BlackStar Projects Announces 2026 Luminary Gala

BlackStar Projects is pleased to announce its 2026 Luminary Gala Awards, honoring Mahershala Ali, Mara Brock Akil, John Simmons and Firelight Media. The gala will take place on November 20, 2026 at The Bellevue Hotel in Philadelphia from 6PM-10:30PM. Ticketing and sponsorship information is available here. 

Established in 2012, the Luminary Awards have been given to a wide range of artists, cultural leaders and collectives whose contributions align with BlackStar’s mission of creating a more just and liberatory world. Past recipients have included Mira Nair, Menelik Shabazz, Ava DuVernay, Julie Dash, dream hampton, RZA and Robert Townsend. First held in 2023, the Luminary Gala is an unforgettable evening in celebration of the luminaries shaping and shifting the arts, culture and media landscape. Bringing together artists, philanthropists and BlackStar’s community of friends, the event shines a light on the organization’s work to garner further support for its suite of year-round cultural programming that provides Black, Brown and Indigenous artists with the resources and support they need to thrive. This year’s Gala will feature performances by Lady Alma and Luke Carlos O’Reilly.

This year’s Luminary Award recipients display a commitment to social justice, embracing collaboration and celebrating a wide spectrum of aesthetics and storytelling practices. The 2026 honorees are: Mahershala Ali, Academy Award-winning actor; Mara Brock Akil, celebrated and award-winning writer and producer; John Simmons, an award-winning cinematographer with credits in documentaries, commercials, music videos, features and television, whose work and mentorship has influenced countless other cinematographers working today; and Firelight Media, a nonprofit organization that supports and advocates on behalf of documentary filmmakers of color.

Mahershala Ali is a two-time Academy Award-winning actor, recognized for his performances in Moonlight and Green Book. He recently starred opposite Scarlett Johansson in Jurassic World Rebirth and will next be seen in Bassam Tariq’s Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. His acclaimed credits also include True Detective, Leave the World Behind, Swan Song, Hidden Figures and House of Cards.

Mara Brock Akil is a celebrated writer and producer of more than 400 episodes of television and is the only African American showrunner to have a major television series on the air every year throughout the 2000s. Her groundbreaking credits include Girlfriends (2000–2008), The Game (2006–2015) and Being Mary Jane (2013–2019). She also served as an executive producer on Netflix’s Stamped from the Beginning, which was shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Most recently, Brock Akil created, wrote and executive produced the critically acclaimed Netflix adaptation of Judy Blume’s 1975 novel Forever. The series earned Brock Akil a 2026 Peabody Award and a Writers Guild of America Award nomination. Brock Akil is the recipient of numerous industry honors, including the Norman Lear Achievement Award at the 2026 Producers Guild Awards, ESSENCE magazine’s Visionary Award and the Brandon Tartikoff Legacy Award from NATPE.

John Simmons, ASC, is an Emmy-winning cinematographer, director and photographer whose work spans film, television, music videos and fine art, exploring Black life, culture, and memory. A member of the American Society of Cinematographers and the Directors Guild of America, his work spans comedy and drama across formats. A graduate of Fisk University and USC School of Cinematic Arts, he is a longtime UCLA adjunct professor, and co-chair of the ASC Vision Committee, reflecting a career-long commitment to mentorship and advancing underrepresented filmmakers.

Firelight Media’s mission is to support the creation, distribution and impact of documentary media by and about communities of color in all our vibrancy and complexity. By providing filmmakers mentorship, funding and creative development, we seek to advance the art of nonfiction storytelling to realize a more just and beautiful world.

The Luminary Gala is a microcosm of BlackStar’s multiplicity, an intentional community building moment, connecting its profound, diverse audience in a Black-led space centered on joy and thriving. Sponsors and contributors will be directly investing in the sustainability of BlackStar’s efforts to rectify systemic imbalances in the media arts and beyond and support the mission of amplifying the moving image as a transformative tool for social change. The 2026 Luminary Gala is presented in part by supporting sponsor Open Society Foundations as well as The Ogilvie Family Foundation and PECO.

The 2026 Luminary Gala host committee includes Allison Acevedo, State Representative Andre D. Carroll, Brandon Pankey, Deesha Philyaw, Dyana Williams, Ernest Owens, Dr. Fanon Che Wilkins, Dr. Garikai Campbell, Councilmember Isaiah Thomas, James Claiborne, Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, Joe Hill, Joslyn G. Ewart, Julia Millan Shaw, Katie Adams, Marcel Pratt, Senator Nikil Saval, Reginald M. Browne, Skai Reynolds, Val Gay and Senator Vincent Hughes.

BlackStar Projects and its year-round programs are generously supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, Critical Minded, Color Congress, Department of Community and Economic Development, Ford Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Mellon Foundation, People’s Media Fund, Perspective Fund, Ruth Foundation for the Arts, Surdna Foundation, The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Wallace Foundation, William Penn Foundation and Wyncote Foundation in addition to its board of directors, community partners and a host of generous individual donors and organizations.

About BlackStar Projects
BlackStar Projects, founded in 2012 by Maori Karmael Holmes as BlackStar Film Festival, creates the spaces and resources needed to uplift the work of Black, Brown and Indigenous artists working outside the confines of genre. Beyond the annual film festival the organization produces year-round programs, including film screenings, exhibitions, a filmmaker seminar, a film production lab and a journal of film, art and visual culture. 

These programs provide artists opportunities for viable strategies for collaborations with other artists, audiences, funders and distributors. BlackStar is working towards a liberatory world in which a vast spectrum of Black, Brown and Indigenous experiences is irresistibly celebrated in arts and culture.