The Artwalk NY gala and auction raised over $8 million on Tuesday, November 19, 2025, to support the Coalition for the Homeless. Presented by Max Mara, the event at the Grill and the Pool in the Seagram Building featured a live auction of artist-designed plates from the Artist Plate Project, along with works by Sheree Hovsepian and Ed Ruscha. Honorees included artist Sheree Hovsepian and Artist Plate Project Founder Michelle Hellman, with remarks from Coalition Executive Director Dave Giffen and a DJ set by AKU. The evening drew a crowd of artists, collectors, and philanthropists, including Rashid Johnson, Joel Mesler, Thelma Golden, and Don Lemon.
This event matters because it demonstrates the growing intersection of contemporary art and social advocacy, leveraging high-profile artists and collectors to generate significant funds for homelessness services. The $8 million raised underscores the art world's capacity to mobilize resources for urgent social causes, while the Artist Plate Project's inclusion of works by artists like Katherine Bradford and Stanley Whitney—set to appear at Phillips’s Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale—highlights how philanthropic auctions can also feed into the broader art market.