The Knockturnal attended the VISION GALA at New York City Center. The Dance Theatre of Harlem honored Founding Member and Outgoing Artistic Director, Virginia Johnson with the Arthur Mitchell Vision Award; and arts advocate, business leader, and former DTH Board Chair Reginald Van Lee with the Virtuoso Award.
On April 3rd 2023, NYU Hosted their Annual Tisch Gala at the Ziegfeld Ballroom after 3 years of Covid Epidemic and its spikes and flows. A lovely night filled with the biggest names from NYU Alumnus, staff, teachers and students coming together to honor and celebrate the Mother and Son Honorees: Alum and Guggenheim Fellow Hank Willis Thomas (‘98) and MacArthur Fellow and chair of the Department of Photography & Imaging at Tisch Dr. Deborah Willis.
The 2023 HeartShare Spring Gala took place on Wednesday, March 29th at Cipriani Wall Street in New York City. The gala honored the achievements of extraordinary individuals committed to helping people in the community live their best lives.
Vineyard Theatre celebrated their 40th Anniversary with a red carpeted fundraising gala that honored Tony winning actor, Billy Crudup. Funds raised from the event, held in the Edison Ballroom in NYC on Feb. 13, will support the theatre’s upcoming season; including their Fair Pay Initiative and the “Good Neighbor” ticket program which offers free and affordable theatre tickets to thousands of local theatre goers.
The eminent Alvin Ailey Dance Theater company hosts a prodigious opening night gala to kick off a four-week holiday season celebration.
DKMS hosted its annual black-tie gala produced by HK Media Group on October 20th in New York City at Cipriani Wall Street.
British musician Natasha Bedingfield took the stage at NYC’s Cipriani South Street for the 5th annual UNITAS Gala
The auction was to benefit the Victoria’s Voice Foundation, which was founded by Siegel and her husband.
In her shocking, bold and astonishing broadway show Dana H, Deirdre O’Conell lip syncs to tapes created by Dana Higgenbotham, telling the harrowing story of her five months of abduction, creating a theater experience unlike any other. The play is crafted by Higgenbotham’s son, Lucas Hnath, and the concept of the tapes is an extremely unique way to do a show, but Deirdre takes on the challenge with grace. She has now earned herself a Tony Award nomination for best leading actress in a play. We spoke to Deirdre on the red carpet for The Vineyard Theater Gala on Monday, taking place at the iconic Daryl Roth theater. The gala honored the amazing New York City Council Member Carlina Rivera, and celebrated the music of the extraordinary late singer-songwriter Laura Nyro with performances and speeches by Latoya Edwards, Julie Benko, Brandon Victor Dixon Mandy Gonzalez, Judy Kuhn, Anika Noni Rose, and Wilson Jermaine Heredia. It was truly such a special night to be apart of as we watched incredibly talented people share stories, words, and miraculous performances in support of this amazing theater. We spoke to Mandy Gonzalez, Julie Benko and Deirdre O’connell about what it meant to be there in support of the arts, check out the full conversation below!
Playing For Change Foundation Impact Awards Gala & after-party had the Faena Forum in South Beach full of excitement this past Saturday to honor Luis Fonsi & Paula Abdul by celebrating their charitable achievements. Playing For Change Foundation (PFCF) is a non-profit music & arts organization with programs in over 15 countries with 50+ locations.
On Saturday, the Playing For Change Foundation hosted their 2nd annual gala, raising over 1 million in ticket sales and auction items, setting a record to date for the foundation! The evening kicked off with a cocktail hour before moving into an elaborate dinner featuring entertainment by Luis Fonsi, Cimafunk, and other prominent artists, all powered by CEEK VR, with support from Tequila Herradura. Some notable auction items included: an NFL Rams game package, a Miami Heat floor seats package, a luxury Napa trip with a Screaming Eagle experience, and many more.
The after-party at the Faena Theater was truly magical. The theme of the theater, located on Collins Avenue Miami, is inspired by Europe’s historic opera houses and had stunning gold-leaf and red velvet decor. As soon as guests walked into the after-party we were indulged with talented live musicians playing various genres of music, an open bar, hors-d’oeuvres, and a full dessert station. The hors-d’oeuvres enjoyed by guests included: chicken and waffles, hotdogs, mini sliders, and many more delicious bites. The dessert bar had a variety of cookies and donuts to satisfy any sweet tooth. My favorite hors-d’oeuvre of the night was the chicken and waffles which had a perfect blend of sweet, savory, crunchy, and light taste with a slight kick of spice. After grabbing some delicious bites and cocktails the guests danced the night away to the lively music by a variety of talented musicians, I even learned a few salsa dance moves!
PFCF Impact Award recipient Luis Fonsi comments, “Thank you, Playing for Change Foundation, I’m truly honored. One of the most valuable things I have learned throughout my career is how much we can help bring awareness and use our voices for the greater good, not just for entertainment. I’ve truly found profound meaning while helping others, be it through my work with St Jude Hospital or my Foundation, and I’m fortunate that thanks to events like this one, I’m able to speak more about causes so dear to my heart.”
Whitney Kroenke Silverstein, Co-Founder & Board President, comments, “It feels great to be back in Miami, in person, for our 2022 Playing for Change Foundation Impact Awards Gala. We can’t think of two better recipients than Paula and Luis, for their contributions not only to the world of music, but also for their commitment to using their platform to make a positive impact on the world.”
CEEK VR has teamed with Impact Awards/Playing for Change to bring this year’s event exclusively to the CEEK Metaverse. The award-winning performances will be on www.ceek.com and on the CEEK VR App. The CEEK Metaverse will also feature an exclusive NFT collection with Impact Awards in celebration of the music superstars and their fans. Founder and CEO, Mary Spio says, “The exclusive Impact Awards/ Playing for Change NFT collection enables us to engage music fans in an exciting and impactful way, while raising funds for a truly important cause.”
According to the Playing For Change Foundation website: “Playing For Change Foundation grew out of a common belief that music has the power to connect people regardless of their differences. Founded in 2007, PFCF was established to create positive change through music and arts education. Our work engages marginalized youth in diverse communities around the world, primarily located in low and lower-middle-income countries. These communities are home to great cultural wealth, which we use to create educational and social opportunities. We currently operate 17 music programs in 13 countries and have positively impacted more than 40,000 lives since 2007, including more than 3,000 youth through regular programming in 2019. We employ more than 200 staff, teachers, and community leaders locally across program locations, including Mali, Morocco, Ghana, Rwanda, South Africa, Nepal, Bangladesh, Thailand, Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina. Each program serves anywhere from 50 – 900 children. PFCF was honored to be named a Polar Music Prize winner in 2019”.
The three values Playing For Change Foundation lives by are local leadership, social empowerment, and transparency.
Notable attendees included: Karolina Kurkova, Cuba Gooding Jr., Kevin “Baby Slice” Ferguson, Felix Semper, Jack McClinton, and more showing their support for this wonderful organization.
To learn more about the organization and ways to help them achieve its goals please check out its website.