Trixie Mattel headlines Avant Garden 2025 at the Walker Art Center
MINNEAPOLIS, AUGUST 22, 2025 — In a world that feels increasingly serious, Avant Garden 2025 is your permission to PLAY. On Saturday, September 20, the Walker Art Center’s annual fundraising gala returns with bold art, spirited community, and an unforgettable evening of creativity, camaraderie, and celebration. Tickets for the legendary late-night party start at $150, with proceeds supporting the Walker’s award-winning artistic and community programming.
The evening kicks off in the Walker galleries with a gourmet dinner and the museum’s celebrated online art auction, hosted on Artsy.net beginning September 5. From there, the festivities spill outdoors into a vibrant hillside tent party featuring cocktails, dancing, and photo-ready moments at every turn. Guests are encouraged to lean into this year’s theme of PLAY—dress in wild prints, mix materials, and layer however you like.
The grand finale comes courtesy of drag superstar, chart-topping musician, and beloved cultural icon Trixie Mattel, who will deliver a high-glam, high-energy DJ set to close the night. Local powerhouse DJ Sophia Eris kicks things off with an opening set, ensuring the dance floor stays electric from start to finish. More than just a party, Avant Garden remains one of the Twin Cities’ signature cultural events—a joyful reminder that creativity and community still matter, and always will.
Avant Garden 2025
Sat, Sep 20, 5 pm
Walker Art Center
TICKETS
Party Tickets start at $150, and dinner tickets begin at $1,500.
Full package options and details are available at walkerart.org/avantgarden
AVANT GARDEN 2025 HOST COMMITTEE
AVANT GARDEN 2025 CO-CHAIRS
Ana Haqq
John Higgins
AUCTION CO-CHAIRS
Molly Pfohl Rand
Dean Salita
BIPOC ARTIST FUND CO-CHAIRS
Gabrielle Grier
Natalie Morrow
SPONSORSHIP COMMITTEE
Ellie Anderson
Chris Haqq
William Lively
Aaron Mack
Sean Reilly
Jeff Sunberg
TABLE COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS
Kathleen Cafesjian Baradaran
Muffy MacMillan
TABLE COMMITTEE
Ellie Anderson
Tara Dev
Christopher Hermann
PARTY TICKET COMMITTEE CO-CHAIRS
Kerry Ciardelli-Chevalier
Jahna Peloquin
PARTY TICKET COMMITTEE
Jennifer Berg
Susan Blaska Lindahl
Christopheraaron Deanes
Davee Ek
Leslie Firkins
Maddy Higgins
Bobbi Jo Lamar Brunson
Bryan Lee
Susan Leppke
Camille Metty
Richard Moody
Adair Mosley
Madeline Nachbar
Shayla Owodunni
Jeffery Perkey
Bryan Pieper
Kathy Reilly
Becky Salita
Vitoria Sass
Patrick Shelton
Gayle Smaller, Jr.
Robert Spikings
Nicole Sunberg
Sarah Lee Winstead
Sade Young
ABOUT TRIXIE MATTEL
Trixie Mattel is an American singer, actor, drag queen and recognized “Skinny Legend.” Trixie is the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 3 (originally competing on season 7). She is also a Billboard Heatseekers #1 charting recording artist (One Stone, 2018), a wildly successful touring act, and one half of a comic duo with Katya on YouTube (UNHhhh & Netflix’s I Like To Watch). In 2019, Trixie worked the festival circuit as the subject of a bio documentary, “Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts,” debuted her cosmetics company Trixie Cosmetics, and released her “Skinny Legend” comedy special. She also released a New York Times best-selling book with Katya called “Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood” and also started a podcast with Katya called The Bald And The Beautiful.
ABOUT SOPHIA ERIS
Sophia Eris is a renaissance woman. Graduating with a degree in Music Business from IPR, she is an artist, touring DJ for Lizzo, and radio host. In her career, Sophia has launched groups such as The Chalice, GRRRL PRTY, Absynthe, The Reception, and her most recent, MAKR AN ERIS. She has also worked with Prince and can be found as a feature on the SPECTRUMELECTRUM album on the song “BOYTROUBLE”. Sophia is limitless and will never stop allowing herself to follow her curiosity within the arts.
“Sophia Eris is on a mission” – Nylon Magazine
“The city’s next music star. Sophia Eris is the music-biz equivalent of a three-sport athlete: Radio Host, DJ, and MC.” – Mpls.St.Paul Magazine
ABOUT THE WALKER ART CENTER
Known for presenting today’s most compelling artists from close to home and around the world, the Walker Art Center features a broad array of contemporary visual arts, music, dance, theater, and moving image works. Ranging from concerts and films to exhibitions and workshops, Walker programs bring us together to examine the questions that shape and inspire us as individuals, cultures, and communities. The adjacent Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, one of the first urban sculpture parks of its kind in the United States, holds at its center the beloved Twin Cities landmark Spoonbridge and Cherry by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen as well as some 60 sculptures. Visit walkerart.org for more information on upcoming events and programs.