Co-chaired by Janice Y.K. Lee and Peter Kayafas, the NYC Benefit is Yaddo’s premier fundraising event, bringing together a distinguished audience of artists, collectors, philanthropists, and cultural leaders. The evening celebrates artistic achievement and Yaddo’s century-long legacy of supporting transformative artists. This year’s event will be hosted by Noah Baumbach, honoring the transformative legacy of Yaddo President Elaina Richardson. Special guests of honor will include: Negin Farsad, Natalie Merchant, Elizabeth Strout, Jeff Hiller, Eisa Davis, and more!
Noah Baumbach is a four-time Academy Award-nominated writer and director. His films include Jay Kelly, White Noise, Marriage Story, which received six Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected), While We’re Young, Mistress America, Frances Ha, Greenberg, Margot at the Wedding, The Squid and the Whale, for which Baumbach received an Oscar nomination for Best Original Screenplay, Kicking and Screaming, and the documentary De Palma. He co-wrote Barbie with Greta Gerwig, which received 8 Academy Award nominations including Best Adapted Screenplay, as well as Fantastic Mr. Fox and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, co-written with Wes Anderson.
Negin Farsad is a TEDFellow and gave a TEDTalk on social justice comedy seen by millions. She is a regular on NPR’s Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me and Neil deGrasse Tyson’s StarTalk. She has hosted the Documentary Emmys and is host of the podcast Fake the Nation. She is author of the Thurber Prize-nominated How to Make White People Laugh and you can see her on HBO’s High Maintenance, Hulu’s Not Okay, and starring on HBOMax’s Birdgirl. She’s also a gutsy woman on Hillary Clinton’s Gutsy series for Apple TV+ and host of TED.com’s Democracy series The Great Experiment. Farsad has written for The Guardian, O, The Oprah Magazine, and The New York Times. She once sued the MTA for the right to put up funny posters about Muslims, and won.
Eisa Davis is an award-winning, multihyphenate artist playing across stage and screen. As a performer, writer, and composer steeped in a myriad of aesthetic lineages, she creates emotionally charged work that seeks to liberate us from oppressive notions. An original Broadway cast member of the celebrated musical Passing Strange, she was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama for her play Bulrusher, and wrote and starred in the stage memoir Angela’s Mixtape (upcoming revival at Signature Theatre Company, spring 2027). Other stageworks include ||: Girls :||: Chance :||: Music :|| (Vineyard Theatre/ACT), The Essentialisn’t (HERE), The History of Light, and Mushroom. Eisa is writing the songs for the musical of Devil In A Blue Dress with Walter Mosley, and is writing the book, music and lyrics for the Broadway musical Warriors with Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Natalie Merchant is a multi-platinum-selling, American singer-songwriter and producer known for her distinctive voice and captivating literary-pop songs. She has released several critically acclaimed albums, including Tigerlily and Ophelia, and has received numerous awards and nominations for her work. Her music blends folk, rock, and world music influences, and she continues to be regarded as a pioneering figure in alternative music. Her latest project, Cabinet of Wonder, finds Merchant in peak form, with a voice to keep you hanging on every word.
Elizabeth Strout is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Things We Never Say, which is longlisted for the 2026 Booker Prize; Tell Me Everything; Lucy by the Sea; Oh William!, which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Olive, Again; Anything Is Possible, winner of the Story Prize; My Name Is Lucy Barton; The Burgess Boys; Olive Kitteridge, winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Abide with Me; and Amy and Isabelle, winner of the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize. She has also been a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize in London.
Jeff Hiller is an Emmy winning actor most known for his role in HBO's "Somebody Somewhere" and on AppleTV's "Widow's Bay". He is also the author of the memoir, Actress of a Certain Age: My Twenty Year Trail to Overnight Success. Jeff performed many years at the UCB Theatre and has performed solo shows across the country and at Joe's Pub at The Public Theatre.
Support this event
Sponsorship provides high-visibility recognition across key marketing platforms and connects your brand with an influential community of patrons, leaders, and art enthusiasts. Your support directly fuels artist residencies that have shaped American culture.
Interested in sponsorship, but have questions?
Kat Trippany, Director of Development | ktrippany@yaddo.org
