At Next City’s 10th anniversary benefit at Joe’s Pub in New York on Friday, eight speakers took the stage to share stories from work and life. Our lineup included Team Detroit’s Toby Barlow; Strong Cities, Strong Communities Fellow Dekonti Mends-Cole; husband-and-wife starchitects Tod Williams and Billie Tsien; MacArthur-winning activist Majora Carter; The Awl editor and Very Recent History author Choire Sicha; and Next City co-founder Adam Gordon.
Meanwhile our guests mingled, networked, munched from a menu that included shrimp tacos, calamari and lemon tarts, and sipped from a bottomless drink selection. We had a ball.
The first story came from Darren Walker, the newly appointed president of the Ford Foundation, who told the audience about how Next City’s founders pitched him the idea of a magazine focused on urban policy and best practices in 2003, well before the issues facing cities were as talked about as they are now.
“I actually convinced them that they should take more money, which never happens at a foundation,” Walker said.
Editor in Chief Diana Lind explained that Next City was marking its 10-year anniversary, but also celebrating having grown beyond its startuppy roots.
“When you graduate from college, you don’t listen to panels,” she said. “You listen to commencement speakers and valedictorians.”
Sometime in the coming days we’ll post video of each of the stories, funded by Rockefeller Foundation. For now, we’ve compiled a slideshow and Storify to look back on some of the night’s best moments.
Gallery: Next City Celebrates 10 Years
-
The scene at Joe’s Pub before the event began.
-
Ford Foundation President Darren Walker and Next City co-founder Adam Gordon.
-
Guests making their way in during cocktail hour.
-
Neill Coleman, vice president of global communications at the Rockefeller Foundation, kicks off the evening.
-
Next City Editor in Chief Diana Lind speaks about Next City’s growth and promise.
-
Toby Barlow, the evening’s first storyteller, shares with audience that moving to Detroit hadn’t been a dream of his.
-
Tod Williams and Billie Tsien speak about what it was like to live as artists in Carnegie Hall, and then get pushed out.
-
Dekonti Mends-Cole connects her grandmother’s cherished memories of war-torn Liberia to the work she does fighting blight in Detroit.
-
Majora Carter recounts her career trajectory and honors the women who helped make her the activist she is today.
-
Choire Sicha talks about New York life, leaving it and coming to it.
-
Adam Gordon closes the evening, sharing how he fought to save New Jersey’s Fair Share Housing Center.
All photos by Desiree Navarro
Cassie Owens is a regular contributor to Next City. Her writing has also appeared at CNN.com, Philadelphia City Paper and other publications.
Follow Cassie .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
Never Miss A StoryDownload our app
