Dozens of climate activities gathered in Manhattan to force the Museum of Modern Art to remove its board chair, Marie-Josée Kravis.
On Tuesday evening, MoMA was hosting its annual Party In The Garden event – a major fundraising event for the museum – in Manhattan, New York. The event, aside from honoring artists like Marlene Hess and Darren Walker, was also attended by major existing and potential donors from around the country.
However, outside the venue, dozens of climate protestors had gathered. The crowd comprised activists from Reclaim Our Tomorrow, Climate Organizing Hub, and New York Communities For Change. The agenda was simple: removal of Marie-Josée Kravis from her position as board chair at the MoMA.
Marie-Josée Kravis is also the wife of Henry Kravis, co-founder of KKR – one of the largest private equity firms in the world. KKR is also a major stakeholder in the CoastalGasLink Pipeline. Amnesty International has denounced CoastalGasLink as a potential violator of human rights, due to their pattern of harassing peaceful protestors at their sites. They have also been at odds with indigenous tribes, who claim that the gas company is attempting to infringe on their reservations and pollute their lands.
The Kravis couple are major art donors at the MoMA. Their contributions led to the creation of Marie-Josée And Henry Kravis Studio, known for its temporal performances. The activists distribute pamphlets with a QR code linked to an open letter asking MoMA to remove Marie-Josée Kravis. Jonathan Westin (Climate Organizing Hub) said: “MoMA can’t claim to be a sustainable organization that wants to fight climate change but at the same time have a fossil fuel investor as the chair of the board, with their names on the walls.”
The protests, which included banners and a miniature oil rig, marched around the venue and stood outside the main entrance. After asking them to step down a few times, the police finally gave a final warning before they would start the arrests. This prompted the crowd to slowly disperse.
