Join us for a special evening at the Skirball Cultural Center on April 9 from 6 to 8:30 PM—an exclusive dinner experience reserved for sustaining members of the Pacific Council community. This intimate gathering offers a rare opportunity to engage with art and conversation, illuminating the arts’ unique role in bridging divides while fostering mutual connection in an increasingly polarized world.

Set against the powerful backdrop of Common Ground, a thought-provoking exhibit by Los Angeles–based artist Adam Silverman, the evening is a celebration of American pluralism and the unifying power of shared experiences. Guests will have the special privilege of dining on Silverman’s hand-crafted ceramic art pieces, transforming the meal itself into a reflection of art’s ability to connect us. This event represents a special collaboration with the Skirball Cultural Center, as we are the first outside organization to host a community dinner with the Common Ground exhibit. This unique opportunity reflects our shared commitment to fostering dialogue and connection through cultural engagement.

The evening will feature a special conversation between our fellow Pacific Council member and Skirball Cultural Center President and CEO Jessie Kornberg and President Emeritus of WGBH Jonathan Abbott. Together, they will explore how the arts can break down barriers, spark dialogue, and cultivate a greater sense of understanding in today’s divided times.

We invite you to engage deeply with fellow Pacific Council members on the transformative power of art and community.

Space for this event is limited to 56 guests, as each place setting is a unique creation from Mr. Silverman’s exhibit. Sustaining Members interested in attending should email events@pacificcouncil.org to sign up.

About the Exhibition

Common Ground is a community-activated artwork by Los Angeles–based artist Adam Silverman that celebrates American pluralism while also fostering human connection through shared meals and collaborative installations.  

With the participation of nearly one hundred people from across the country, Silverman collected clay, water, and wood ash from all fifty American states, Washington DC, and the five inhabited US Territories (Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands). He then combined these materials to make a single, fully integrated, new material, erasing the borders of statehood and reimagining the country as a single, unified place. Silverman used this new combined material to make the glazes for Common Ground, which includes a tableware set of fifty-six plates, fifty-six bowls, fifty-six cups, as well as fifty-six ceremonial pots. The 224 objects are similar to one another in form, size, and composition, yet each is intentionally unique—just like each human being. The ceramics are intended as tools to facilitate conversation and build community.  

A major new addition to the Skirball's permanent museum collection, Common Ground will be exhibited and activated through January 4, 2026, during which time Silverman will also serve as the Skirball’s Artist in Residence. In collaboration with foodways scholar Dr. Scott Alves Barton and supported by local chefs as well as the Skirball’s executive chef, Sean Sheridan, the Skirball will host a series of communal gatherings during this year-long exhibition, bringing people from different communities together using the plates, bowls, cups, and ceremonial pots that comprise Common Ground. 

During a time of widespread division in the United States, Common Ground hopes to bridge political, cultural, and socioeconomic differences by bringing people together around the expansive possibilities of shared human experiences.  

Guest Speaker

Jessie Kornberg became the President and CEO of the Skirball Cultural Center in July 2020.
 
To the Skirball’s leadership team, Kornberg brings two decades of civil rights work—a career dedicated to dismantling systemic inequality. This commitment began with frontline anti-poverty services at the largest provider of homeless family housing in New York City. Kornberg went on to work with the NAACP and NOW before founding Ms. JD, an online community dedicated to supporting and advancing the careers of women in the legal profession. Next, she co-chaired the pro bono program at the Beverly Hills litigation boutique Bird Marella, focusing the firm's resources on prison condition reform, including a groundbreaking class action on behalf of the death row inmates at Angola state penitentiary in Louisiana.
 
In 2014, Kornberg became the CEO of Bet Tzedek (Hebrew for "house of justice"), one of the nation's leading free legal aid providers. Under her leadership, the agency grew to address the most pressing legal issues facing low-income families, including the establishment of the nation’s first transgender medical-legal partnership and a family preparedness program to respond to growing concerns surrounding the deportation of undocumented parents.
 
In 2020, Kornberg co-chaired LA Represents, an unprecedented pro bono legal initiative in scope and scale, established to support residents and businesses in need during the COVID-19 crisis. She currently serves as a trustee for the Los Angeles Urban League, the Motion Picture & Television Fund, and UCLA School of Law, where she earned her JD. Kornberg lives in the Silver Lake neighborhood of Los Angeles with her spouse, Aaron Lowenstein, and their young children, Asa and Sadie.

Guest Speaker

Jonathan Abbott is a nationally recognized public media and social enterprise executive.

He has been President Emeritus of GBH since 2023 and is the Principal of Abbott Advisors. He served as President & CEO of GBH (also known as the WGBH Educational Foundation) from 2007 through 2022. Jon transformed the way GBH and public media create and distribute educationally rich content to millions of Americans across the nation. He expanded GBH’s media services, impact, and reach locally and nationally—on TV, radio, the Web, and mobile, in living rooms and classrooms. He championed GBH’s early adoption of digital technologies, new content creation models, innovations, and cost efficiencies that advanced public media’s capacity to produce programming and content in the public interest. Under Abbott’s leadership, GBH invested in promising R&D projects to further public media’s mission. He co-led the launch of two national digital channels: Create (showcasing lifestyle programming) and World (nonfiction documentaries celebrating diverse voices). He also oversaw the largest capital campaign in public media history. In partnership with PBS, he led the launch of PBS LearningMedia, a free national online service pioneered by GBH that offers classroom-ready digital resources tied to curriculum standards; a service utilized by educators in 50 states. Jon was instrumental in bringing public media leaders together to found and launch CDP, The Contributor Development Partnership, a Public Benefit Corporation that scales data management, analysis and fundraising for hundreds of non-profit organizations.

He is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Council on Foreign Relations. He holds a BA from Columbia University and an MBA from Stanford University.