Neither heavy spring rain nor the Miami Heat playoff game kept guests from attending the summer kickoff event for the History Channel en Español and A&E Mundo at Casa Casuarina in Miami Beach. Each year the two pay-television networks, operated as a joint venture in Latin America by AETN International and Ole Communications Group, invite advertisers and television personalities from across the hemisphere to celebrate the start of the Latin American programming season.
Cesar Sabroso, marketing director for the History Channel en Español, and Cesar Coletti, marketing director for A&E Mundo, created a hip, laid-back environment in the former Versace mansion for advertisers visiting from Latin America. Sabroso hired Maria Pia Castinelli from Stone Cut Entertainment Group to round up a who's who of Latin American programming for the event and Erwin Perez Productions to handle media relations.
The mansion's atrium was waterproof, thanks to tenting provided by Barton G, the in-house caterer and event production company. The tenting served as a backdrop for gobos of the networks' logos. Couches and chairs with plush embroidered pillows provided comfortable seating in which to watch plasma TVs on either side of the room. The screens first showed a montage of the networks' programming, and then later drew a crowd for the Heat game.
The main outdoor area was tented as well. Barton G set up food stations at each corner of the courtyard. Guests noshed on grilled vegetables, cucumber and tomato salad, orzo,.phparagus risotto, ravioli, fish, steak, and more. A dessert table lined with mini key lime tarts, chocolate chip cookies, and pastries satisfied everyone's sweet tooth.
Parafernalia Productions provided the evening's eye candy, with costumed models who looked as though they could have stepped out of the mansion's elaborate neoclassical murals. Scantily clad snake charmers, fire twirlers, and belly dancers took turns performing on the courtyard staircase. Two models in shimmering mermaid costumes flanked the tiled pool and posed for photos with guests. Also on the scene: an archer in gold body paint, a woman dressed as a geisha, and Adora, a well-known local drag queen who lip-synched an operatic aria at evening's end.
—Vanessa Goyanes
Cesar Sabroso, marketing director for the History Channel en Español, and Cesar Coletti, marketing director for A&E Mundo, created a hip, laid-back environment in the former Versace mansion for advertisers visiting from Latin America. Sabroso hired Maria Pia Castinelli from Stone Cut Entertainment Group to round up a who's who of Latin American programming for the event and Erwin Perez Productions to handle media relations.
The mansion's atrium was waterproof, thanks to tenting provided by Barton G, the in-house caterer and event production company. The tenting served as a backdrop for gobos of the networks' logos. Couches and chairs with plush embroidered pillows provided comfortable seating in which to watch plasma TVs on either side of the room. The screens first showed a montage of the networks' programming, and then later drew a crowd for the Heat game.
The main outdoor area was tented as well. Barton G set up food stations at each corner of the courtyard. Guests noshed on grilled vegetables, cucumber and tomato salad, orzo,.phparagus risotto, ravioli, fish, steak, and more. A dessert table lined with mini key lime tarts, chocolate chip cookies, and pastries satisfied everyone's sweet tooth.
Parafernalia Productions provided the evening's eye candy, with costumed models who looked as though they could have stepped out of the mansion's elaborate neoclassical murals. Scantily clad snake charmers, fire twirlers, and belly dancers took turns performing on the courtyard staircase. Two models in shimmering mermaid costumes flanked the tiled pool and posed for photos with guests. Also on the scene: an archer in gold body paint, a woman dressed as a geisha, and Adora, a well-known local drag queen who lip-synched an operatic aria at evening's end.
—Vanessa Goyanes