The Closing Number on Wilshire, Taylor Swift Will Perform at the Academy Museum Gala
Swift will close the museum’s sixth annual Rolex gala on October 17, a night honoring Charlize Theron, Colman Domingo and John Carpenter.
Taylor Swift now has a date on Wilshire Boulevard. The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures said Thursday that she will perform at its sixth annual Academy Museum Gala on Saturday, October 17, Deadline reported, and her set will close a night built to honor three filmmakers.
The honorees were announced in the summer. Charlize Theron receives the Icon Award, Colman Domingo the Vantage Award and John Carpenter the Luminary Award. Swift is the new name, and the one that changes the temperature of the evening.
A Closing Act for Three Honorees
“Taylor is an extraordinary talent whose work resonates around the world,” said Amy Homma, director and president of the Academy Museum and Academy Collection, in a statement reported by The Hollywood Reporter. “We are thrilled to welcome her to this year’s gala and look forward to her performance to close a wonderful evening of honoring three extraordinary filmmakers and supporting the Academy Museum’s mission to celebrate and preserve cinema.”
The gala is presented by Rolex, the museum’s founding supporter, and serves as one of its main fundraisers. Proceeds go to exhibitions, education programs and public screenings, according to BroadwayWorld, which also noted that honorees take part in public programs around the event. The programs announced so far include Theron in conversation with the museum’s Teen Council on August 22, paired with a screening of Mad Max Fury Road, and Carpenter hosting four nights of screenings of his films, Halloween among them, in celebration of the museum’s new exhibition The Horror Show.
The co-chairs are Tom Ford, Robert Rodriguez, Steven Spielberg and Kate Capshaw. When the honorees were first announced in August, Los Angeles magazine listed only Rodriguez, Spielberg and Capshaw. The host committee reads like a premiere afterparty, with Jessica Alba, Judd Apatow and Leslie Mann, Adrien Brody, Jon M. Chu, Kirsten Dunst, Regina Hall, Kate Hudson, Jessica Lange, Greta Lee, John Legend and Chrissy Teigen, Rami Malek, Demi Moore, Questlove, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Seth Rogen and Teyana Taylor among the names.
The Song in the Race
The awards calendar is part of the story. The Hollywood Reporter noted that the gala draws stars campaigning for awards season, and that Swift is in this year’s Oscar race for “I Knew It, I Knew You,” the original song she wrote for Toy Story 5. Bustle called it Swift’s first event in association with the Motion Picture Academy.
The gala is not her first museum stage this season. In August she appeared at the Grammy Museum’s Icon Sessions, where she sat down with Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason Jr. and performed a medley of “I Knew It, I Knew You” with “august” and “All Too Well.” She explained the pairing that night. “It’s songs that are connected to each other by the common theme of being about memory and reliving certain detailed memories of your life, and the significance of those memories,” she said, as For The Win reported. Nobody has said what she will sing on Wilshire.
A Room With a Habit of Big Finales
Swift follows a strong precedent. At last year’s gala, which raised more than $12 million, Martin Scorsese presented the first Legacy Award to Bruce Springsteen, who was introduced by George Clooney and then played “Streets of Philadelphia,” “Atlantic City” and “Land of Hope and Dreams,” Los Angeles magazine reported. Earlier honorees include Meryl Streep, Oprah Winfrey, Julia Roberts, Tilda Swinton and Sophia Loren.
For more on the honorees and the full host committee, see our earlier story on the Academy Museum’s Theron, Domingo and Carpenter gala.
