 |
Trip Cullman, Bonnie Strauss, Georgina Cullman, Sam Cullman, Stella Korins, and Carolyn Korins in the New York Restoration Project's Garden of Hope’s newly designed space. |
 |
|
|
| Bette Midler’s New York Restoration Project (NYRP) rescued 57 Community Gardens in 1999, and she has been renovating and revitalizing them by finding donors to subsidize the cost and provide the design. The Garden of Hope – in Bed Stuy, Brooklyn, was designed by renowned New York interior designer and Brooklyn native, Ellie Cullman. Cullman fell in love with the garden -- which was started by local residents on Hancock Street in 1982. She was so impressed by what they had accomplished with very few resources and was determined to create a beautiful, green oasis that would serve community needs. |
|
|
|
 |
Alyssa Miller, Marlene Marshalleck, Ellie Cullman, Bette Midler, and David Korins |
|
|
|
| Mrs. Cullman, who founded the interior design firm of Cullman & Kravis in partnership with best friend, designer and fellow Brooklynite the late Hedi Kravis, led the design and fundraising effort to restore the Garden of Hope in honor of her. The garden’s new design features open space for strolling, game tables and benches, as well as an area for community gatherings. Bette Midler recalled a breakfast a few years ago organized by Architectural Digest’s Paige Rense where many of the city’s top designers heard her speak about her vision to make New York City a cleaner, greener place to live. She said that Ellie Cullman immediately stepped up to the plate and raised the funds, designed the space, and devoted her time and resources so that she could pay tribute to her friend and business partner in a place where they grew up in and loved – Brooklyn! |
|
|
|
 |
Lizzy Dexter, Claire Ratliff, Lee Schwartz, Tracey Pruzan, Ellie Cullman, Alyssa Miller, Ellen Chopay, Elena Phillips, Sarah Ramsey, and Jenny Fischbach |
|
|
|
| Attending the opening ceremonies were: Kimberly Kravis and her husband, Jonny Schulhof, Trip, Sam and Georgina Cullman, Laurie Grauer, Bonnie Strauss, Lindsay Allen, Tracey Pruzan. This past Saturday, May 10th, the New York Restoration Project welcomed area residents into the Garden of Hope’s newly designed space with garden games, educational activities, seminars and meet-and-greet opportunities with NYRP’s talented horticulture teams that last through the weekend. Paying close attention to the important social, environmental, and even economic roles that community gardens play in New York City, NYRP’s goal is to help neighborhood residents develop these shared patches of green into beloved institutions that bring beauty, joy, health, and revitalization to struggling communities across the city. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Two Wednesday evenings ago at the Rainbow Room The Boys’ Club of New York Women’s Board held their annual Spring Dance and honored Betty and Virgil Sherrill for over eighty years of combined service to America’s oldest boys club. Stephen Sherrill, their son, served as Men’s Committee chair, and Ann Pyne, their daughter, and Stephen’s wife Kitty served as Dance Vice Chairs.
The dance was chaired by long-time Women’s Board members and close friends of Betty and Virgil: Virginia Burke, Hillie Mahoney, Armene Milliken, and Patricia Patterson. Ann Jeffery, a Sherrill family friend from childhood, rounded out the Dance Vice Chairs, and Boys Club Trustee Richard Chilton and Thompson Dean served as Men’s Committee Vice Chairs. Capturing the Rainbow Room’s dazzling elegance, designer Anthony Trinchitella draped the tables for dinner in shimmering gold cloths topped by four-foot crystal candelabra and white peony topiaries. The Boys’ Club’s All-Star Band began the evening with its signature rhythm-and-blues selections and Boys’ Club Trustee Mike Carney and his orchestra filled the Rainbow Room with great dance music. |
|
|
|
 |
Betty and Virgil Sherrill with Dance Co-Chairs Armene Milliken, Virginia Burke, Hillie Mahoney, and Patricia Patterson |
|
|
|
| Patricia Patterson led her co-chairs in paying tribute to Betty and Virgil, with a gracious response of thanks from Betty. A photo-op followed as son Stephen Sherrill, who escorted his mother to the stage, posed for Mary Hilliard’s camera surrounded by the eight beautiful women. Eliza Osborne of Sotheby’s conducted the live auction which included a highly prized trip to Egypt from Abercrombie & Kent, and escapes to elegant private homes in Paris and on Mustique. As the last auction item, Ms. Osborne gave the guests an opportunity to help change the lives of inner-city boys by supporting The Boys’ Club’s Saturday academic and athletic program The Robert M. Gardiner School Prep, named after long-time Boys’ Club Trustee Gardiner. She counted off the sea of over one-hundred hands raised pledging to donate to the program. |
|
|
|
 |
Presentation to Betty Sherrill: Ann Jeffery, Ann Pyne, Kitty Sherrill, Armene Milliken, Hillie Mahoney, Betty Sherrill, Patricia Patterson, and Virginia Burke |
|
|
|
| Guests turning out to honor Betty and Virgil included Jamee and Peter Gregory, Mai Hallingby Harrison, Elaine and Ken Langone, Nancy and Joe Missett, Alexia and Baird Ryan, Women’s Board President Monique Merrill, Norma Dana, Jim Mitchell, Muffy and Donald Miller, Friederike and Jeremy Biggs, Mary and Marvin Davidson, Kitty and Bill McKnight, John and Amy Griffin, Fernanda Kellogg and Kirk Henckels, Gail Hilson, Amy and John Griffin, Ellen and Tristram Deery, Lisa and Chris Errico, Boys’ Club Chairman Si Anthony, accompanied by his son, Si, Diane, and Lewis van Amerongen, the beautiful Wathne sisters, Thorunn, Berge, and Soffia, and Elizabeth and John Pyne, the Sherrill’s grandchildren, and her young friends, the next generation of Boys’ Club supporters. The Boys’ Club of New York provides innovative educational, mentoring and recreational programs to inner-city boys that cultivate character, civility and community, changing lives and futures. In three New York City Clubhouses and a summer camp and the Gardiner School in New Jersey, The Boys Club supports and expands the educational experiences of boys who might otherwise fail. The club also develops creative skills through the Josie Robertson School of Music and Art. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) hosted its 4th annual Downtown Dinner gala last Wednesday night at 7 World Trade Center. Funds raised at the gala will support LMCC’s renowned cultural planning. The gala featured a secret sale of artworks, including works by Sir Anthony Caro, John Baldessari, Glenn Ligon, and Marilyn Minter; along with a program of performances by Vintage DJ, The Guerilla Dance Team, and Tryst; and art installations by Katie Holten, McKendree Key, and Mary Mattingly. LMCC President Maggie Boepple presented President’s Awards to artist Nadine Robinson and director Lear deBessonet. The Gala honored Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, First Deputy Mayor Patricia E. Harris, playwright Edward Albee, and artist Kiki Smith. Edie Falco introduced the mayor. Michael Imperioli introduced First Deputy Mayor Harris. Kathleen Turner introduced Mr. Albee, and Whitney Museum curator David Kiehl introduced Ms. Smith. Uma Thurman attended the cocktails immediately following the dinner. |
|
|
|
 |
Lear DeBessonet receives a President's Award from Maggie Boepple |
|
|
|
|
|
| 650 from the city’s most esteemed cultural elites attended, including Chiara Clemente, Chuck Close, Yehuda Duenyas, Susan K. Freedman, Brooke Geahan, Massimiliano Gioni, Andrea and Marc Glimcher, Michelle Harper, Craig Hatkoff, Kate Levin, Iris Marden, Jane Rosenthal, and Jane and David Walentas. For 35 years LMCC has been the leading arts presenter, advocate, and service provider to artists and arts groups throughout Manhattan. Founded in 1973 by David Rockefeller and other business and civic leaders, and previously located in the World Trade Center until September 11, 2001, LMCC is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization generously supported by foundations, individuals, corporate partners and government agencies. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Maggie Boepple with Kate Levin; Mary Schmidt Cambell; and Mary Mattingly. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Carolina and Reinaldo Herrera and Ruben and Isabel Toledo hosted a party the home of Yaz and Valentín Hernández to announce plans for the upcoming El Museo gala. The three couples are the co-chairs of this year’s event. El Museo Director Julian Zugazagoitia and Chairman Tony Bechara mingled with designers Angel Sanchez, Christian Cota, and Gemma Kahng. Guests Riyo Mori (Miss Universe), Kelly Bensimon, Amy Fine Collins, Maria Cornejo, Agnes Gund, Mayra Hernandez, Dayassi Olarte de Kanavos, Candy Pratts Price, Jana Pasquel, Sylvana Soto-Ward, and Samantha Thompson enjoyed the evening’s specialty drink, the Alberto #1, a variation on the mojito that was invented by the bartender at La Caravelle.
At the Gala, El Museo will honor Ambassador Paul L. Cejas and Mrs. Trudy Cejas, Dr. Mario Vargas Llosa, and Mr. Angel Collado-Schwarz of Fundación Voz del Centro. Special guests will include Miss Universe, Miyo Mori; Miss Teen USA, Hilary Cruz; and the newly crowned Miss USA, and they will be wearing their tiaras. The El Museo Gala has become one of the most glamorous evenings on the New York social calendar, receiving media coverage throughout the United States and the Latin world. The elegant evening begins at seven with a formal reception line and cocktails, followed at eight o’clock by Cipriani’s famous cuisine and dancing. Guestes fly in from two continents for the occasion. The evening’s goal is to raise one million dollars, a first for El Museo’s Galas. This year’s Gala Vice Chairs are Estrellita Brodsky, Clarissa Bronfman, and Carmen Ana Casal de Unanue. Mayra Hernandez, Luisana Mendoza, Jana Pasquel de Shapiro, Carlos Ponce, Samantha Thompson, and Whitney Wolfe are Junior Chairs. |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
| The honorary committee includes Nati Abascal, Jonathan Adler, Gustavo Arango, Jose Solis Betancourt, Tory Burch, Francisco Costa, Christian Cota, Simon Doonan, Alex Gonzales, Agnes Gund, Susan Gutfreund, Carolina Herrera, Candy Pratts Price, Narciso Rodriguez, Ralph Rucci, Angel Sanchez, Richard Turley, Donatella Versace, Michael Vollbracht, Diane von Furstenberg, and Sarah Wolfe. El Museo del Barrio was founded in 1969, and is New York’s leading Latino cultural institution, representing the diversity of art and culture in all of the Caribbean and Latin America. El Museo has had a significant impact on New York’s culture, and is a major stop on Manhattan’s Museum Mile on Fifth Avenue. Currently El Museo is undergoing a $22 million-dollar facelift, which will be completed in fall 2009. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| The Cinema Society and GQ hosted a starry night for the film “Stop-Loss.” The film, director Kimberly Peirce’s first since his Academy Award-winning “Boys Don’t Cry,” is a topical and emotionally penetrating drama about a decorated war hero (Ryan Phillippe) who makes a celebrated return to his small hometown following his tour of duty, only to be ordered back to duty against his will, upending his world and testing everything he believes in: the bond of family, the loyalty of friendship, the limits of love and the value of honor. The director and the star, as well as co-stars Mamie Gummer, Alex Frost and Rob Brown joined Cinema Society founder Andrew Saffir and GQ Editor-in-Chief Jim Nelson for the screening at the IFC Center which was followed by a dinner at the Private Roof Club of the Gramercy Park Hotel. Cinema Society screenings are boldface magnets. Among the stellar crowd: Howard Stern and Beth Ostrosky, Peter Dinklage, Kid Rock, Catalina Sandino Moreno, Melissa George (“Alias”), Tom Cavanagh, Griffin Dunne, Tatum O’Neal, Joe Pantoliano, Ben Shenkman, Milena Govich (“Law & Order”, “K-Ville”), James Snyder, B-52’s Fred Schneider, May Andersen, Richard Meier, Mary Alice Stephenson, Sante D’Orazio, Sandra Nilsson, Irina Pantaeva, Johannes Huebl, Alex Lundqvist, Daniel Benedict, Ann Dexter-Jones, Denise Rich, Richard Johnson and Sessa von Richthofen, Eric Villency and Kimberly Guilfoyle, and Mick Rock. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| On Saturday May 3rd, Columbia University’s School of the Arts, Visual Arts Division, honored Emily Fisher Landau and her family for their continued support of emerging artists at a festive dinner held at the Fisher Landau Center for Art in Long Island City, Queens. The occasion was the preview of Columbia University’s 2008 MFA Thesis Exhibition, which represents the culmination of studies toward a Master of Fine Arts degree at the School of the Arts. The Fisher Landau family generously donated use of the elegant showcase for modern and contemporary art for the exhibition. In 2006, Mrs. Fisher Landau and her late son Richard L. Fisher created six Andrew Fisher fellowships at Columbia University to commemorate the life of their grandson and son, respectively, who himself was an accomplished artist. Prior to the three-course dinner, Mrs. Landau was presented with a special gift, a Baccarat crystal lion, on behalf of Lee C. Bollinger, President, Columbia University. Carol Becker, Dean, School of the Arts, Gregory Amenoff, Eve and Herman Gelman Professor of Visual Art, and Candia Fisher, Mrs. Landau’s daughter, all gave remarks. |
|
|
|
 |
Allison Katz, Natalie Beall, Leigh Ledre, Emily Fisher Landau, Carlos Sandoval de Leon, Alyssa Pheobus, and Amelia Saddington |
|
|
|
| Other family members included the guest of honor’s grandsons, Hadley Fisher, Winston C. Fisher and his wife, Jessica, and Eric Schulman. Also in attendance were Leonard Lauder, Chairman of the Board, Estée Lauder Companies; Jerry I. Speyer, Chairman and CEO, Tishman Speyer, with his wife Kathleen Farley; Jill Varney Bernard, sculptor and Columbia University alumna; filmmaker and alumna, Katharina Otto-Bernstein, her husband collector Nathan Bernstein and their children Martin and Sascha; Michelle Cohn Tocci, President, David Berg Foundation (a supporter of the School of Art’s Writing Division), and her husband Joseph; Rivka Saker, Founder of Artis and Managing Director of Sotheby's Israel and Senior Director of Sotheby's Europe; and Nicolas Arbatsky, Director, Fisher Landau Center for Art also attended. The entire faculty of the Visual Arts Division was at the dinner, including such prominent artists as Kara Walker and Jon Kessler, both of whom have works in the collection of the Fisher Landau Center. The following day, more than a thousand visitors attended the opening of the 2008 Thesis Exhibition. Among those greeted by the 1982 portrait of Emily Fisher Landau by Andy Warhol, which is stationed at the Center’s entry way, were art collectors Jean Piggozi and Beth Rudin DeWoody, Executive VP, Rudin Management, and the art critic Jerry Saltz. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Photographs by Mia Matheson (Restoration); Mary Hilliard (Boys' Club); PatrickMcMullan.com (Stop Loss, El Museo). | Click here [6] for NYSD Contents |