Who: Mingyur Rinpoche, Ponlop Rinpoche, Laurie Anderson, Sivamani, Preeti Vasudevan, Deepak Chopra, Tracy Dennis-Tiwary, Stuart Firestein, Daniel Goleman, Ana Lucia Valencia, Erin Reid
What: Rubin Museum virtual gala
Where: Rubin Museum online
When: Wednesday, October 21, free with RSVP (donations accepted, $25-$5,000), 6:00
Why: The Rubin Museum couldn’t have had any idea how prescient its 2020 theme would be when it first came up with it: “Impermanence: A Yearlong Exploration.” It’s been quite a year, from protests over police brutality to a global pandemic, from a bitter presidential race that has torn apart the country to a fierce economic crisis. The Rubin will offer a look back as well as a way forward at its annual gala, taking place online on October 21 at 6:00. “Inside the Mandala” promises to guide audience members into the symbolic circular spiritual object, with appearances by meditation teachers Mingyur Rinpoche and Ponlop Rinpoche, visual artist and musician Laurie Anderson, musician Drums Sivamani, choreographer Preeti Vasudevan, Rubin teaching artist Erin Reid, neuroscience researcher Ana Lucia Valencia, author and alternative medicine practitioner Deepak Chopra, emotion scientist Dr. Tracy Dennis-Tiwary and her family, biological scientist Stuart Firestein, and psychologist and science journalist Dr. Daniel Goleman.
Admission is free, but donations will be accepted at any amount. As deputy executive director and chief programmatic officer Tim McHenry noted in an email blast, “Wednesday night we take you on a journey. Inside the mandala. We are revealing for the first time our plans to convert a whole floor of the museum into an experiential (and experimental) zone for social and emotional learning using the tantric precepts of the Vairocana mandala as our model. Yes, we are…” See you there, in mind and spirit if not body.