To kick off the third annual Luminato Toronto Festival of Arts + Creativity, organizers held an invite-only party Friday for 1,200 guests at Canada's National Ballet School on Jarvis Street. The Luminato and Giorgio Armani Opening Night Party, which attracted 1,500 guests to the Royal Ontario Museum for the launch of the 2008 festival, took place in a series of studios throughout the venue, with each room offering guests a distinct vibe that showcased the festival's eclectic, artsy spirit.
“It’s still a huge party,” Luminato C.E.O. Janice Price said in a recent interview in which she noted that no other organization has used the ballet school for a large gala event. "Our personality is to be the first ones, so in some ways it’s easier for us," she said. "It matches our brand DNA to do things that are a little unexpected."
Price called on Barbara Hershenhorn of Party Barbara Co. to produce the event again this year. In addition to the Town Square space on the main level, Hershenhorn transformed two of the school's dance studios into party rooms. "We're picking up the festival themes on each floor," she said. "One of the dance studios is being turned into a jazz lounge and the other one has a Stella brewmaster and a dance floor. One is upbeat, the other is dark and smoky."
Upstairs on the fifth floor, event management company Cinco created an all-black Giorgio Armani lounge for V.I.P. guests. Representatives from NKPR handed out black Armani ribbon bracelets to attendees on the V.I.P. guest list as they arrived at the ballet school. (Access to the lounge was only granted to those wearing bracelets.) The Canadian Tenors performed in the space, and makeup artists offered touch-ups all night long.
"The evening is definitely about showing off the colours of Giorgio Armani, which includes the black carpet at the entrance and the black lounge," said Virginie Hotte-Dupuis of L'Oréal Canada, the festival's presenting sponsor. "It's all about bringing that glamorous side to the event, about offering an exclusive Armani feel and vibe to all the V.I.P. guests."
At the beginning of the night, four women—Holt Renfrew president Caryn Lerner, Hello! magazine editor Ciara Hunt, National Ballet of Canada prima ballerina Greta Hodgkinson, and actress Jane McLean—walked the black carpet as Giorgio Armani ambassadors.
As guests arrived at the party, Hershenhorn's team broadcast live footage of Randy Bachman's performance at Yonge-Dundas Square—thanks to a video link with the public show. A number of musical and dance performances also took place throughout the building, including sets by the Nathaniel Dett Chorale, jazz pianists Thompson Egbo-Egbo and Robi Botos, the Outlanders, Esmerelda Enrique Spanish Dance Company, and Rated X.
To accommodate the crowd, Hershenhorn opted for passed food rather than the large food stations that were set up throughout the ROM last year. Servers from A La Carte Kitchen Inc. passed hors d'oeuvres like lobster macaroni and cheese and grilled Portobello veggie burgers. Servers also offered glasses of white and red wine on the main floor. On the second level, guests had the choice of sipping Stella Artois beer in the dance lounge—outfitted with a white dance floor and illuminated DJ booth—or drinking Pravda vodka cocktails in the dimly lit jazz lounge.
Westbury National Show Systems, which lit up the exterior of the Royal Ontario Museum in 2008 with images of Luminato's iris logo, returned to light the new venue, setting up a booth across Jarvis Street to project images onto the exterior of the ballet school.
