Beyoncé will co-chair the 2026 Met Gala alongside Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour.
The news broke on Wednesday (Dec. 10), with fans immediately taking this as a sign that an expected third entry in her album trilogy—preceded by Renaissance and Cowboy Carter—may be on the horizon.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Benefit, better known as the Met Gala, is slated for May 4. Proceeds serve as the main source of funding for the institute’s exhibitions, general operations, and more.
A press release from the Met adds that Zoë Kravitz and Anthony Vaccarello are set to co-chair the Gala Host Committee. Among the confirmed members of the committee are Doja Cat, Sabrina Carpenter, Teyana Taylor, Lena Dunham, and LISA.
The theme for the 2026 edition, which stands as Beyoncé’s first Met Gala in 10 years, is “Costume Art.” In a press release, Andrew Bolton, the institute’s lead curator, said the aim is to “focus on the centrality of the dressed body within the Museum, connecting artistic representations of the body with fashion as an embodied artform.”
As for that trilogy-closing Beyoncé album, known as Act III for now, nothing official has been announced. Still, fans have been looking for clues on what direction the 35-time Grammy winner might be going in with her Cowboy Carter follow-up for well over a year now.
The leading theory for some time has been that rock history will take center stage on the project. Fans have wishfully floated a number of hopeful collaborators in that realm, including (but not limited to) Paramore and blink-182. Jack White, who previously worked with Beyoncé on Lemonade, has also been speculated as a potential guest.
Given that Renaissance and Cowboy Carter were released roughly two years apart, it stands to reason that Act III could be eyeing a 2026 release.
