscar and his wife designated the Tang Academy for American Democracy at the New-York Historical Society, providing foundational civics and history education to thousands of public school students throughout the five boroughs at no cost.

TICKET INFORMATION: Tickets for the gala start at $1,500; tables start at $10,000. Please visit www.nylandmarks.org for more information.