Municipal Art Society’s 2026 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal Celebration Honoring Betsy Smith, Rick Cotton, & Richard Olcott

Municipal Art Society’s 2026 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal Celebration was held on Monday, September 28, at The Grill | The Pool in the landmarked Seagram Building in New York City.

The evening honored civic leaders Betsy Smith, President and CEO of the Central Park Conservancy; Rick Cotton, former Executive Director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey; and Richard Olcott, Principal at Ennead, a CannonDesign Company, whose respective visions have transformed New York City’s parks, transportation infrastructure, and built environment. The medals were presented by former medal recipients Annabelle Selldorf, Principal of Selldorf Architects, and Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger.

Guests included Co-Chairs Laurie and Peter Grauer, Vice Chairs Public Art Fund President Susan K. Freedman, Stephen Henderson and James LaForce, as well as leaders in civic advocacy, architecture, urban planning, preservation, and public art—including Vishaan Chakrabarti, Founder and Creative Director, PAU; Benjamin Gilmartin, Partner, Diller Scofidio + Renfro; Gregg Pasquarelli, Founding Principal, SHoP Architects; Li Chung (Sandi) Pei, AIA, Founding Partner, PEI Architects; Patti Harris, CEO, Bloomberg Philanthropies; Laurie Beckelman, preservation leader and former Chair, New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission; Nicholas Baume, Artistic & Executive Director, Public Art Fund; Tina Vaz, Director, MTA Arts & Design; and JFK Terminal 6-commissioned artists Sky Hopinka, Kambui Olujimi, and Candida Alvarez. Jill Lerner/Kohn Pedersen Fox, Janet C. Ross/J&AR Foundation, Norman C. Selby, and Melissa G. Vail joined as the evening’s hosts.

The highest honor of the Municipal Art Society — the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Medal — is awarded annually to individuals who, through vision, leadership, and philanthropy, have made an extraordinary contribution to New York City. The award was originally presented as the President’s Medal in 1950 and was renamed in honor of Mrs. Onassis in 1994 to commemorate her partnership with MAS to preserve great architecture in New York City.

Proceeds from the celebration support MAS’s mission to improve and protect the built environment of New York and to enhance the lives of all New Yorkers through the municipal arts of architecture, landscape architecture, planning, preservation, and public art. The evening raised over $1 million for MAS community education programs and research.