Jacqueline Weld Drake, the longtime chairman of the Casita Maria Center for Arts Education, hosted her annual Pachanga luncheon Monday at her Park Avenue residence. The annual event allows the Junior (“Pachanga”) Committee to plan for the upcoming Fiesta Gala at The Plaza Hotel Tuesday October 16th.
This year’s Pachanga Chairs are Adriana Echavarria-Eisenhower, Anthony Souza, and Sean Souza. Guests included Fabiola Arias, Andrea Casanova, Atencio Coromoto, Henry Lord Boulton VI, Halim Bulos, Bella Eastham, Hanson Greene, Elizabeth Jacoby, Michelle Karut, Alicia Lubowski-Jahn, Henrique Cisneros, Gabriel Rivera-Barraza, and Sabrina Wirth.
Casita Maria’s Fiesta 2018 Gala will honor Isabel Goldsmith-Patiño, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, Mary Snow, and Carlos Souza. The Dinner Chairmen are Jacqueline Weld Drake, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, and Carlos Mota. This year’s Honorary Chairs are Elizabeth Peabody, Christine Schwarzman, and Lynn Wyatt.
The Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education offers high quality, innovative after school arts education to over 1,000 students daily in their state-of-the-art facility in the South Bronx. Casita’s enriching programs produce engaged, well-rounded individuals, who go on to fulfill their dreams.
On Thursday September 20th, the J. McLaughlin store at 1004 Lexington Avenue hosted a third annual Sip & Shop event for the benefit of the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF).
Hosted by Sharon Sager, the event was attended by Hillary Cullen, Katie Jones, Lynn LaPierre, Tom Scanlan, Anne and Mike Loftus, Lisa Somar, Sharon and Franklin Speyer, Kelly Vasel, Kim Lovejoy, Catherine Mericka, Paulina Rogawski, Katy and Elijah Duckworth-Schachter, Bitsy Wainwright, Iris Dankner, Abby Hess, Julia Cahill, and Beth Tunney Wagner. Guests previewed J. McLaughlin’s Fall line while enjoying drinks and gourmet hors d’oeuvres from the neighborhood’s famed William Poll.
Founded in 1998 by Leonard A. Lauder and Ronald S. Lauder, the Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation (ADDF) is the only philanthropy solely focused on accelerating the development of drugs to prevent and treat Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Drug Discovery Foundation’s venture philanthropy approach and scientific expertise allows the ADDF to support the most promising ideas around the world. And 100% of donations fund drug research programs.
To learn more, visit AlzDiscovery.org.
Last Thursday evening at The Guggenheim Museum, Mick Jagger and Melanie Hamrick, Amy Fine Collins, Guy Trebey, and Angela Goding were among those celebrating the launch of Sleeping Beauty Dreams, a new production combining live theater, art, and technology. Sleeping Beauty Dreams is a retelling of the Brothers Grimm fairytale, exploring the untold story of Princess Aurora’s 100 years of dreams.
The evening kicked off with guests gathering to meet the artists creating Sleeping Beauty Dreams including Prima Ballerina Diana Vishneva (Princess Aurora), Tobias Gremmler (digital artist), Thijs de Vlieger (composer) Edward Clug (choreographer), Bart Hess (costume design) and Laurent Fort (light artist).
Diana opened the evening announcing that the role of her Prince would be danced by Marcelo Gomes. This will be their first time reunited on stage since leaving American Ballet Theatre. Tobias Gremmler explained the creation of digital avatars that will dance alongside the Prince and Princess, and how they’ll react to the dancers movements in real time. Costume designer Bart Hess said “My work is known for using materials that are not usually considered for fashion like silicon, latex, plastic, foil, and metals. Some of the costumes and installations I’ve designed in the past, employ completely not wearable materials like shaving foam or iron or like the ‘slime dress’ for Lady Gaga.” Filmmaker Andrei Severny premiered two films about the artists; Bart Hess: Colliding Opposites and Tobias Gremmler: Digital Demons and showed his award winning film, Gravitation: Variation in Time and Space, featuring Diana Vishneva.
Hosts for the evening included Desiree and Oliver Berggruen, David Hallberg, Theresa Khawly, Lesley Stahl, Allyson Tang and Thomas Widemann, and Dustin Yellin.
Later, guests and artists enjoyed cocktails and light bites at the Fifth Avenue home of Susan Gutfreund. Among them was Yanna Avis, Delaney Buffet, Sharon Bush, Amy Fine Collins, Angela Goding, Judith Hoffman, Sleeping Beauty Dreams Producer and Director Rem Khass, Kristina Allegra Kingston, Margo Morton Langenberg, Guy Trebay, Adrienne and Gianluigi Vittadini, and Victoria Wyman.
Sleeping Beauty Dreams will premiere in Miami at The Adrienne Arch Center on December 7th and 8th and then comes to New York’s Beacon Theater December 14th and 15th. Tickets can now be purchased at www.ticketmaster.com. For more information visit www.sbdart.com
The rains of Wednesday evening, September 12, 2018, did not dampen the excitement for Green-Wood Cemetery’s 11th annual gala dinner, honoring Jamie, Alexander and Nina Bernstein. Their father, Leonard Bernstein, is an honored permanent resident of the National Historic Landmark cemetery. Author and broadcast personality, Kurt Andersen, introduced the Bernsteins from the podium. C. Payson Coleman, Jr. Green-Wood chair, presented them with the DeWitt Clinton Award for Excellence.
Green-Wood, still an active cemetery, yet also a burgeoning cultural institution, welcomed 350 guests for the festive occasion.
Guests were treated to the unveiling of the renderings (Architecture Research Office) for the new Education and Welcome Center presented by Green-Wood trustees, Scot Medbury and Allie Sweeney. A dramatic plan for Green-Wood’s front landscape, designed by Matthew Urbanski of Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates was also revealed. Both projects are slated to begin in a year.
Guests of Green-Wood trustee, Carla Shen, included award-winning artist, Janine Antoni. Trustee, Earl D. Weiner, hosted guests Tom and Wendy Chittenden, Pam and Joe McCarthy, and president of the Municipal Art Society, Elizabeth Goldstein among others. Also in attendance were Michel Langlais de Langlade, Peter Davidson, Jennie Blaustein, Elizabeth Jeffe, Hugh O’Kane, Walter Teagle, Ron Russo, Lark-Marie Anton, Tina Fallon, Sam White, Peg Breen, Fred Bland, Frank E. Sanchis, Green-Wood president and his wife, Richard J. and Gloria E. Moylan, Jim Rossman, and Bevin and William Cline. Former DeWitt Clinton awardees, Dozier and Nancy Hasty, Marty Markowitz, Malcolm MacKay, Earl D. Weiner and Otis Pearsall were also recognized and applauded.
Photographs by Annie Watt Agency (Pachanga); Presley Ann for PMC and Brian Willam Waddell (Sleeping Beauty); Annie Watt (Green-Wood)
