Venus Williams participating in May fundraiser for restoration of Nina Simone’s North Carolina home

The tennis legend is to co-curate a benefit auction with one of the artists who bought the legendary singer's childhood home.

TheGrio Staff

May 1, 2023

A group of Black artists purchased Nina Simone’s childhood home in 2017. In support of their preservation efforts, an auction and benefit gala are planned for later this month, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

The auction is in collaboration with the National Trust’s African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. As theGrio reported previously, the live online auction at Sotheby’s will feature works from internationally renowned contemporary artists.

According to The Reporter, the artists are Cecily Brown, Ellen Gallagher, Rashid Johnson, Robert Longo, Julie Mehretu, Adam Pendleton, Martin Puryea Sarah Sze, Mary Weatherford, Stanley Whitney and Anicka Yi.

The childhood home of Nina Simone in Tyron, North Carolina is to benefit from preservation efforts. (Photo by Nancy Pierce/National Trust for Historic Preservation)

Tennis legend Venus Williams and Adam Pendleton — one of the artists who purchased the vacant and deteriorated home — are onboard as co-curators of the auction, which goes live from May 12 to May 22 at Sotheby’s.

“I’m so excited to be a part of this expansive project centering on the life and legacy of Nina Simone, who has been a huge inspiration for so many,” said Williams in a press statement.

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Venus Williams raising money to save Nina Simone’s childhood home

For in-person viewing, Pace’s New York City gallery will exhibit the artworks from May 12 to May 20 and an in-person gala will follow on May 20 at the gallery’s flagship location, according to a press release on the National Trust for Historic Preservation website.

Oscar and Grammy-award-winning musician H.E.R. will sing one of Simone’s songs at the gala, according to The Reporter.

American singer, songwriter, pianist, arranger and activist Nina Simone is photographed on Sept. 14, 1979 in the United Kingdom. (Photo by Mike Lawn/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Simone, who passed away at age 70 in 2003, spent her childhood in the modest, three-room clapboard house in Tryon, North Carolina. Six years ago, Pendleton, Ellen Gallagher, Rashid Johnson and Julie Mehretu spent $95,000 for the property with plans to preserve the space and safeguard its legacy, the New York Post reported.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation has since declared the home a national treasure, according to The Reporter.

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Nina Simone is the greatest singer in the history of Black popular music. Period.

“Her home is a monument and a memory of her profound cultural legacy,” says Brent Leggs, the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund’s founding executive director.

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