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| Last Thursday night, more than 600 attended the 15th annual Young Fellows Ball, themed the “Celestial Ball” at the Frick Collection. The theme for the ball took its inspiration from the special exhibition Renaissance and Baroque Bronzes from the Hill Collection and from the Frick’s holdings, many of which depict celestial and mythological themes. Guests filled the Garden Court and Music Room for cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, and dancing. They could also enjoy the special exhibition or step back in time into the galleries that were once the private residence of Henry Clay Frick and his family. Mr. Frick carefully assembled an amazing group of masterpieces including paintings by Degas, Fragonard, Goya, Manet, Rembrandt, Turner, Vermeer, Whistler, and others, as well asd Renaissance bronzes, Limoges enamels, and French and Italian furniture. |
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| The Frick’s Head of Special Events Colleen Tierney developed a fanciful scheme for the Celestial Ball in conjunction with the museum’s Horticulturist, Galen Lee. The Entrance and Garden Courtreflected the spirit of the invitation’s visual imagery. The museum’s grand Garden Court and Music Room were transformed by a dramatic celestial lighting design by L&M Lighting. Each space was bathed in washes of midnight blues and silvers, and featured a tapestry of constellation-inspired images invoking the night sky across the expanse of the ceilings. The bars (which included champagne provided by Louis Roederer and the evening’s specialty cocktail) were covered in navy shantung and topped with mirrors to reflect the changing constellations above. A bounty of white orchids planted in the garden beds surrounded guests mingling in the Garden Court. Other libations served included Organic Spirit by American Harvest, and Stag’s Leap Wine Cellars KARIA Chardonnay Napa Valley and KARIA Sauvignon Blanc Napa Valley. |
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| Caterer Olivier Cheng provided “celestial-inspired” savory food and desserts including Pomegranate glazed eggplant on a beet chip; Lamb meatballs with fig and shaved feta and buffalo chicken meatballs with blue cheese and celery; Mini chicken pot pies with star-shaped upper crust, shrimp shumai with pickled carrot star, and star- shaped croque monsieur with dried cherry shallot compote; Open-faced lobster ‘BLT’ with basil mayo; crab cakes topped with marinated cucumber, chipotle dressing; mini Unami slider, ‘Egg McMuffin’: English muffin with wild boar bacon, quail egg, truffled cheese, braised short rib tartlet, and mini twice-baked potato with wild mushrooms. Chairs for the evening were Olivia Chantecaille, Astrid Hill Dattilo, Lydia Fenet, Clare McKeon, Sloan Overstrom, Joann Pailey, Maggy Frances Schultz, and Rickie De Soe Webster. The evening was sponsored by Paule Ka, created 26 years ago by Serge Cajfinger, which has just opened its sixtieth store worldwide on Madison Avenue. |
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| Last Tuesday night, Love Heals, the Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Educationraised more than $600,000 at their 2014 Love Heals Gala event at the Four Seasons Restaurant in Manhattan. All proceeds from the evening directly support Love Heals’ efforts to protect the next generation of New Yorkers from HIV. John Demsey, Group President of The Estée Lauder Companies and Chairman of the MAC AIDS Fund, Danielle Snyder, Co-Founder and Creative Director, and Jodie Snyder Morel, Co-Founder and CEO of DANNIJO, and Bronson van Wyck, Founder of Workshop of the World and Van Wyck & Van Wyck, were honored for their outstanding philanthropic work in the area of HIV and AIDS. InStyle’sHal Rubenstein emceed the evening and presided over an exciting live auction that raised $185,000. |
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| Guests included co-founders, Dini von Mueffling, Stefani Greenfield and Victoria Leacock Hoffman, actors Mary Louise Parker, Kelly Rutherford and Kyle Maclachlan, Geraldo Rivera, TV personality and chef Carla Hall, Kelly Bensimon, fashion designer Rachel Roy, Broadway’s Justin Vivian Bond, Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Amy Astley, Ann Caruso, Lady Lilliana Cavendish, Somers Farkas, Jill Furman, Sophie B. Hawkins, Jill and Harry Kargman, interior designer Celerie Kemble, Coco and Arie Kopelman, Julie Macklowe, Sean MacPherson and Rachelle Hruska MacPherson, Jill Martin, Annelise Peterson, Fiona and Eric Rudin, Jean Shafiroff and Derek Wharburton among others. The Today Show’s Natalie Morales presented the Snyder sisters’ “Young Philanthropist Award.” Architectural Digest Editor in Chief Margaret Russell presented Van Wyck’s award. Van Wyck told guests, “I believe that compassion, generosity, kindness and decency can be used to help balance the uneven distribution of blessings in this world. Love Heals really exemplifies these qualities. Thank you for this exceptional honor.” |
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| Alina Cho presented Demsey’s Award. As Chairman of the M!A!C AIDS Fund. Demsey told the guests, “The courageous platform of Love Heals states that prevention and edification on the subject of HIV and AIDS is significant to everyone, in all corners of the world and from all walks of life.” Love Heals co-founder Dini von Mueffling was delighted with the tremendous support of the honorees and guests. “Our work in HIV/AIDS education is more critical than ever, as 25% of new infections occur in young people ages 13-25 and stigma about the disease has risen again. Love Heals will continue to combat these statistics.” |
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| On March 10, the Preservation League hosted an intimate evening for nearly 100 supporters and friends with the Rising Stars of the Stradivari Society in the historic rooms of the Americas Society building on Park Avenue. Guests had the rare pleasure of superb performances by two of the finest violinists performing in the world today. Young stars Tim Fain and Augustin Hadelich played music ranging from Stravinsky to Copeland to Debussy with Grammy-nominated accompanist Robert Koenig. The other stars in the room were the 1723 Stradivari and the 1717 Gobetti violins on long-term loan to the musicians from Karen and Clement Arrison through the generous efforts of the Stradivari Society of Chicago. |
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| Anne H. Van Ingen, Chair and Jay DiLorenzo, President, spoke briefly about the similarities between historic buildings and historic violins and Karen Arrison, League trustee, introduced the musicians. A reception preceded the concert and afterwards the guests were encouraged to linger and speak the musicians. The event raised funds to support the programs of the Preservation League, celebrating its 40th Anniversary, which is dedicated to the protection of New York State's diverse and rich heritage of historic buildings and scenic landscapes. |
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| Mr. Fain has emerged as a mesmerizing new presence on the music scene and most recently played violin on the soundtrack of the Oscar-winning 12 Years a Slave. A dynamic and compelling performer in traditional works, he is also a fervent champion of 20th and 21st century composers. Mr. Hadelich, with his poetic and dazzling technique has established himself as a rising star among the new generation of violinists. He made both his orchestral debut and his recital debut at Carnegie Hall. The event was presented by the Preservation League of New York State in collaboration with Karen and Clement Arrison and the Stradivari Society. The event was sponsored by William Bernhard and Catherine Cahill, the Gilbert and Ildiko Butler Family Foundation and Daniel Romualdez Architects. |
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| Last Wednesday night, luxury accessories designer Elaine Turner celebrated the opening of her Madison Avenue boutique (between 82nd and 83rd Streets) with a Spring kick-off shopping party, with ten percent proceeds from the evening to benefit the Madison Avenue Boys & Girls Club. The chic Texas designer will be honored next month at the Club’s Purses and Pursenalities annual luncheon at the Metropolitan Club. The 1500 square foot boutique is Elaine Turner’s seventh and her first in New York. It features the glamorous interiors she is known for such as her signature pink sofas, custom designed jewelry from her Bamboo Collection, as well as a selection of apparel, accessories and home furnishing curated by her, and her handbag and shoe collections. |
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| Her flagship stores include CityCentre and Rice Village in Houston; The Woodlands; Alamo Heights in San Antonio, and The Mall at Green Hills in Nashville. Her collection is also carried in Neiman Marcus and specialty boutiques worldwide. For more information visit her website: www.elaineturner.com The Madison Avenue Boys and Girls Clubhas been saving and enhancing lives of you since 1884 by providing after-school and summer programs for children in New York City’s most disadvantaged communities. The programs are engineered to empower each member to achieve three priority outcomes: Academic Success, Good Character and Citizenship and the adoption of a healthy lifestyle. |
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| Every day, the Madison Avenue Boys and Girls Club provides thousands of children with a safe and positive environment. It currently serves more than 5000 children and young people at 7 sites throughout Brooklyn, the Bronx, as well as Camp Madison in Kingston, New York. The Club coincides with Elaine Turner’s brand mission which is: “giving back, in particular to charities benefiting women, children and cancer care.” The evening was hosted by Purses & Pursenalities co-chairs Amy Hoadley, Karen Klopp, Kathy Prounis, Betsy Pitts, Mindy Fortin and Tiffany Moller. |
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| Last Tuesday night at the American Museum of Natural History, the Randalls Island Park Alliance (RIPA) held its Fielding Dreams Gala honoring Jeff Zucker, Nike, Inc. and Karen Cohen for their recognition of the importance of promoting active and healthy living for New York City’s Children. Karen Cohen is to be credited with having had the vision of turning Randalls Island into the haven for New York children that it is today. She was introduced to the island and its possibilities about twenty years ago when she often traveled there on afternoons that her children were playing their school sports. |
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| Randalls Island and Wards Island are two parts of an island in the borough of Manhattan, separated from Manhattan by the Harlem River, from Queens by the East River and from the Bronx by the Bronx Kill. The islands were formerly separated by a channel known as Little Hell Gate that was filled in in the 1960s. The Native Americans called it Tenkenas, meaning “wild lands” or “uninhabited place.” After that, the islands had several names, given by various European settlers. The British used the island for military posts during the Revolutionary War. In the late 18th century, they took the names of men who purchased them – Jonathan Randall and two brothers named Ward, who put up a cotton mill and built the first bridge connecting it to Manhattan. By the mid-1800s, both islands, like the nearby Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island) became home to several social facilities – an orphanage, a poorhouse, burial grounds for the poor, rest home for Civil War veterans and also a reform school for juvenile delinquents. In the late 1800s, hundreds of thousands of bodies from the Madison Square and Bryant Park graveyards were transferred there, and it was also home to the New York City Asylum of the Insane. |
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| In the early 1990s when Mrs. Cohen would visit on afternoons to watch her children play school sports, the island was largely unused and uninhabited. It occurred to her, more than once, seeing this vast piece of property with close proximity to the other boroughs and specifically to northern Manhattan (Harlem) that it would be an ideal park for use by all of the children in those neighborhoods who had very little access to places outdoors for them to play. She consulted with Betsy Barlow Rogers who had created the Central Park Conservancy about the idea. Rogers told her she could do it if she were willing to give herself TWENTY years to pull it off. Undaunted, and committed to the idea, she started discussing the development of a park with people she knew. One of the first she spoke to was Michael Bloomberg. This was before he was Mayor but had a great reputation in the community for his philanthropies. He loved the idea and was immediately a generous initial supporter. |
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| In the early 2000s, someone interested Carl Icahn in building a stadium where they could hold local, regional and national sporting events. It was there that in 2008 Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt broke the world record for the men’s 100 meter dash with a speed time of 9.72 seconds. In 2008 a renovated golf center opened with a two tier indoor/outdoor, 82 stall driving range, 320 yards of landing area and a 36 hold mini-golf course, grass tees, PGA instructors and 9 batting cages. In 2009, a tennis center was opened in Randalls Island Park with 20 courts, along with café pro shop, fitness facilities and locker rooms. |
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| And all of that was just the beginning of Karen Cohen’s amazing vision. The Department of Parks and Recreation approved a $1 million contract with Natural Currents Energy Services to generate renewable energy in the park. All this from a devoted mother with the care and patience to watch her children who were attending private schools which were taking advantage of the property, and seeing the possibility for thousands of other New York children. Mrs. Cohen was given the first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award for her work, recognizing that her belief in high quality outdoor fields, play spaces and nature enhances the quality of life of all New Yorkers. A heroine in our midst, and supported by Mr. Zucker, Nike, and its many contributors and supporters who have committed themselves to actualizing this great great park for New Yorkers and especially for the children. |
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| The 12th Annual Gala for the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis at Mount Sinai was held at Tribeca Rooftop on Thursday, March 6th. More than 200 guests enjoyed an evening of cocktails, dinner, and dancing with proceeds from the event benefitting the Center. Jill and Bob Smith chaired the event and were joined by other members of the Center's advisory board including Joan Noto, Maria Muzio, "EJ" Levy, Kim Gillespie, and Robert Friedman along with the Center's Director, Fred Lublin, MD, and Aaron Miller, MD, the Center's Clinical Director. The mission of the Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for Multiple Sclerosis is to assure outstanding comprehensive patient care through expert up-to-date knowledge, heartfelt compassion, and cutting-edge research in order to provide exceptional experiences and outcomes for all patients. |
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| Photographs by Christine A. Butler& John Calabrese (The Frick); Cutty McGill (Preservation League) Benjamin Lozovsky/BFAnyc.com (Love Heals); Ira Fox (Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson). |