Art Basel in Paris 2025, October 24

Conversations | How Black collectors are reshaping philanthropy

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Victoria Rogers,&nbsp;Director of Strategy, Office of the COO at Autodesk, New York&nbsp; Joy Simmons, MD, Los Angeles&nbsp; Moderator:&nbsp;Thomas E. Moore III,&nbsp;Art Collector, Philanthropist, and Executive Director of American Friends of the Louvre,&nbsp;New York&nbsp;and Paris&nbsp;
 Across the United States, a new generation of Black collectors, patrons, and philanthropists is redefining cultural leadership, transforming how art is supported, displayed, and valued. From founding acquisitions groups to joining museum boards, Black cultural stewards are not just&nbsp;participating&nbsp;in the art world: they are rewriting its rules. This panel brought together the visionary voices of Victoria Rogers,&nbsp;Joy Simmons, and&nbsp;moderator&nbsp;Thomas E. Moore III to explore how Black philanthropy is fostering institutional change and reimagining the cultural agenda.
Victoria Rogers&nbsp;is the&nbsp;director of&nbsp;strategy in the&nbsp;office of the COO at Autodesk. She has also worked as an&nbsp;advisor at&nbsp;Google X, where she focused on inclusive uses of generative AI, and as the&nbsp;director of&nbsp;arts at Kickstarter.&nbsp;Rogers&nbsp;is a board member of the Brooklyn Museum, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Terra Foundation, and co-chair and co-founder of the Black Trustee Alliance for Art Museums.&nbsp;&nbsp;
V. Joy Simmons, MD is&nbsp;a&nbsp;collector and philanthropist who has supported the work of artists of African descent and more broadly,&nbsp;artists whose work is informed and inspired by Black culture.&nbsp;Dr.&nbsp;Simmons has&nbsp;played a vital role in the establishment and growth of various institutions that now help define Los Angeles’s vibrant cultural landscape. She&nbsp;serves as a&nbsp;commissioner of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and is on the&nbsp;board of&nbsp;directors of the California African American Museum.&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;
Executive Director of the American Friends of the Louvre,&nbsp;Thomas E. Moore III is a cultural strategist, art collector, and philanthropic leader whose work bridges continents and cultures. A passionate collector of contemporary art, Thomas is committed to championing emerging and historically underrepresented voices – building a collection that reflects a deep sense of curiosity, cultural engagement, and social conviction.

From Hong Kong to Basel, dive into our rich archive of talks and debates, featuring leading voices of the art world and beyond

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