| EVENT REPORT 10.07.08 4:26 PM |
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YouthAIDS Gala Trashes the Ritz-Carlton (Sort of)
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 | The YouthAIDS gala at the Ritz-Carlton
Photo: Jonah Koch for BizBash |
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The Ritz-Carlton doesn’t generally encourage trashing its rooms, but Simon Cooper, president and chief operating officer of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, made an exception for the YouthAIDS gala after-party Friday night. To go along with this year’s “The Power of Music” rock 'n' roll theme, YouthAIDS deputy director Marshall Stowell recreated a rock band’s trashed hotel suite in the Tysons Corner hotel’s Old Dominion room, tossing lingerie on the light fixtures, tilting picture frames, and artfully arranging broken lamps, pizza boxes, and empty Jim Beam bottles on tabletops.
“I have to say, hats off to Simon Cooper,” said Stowell, noting that Cooper co-chaired the gala with BET co-founder Sheila Johnson. “He was fully onboard with the theme of the after-party. He allowed us to take that liberty with the Ritz-Carlton, which is such a lovely hotel. They were terrific sports about it.”
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| NEWS 09.30.08 3:36 PM |
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YouthAIDS Benefit Gets Rock 'n' Roll This Year With Graffiti, Tattoos, and John Mellencamp
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 | The 2007 "Faces of India" YouthAIDS benefit
Photo: Eric Powell for BizBash |
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Children’s graffiti normally isn’t found on the walls of the Ritz Carlton Tysons Corner's grand ballroom, but for this year’s YouthAIDS benefit on Friday, guests will find exactly that. The event, dubbed “The Power of Music,” is enlisting the help of graffiti artist turned fashion designer Claw Money, who worked with local kids through a nonprofit called Words, Beats & Life to create large panels of graffiti which will be hung over black velvet draping in the ballroom.
“Graffiti has always been closely tied to music,” YouthAIDS deputy director Marshall Stowell said today. The musical theme will be hard to miss—not only will a large tour bus and a fake punk band be parked outside the hotel’s entrance, but tattoo stations, rock and roll-themed drinks, and Rock Band video game stations will be set up throughout the reception and auction areas.
Stowell, who is overseeing the event, explained that YouthAIDS has always used music to reach at-risk populations. “Many people in the 60 countries where we operate are illiterate or of low-literacy,” he explained. “We bring in DJs and street music and dance to educate them on the HIV risk and direct them to clinics.”
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