Advancing the children and the arts

Frank Sinatra School for the Arts Chamber Singers perform at Americans for the Arts 2008 National Arts Awards.

A couple of weeks ago at the lunch hour, a stellar selection of the social set turned out at the Metropolitan Club for the 3rd Annual Purses & Pursenalities Luncheon, a silent auction of designer handbags benefiting Madison Square Boys & Girls Club.


	At the Metropolitan Club for the 3rd Annual Purses & Pursenalities Luncheon,

This year, Purses & Pursenalities featured bags from Alberta Ferretti, Badgley Mischka, Bergdorf Goodman, Betsey Johnson, Botkier, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Carolina Herrera, Cartier, Coach, Cole Haan, Dennis Basso, Diane von Furstenberg, Elie Tahari, Elliott Lucca, Eric Javits, Fendi, Ferragamo, Ghurka, Gucci, Hollywould, J.Crew, Jill Stuart, Jimmy Choo, Judith Leiber, Kara Ross, Karl Lagerfeld, Kate Spade, Lambertson Truex, Lilly Pulitzer, My Flat In London, Nicole Miller, Oscar de la Renta, Prada, Roger Vivier, Samantha Thavasa, Tod’s, Tory Burch, Valentino, and Yves Saint Laurent—just to name a few.

The afternoon was emceed by Eric Javits. Attendees included honorees Mark Badgley, James Mischka, Monica Botkier, and Judith Leiber; the latter received the Living Legend Award for a lifetime dedicated to design.

Also attending were Rachel Hovnanian, Somers Farkas, Mark Gilbertson, Tara Rockefeller, Muffie Potter Aston, Whitney Fairchild, Avril Graham, Cynthia Lufkin, Sharon Bush, Alison Minton, Mark Gilbertson, and Tory Burch.

About Madison Square Boys & Girls Club: Since 1884, the Madison Square Boys & Girls Club has been providing after school and summer programs for thousands of children in New York City’s most disadvantaged communities. By providing proven education, recreation and guidance programs in a safe and nurturing environment that many children consider a second home, they help our young participants lead happy, healthy and productive lives.

A founding member of the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, Madison currently serves more than 5,000 youth ages six to eighteen at seven clubhouses in the Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens and at Camp Madison in Kingston, New York. For more information, visit our website at www.madisonsquare.org [1].

Danielle Walker, Pamela Morgan, Dr. Sharon Giese, Ramona Singer, Lauren Day, and Colleen Rein

Christine Smith Gray

Felicia Taylor and Mary Schott

James Mischka, Monica Botkier, Judith Leiber, and Mark Badgley

Barbara Janies

Alison Minton and Kathleen Giordano

Annie Taube

Avril Graham

Rachel Hovnanian and Whitney Fairchild

Clo Cohen and Paige Hardy

Jocelyn Javits and Eric Javits

Sharon Bush

Seema Mehta

Muffie Potter Aston

Yaz Hernandez

Jennifer Nilles and Ghislaine Maxwell

Toni Fillet Carney

Zara Terez

Somers Farkas

Suzanne McMillan

Tory Burch

Olivia Chantecaille

Tara Rockefeller, Mark Gilbertson, and Cynthia Lufkin

Gillian Spreckels Fuller, Brian Stewart, and Stephanie Krieger

Last Monday night, the nation’s leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts, held its Annual National Arts Awards Ceremony at Cipriani in New York City which raised over $650,000 for AFTA.

The event was chaired by Maria Bell, who greeted guests and honorees with her Chairman’s Committee members Isabella and Theodor Dalenson, Sheila C. Johnson, and Julie and Edward Minskoff at the opening cocktail reception. Guests taking their seats for dinner and were welcomed by President and CEO of AFTA, Robert Lynch.

Don Randel presented Joan W. Harris the award for Philanthropy in the Arts; John Pappajohn honored J. Barry Griswell with the Artistic Corporate Citizenship in the Arts Award; and Billy Joel gave a rousing tribute to Phil Ramone, the producer of this acclaimed album The Stranger, and presented him with the Arts Advocacy Award.


	Billy Joel

Honorees crossed the stage to receive their awards in front of the spectacular video backdrop Rapunzel created by Jennifer Steinkamp, the first video artist to be featured at the National Arts Awards. There was a performance by the chorale of the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts. The high school students paid tribute to honoree Julie Andrews, performing Do-Re-Mi from the score of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The Sound of Music and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" from Mary Poppins and for Phil Ramone, performing Joel’s "New York State of Mind," which he produced.

After the performances, Thelma Golden gave a heartfelt tribute to Kehinde Wiley, the recipient of the Young Artist Award for Artistic Excellence, Michael Kimmelman paid tribute to Yoko Ono with the Kitty Carlisle Hart Award, and Mary Rodgers Guettel presented Dame Julie Andrews with the Lifetime Achievement Award, which was met with a standing ovation from the crowd of 450 people.

Guests attending the ceremony included Jeff Koons, Yvonne Force, Aimee Mullins, Kelly Bensimon, Todd Eberle, Jeffrey Deitch, Christie Iles, Marian Goodman, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Danny Meyer, Amalia Dayan, Ellen Phelan, Joel Shapiro, Tony Award winning director of South Pacific Bartlett Sher, dancers Bat Abbott, Pierre Dulaine and Graham Lustic, choreographer Jennifer Muller, and cabaret artist Theo Blackman.

The evening’s guests left with gifts generously donated by honorees and sponsors, including highly coveted “Listen. Reflect. Choose. Vote.” shirts and posters by 2006 Lifetime Achievement Award winner John Baldessari, which AFTA featured at both the Democratic and Republican conventions in order to convey the importance of arts during the election. Guest also received multilingual buttons that read Imagine Peace, the famed message of Yoko Ono and the late John Lennon, Billy Joel’s "The Stranger," catalogs from The Studio Museum in Harlem featuring Kehinde Wiley, Lancome Juicy Tubes, copies of Rolling Stone Magazine, and Thanks to You: Wisdom from Mother & Child by Julie Andrews and her daughter Emma Walton Hamilton.