Professor Djamila Ribeiro chairs the committee of the Pina Ball, a benefit gala celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Pinacoteca of São Paulo, to be held on September 16, 2025. With an ambitious fundraising goal of R$3.5 million, the event seeks to secure resources for the upkeep of the museum’s three venues as well as for future exhibitions and public programs.

With visual direction by artist Lenora de Barros, institutional support from Chanel, and performances by Paulinho da Viola and Amaro Freitas, the gala will unite culture, art, and solidarity in a night set to make history. The celebration will take place at Pina Luz and Pina Contemporânea, two of the spaces that form Brazil’s largest art museum.

More than a tribute to its long-standing legacy, the Pina Ball embodies a commitment to shaping the future through artistic plurality and representation.

According to Marília Gessa, the museum’s director of development, the funds raised will be fully invested in the institution’s operations, which currently welcome over 800,000 visitors annually and host around 18 exhibitions each year. “The Pina Ball is a celebration of art and, at the same time, a concrete gesture of support for the Pinacoteca of São Paulo,” Gessa emphasizes.

Looking ahead to the next 120 years, Djamila Ribeiro highlights the need for a sustained commitment to plurality. “Thinking about a truly democratic museum means recognizing which historical voices have been silenced and which must be amplified. Memory, in this context, is not nostalgia — it is a tool of justice,” she says.

By reaffirming culture as a force for transformation, Djamila positions the Pinacoteca not only as a guardian of the past but also as a laboratory for futures — plural and inclusive. “It is essential to ensure curatorial diversity and to remain open to diverse artistic expressions on a permanent basis. I hope other institutions adopt this perspective of imagining possible futures,” she concludes.

 

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Uma publicação compartilhada por Djamila Ribeiro (@djamilaribeiro1)