After a successful first run last year, the Association of American Publishers' Young to Publishing Group partnered with the National Book Foundation to bring back its House Party on Wednesday, November 16. The association conceived the event as the junior literary crowd's place to hang out during the prestigious National Book Awards.
To beef up the evening affair, the planning committee, led by Young to Publishing Group chair Kate Childs, moved the gathering from Random House's Midtown office to TriBeCa bar and lounge M1-5. Childs also secured new sponsors to expand the raffle prizes and added an online auction.
Integral to the growth of the event was the participation and efforts of its honorary co-chairs, a diverse group that included event designer and producer Jes Gordon, book cover designer Chip Kidd, and BaoHaus chef-owner Eddie Huang. Gordon, who worked on the inaugural outing, returned to help set the scene at the bar, and Kidd served as one of the night's DJs. All co-chairs donated something for the online auction.
By no means a replica of the formal awards dinner at Cipriani Wall Street, the House Party was a casual gathering with candy and pizza, lively music and a dance floor, and a chatty crowd that, at one point, mounted a live-size zebra prop. The night's entertainment was a live feed of the ceremony, played on the bar's TVs and projected onto the walls. Many guests visited the table at the front where the raffle items were playfully listed on mock book covers.
With donated items from companies like Rent the Runway, Coach, the IFC Center, and the New York Jets, the House Party's raffle drawing was able to raise an initial $3,000. The night's ticket sales and an online auction hosted by Charitybuzz.com from November 9 through December 1 will supplement this; all proceeds will benefit literacy nonprofit 826NYC.
