The event’s 3,500 attendees split off to four concurrent dinners, the largest of which took place in a 12,000-square-foot tent outside the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. More than 300 gold- and rose gold-illuminated glass pendants hung from the tent’s ceiling, and eye-catching floral bouquets created focal points.
To make all 700 dinner guests feel included, organizers used varied seating arrangements accented with custom-fabricated floral glass installations that created a series of vignettes.
After dinner, while guests went inside the symphony hall for the performance, the Blueprint Studios team had 90 minutes to transform the tent into an after-party space. The overhead pendants remained, and dinner tables were replaced with a bar area, cocktail tables, and couches.
The floral glass installations were also worked into the after-party design.
Local band the Cheeseballs performed against a floral backdrop.
During the 90-minute window, workers—including more than 100 staffers from Blueprint alone—also transformed the outdoor area that had previously held the event's entrance area. A long printed carpet recalled the floral backdrops inside the tent, and vignettes featured plush lounge furniture. Blankets and heaters were used to keep guests warm.
A colorful bar with gold accents furthered the evening’s floral theme.
In a fun touch, a wall of doughnuts created the shape of the symphony’s logo.
The evening featured a total of nine events, including cocktail receptions and additional dinners. A reception at Zellerbach Hall was illuminated with 48 crystal chandeliers.
Another cocktail reception, held at San Francisco City Hall, had an airy gold and cream color scheme.
The South Light Court reception was followed by a dinner in City Hall’s grand rotunda. Simple white textured tablecloths and lucite chairs allowed tall floral centerpieces to take center stage.
Another dinner, held at North Light Court at City Hall, had a black, white, and gold color scheme with red and burgundy florals.
Centerpieces included tall round arrangements made with branches and flowers.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation created an underwater theme for its DC on the Half Shell cocktail party, with wooden tables, fishing nets, and blue-water projections inside Dock5 at Union Market in Washington in February. The foundation also brought in live oyster colonies in tanks.
The Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, hosted its annual gala in February to celebrate a year of construction on its future West Wing. The design featured a hot pink color scheme with construction-inspired touches such as sawhorse tables and decor including yellow fencing and copper pipes.
In February, the Lyric Opera held a one-night-only event celebrating Chicago’s diverse music heritage. Following a cocktail reception, guests dined in the Graham Room and in the boxes of the Ardis Krainik Theatre before the performance. Vinyl records served as decor elements in the tablescape and centerpieces, as well as in the reception area.
On March 3, Canada’s National Ballet School hosted its annual fund-raising gala at Toronto’s the Carlu. The patriotic theme was Canadiana in honor of Canada’s 150th anniversary of confederation.
On March 18, the Little Lighthouse Foundation hosted its eighth annual Hearts & Stars gala at a private waterfront mansion on Star Island in Miami Beach. The “Mystic Dreams”-theme party raised $100,000 toward the organization’s programming.
Brooks Brothers transformed its Beverly Hills flagship store into “Le Casino,” a Monte Carlo-inspired experience to raise funds and awareness for the Jonsson Cancer Center Foundation, in January. The 200 guests enjoyed a Moët & Chandon champagne tower display, passed cocktails and casino-theme hors d’oeuvres, and a whiskey tasting.
On March 4, the Women of Tomorrow gala, which is organized by the Women of Tomorrow Mentor & Scholarship Program, was held at the Mandarin Oriental in Miami. During the gala, young women who have been impacted by the group’s work joined supporters for a moment of gratitude.
Boston Ballet’s Ball of Enchantment took place in February at the Castle at Park Plaza. The event’s theme celebrated Marius Petipa’s "The Sleeping Beauty," complete with a magical castle backdrop. The ball raised $1.8 million for Boston Ballet and its community programs.
At the Asian Art Museum’s annual gala, Got Light created a 96-foot-long LED tube chandelier with more than 200 tubes. The event, which celebrated art and technology, took place March 2 in San Francisco. Plus, interactive iPad centerpieces from Keep Interacting displayed table numbers, live auction items, and other program material for dinner guests.
On March 15, nonprofit organization Urban Arts Partnership celebrated its 25th anniversary at Cipriani Wall Street in New York. The event, which supports the group’s mission to advance the development of underserved public school students, featured neon sign centerpieces with words of inspiration.
The St. Patrick’s Episcopal Day School’s annual spring auction in Washington combines a sit-down dinner with silent and live auctions to raise money for its financial aid programs. After the cocktail reception and auction, held on March 4, guests enjoyed a three-course dinner in the school's gym with bright superhero decor fitting the evening ’s “Be a Hero” theme.
Housing Works hosted its fund-raising event, Design on a Dime, in Miami in February at the Moore Building in the city’s design district. For the second year in a row, participating interior designers and influential tastemakers created more than 25 one-of-a-kind room vignettes with designer furniture, art, and home decor merchandise. The two-day benefit raised $320,000 in support of the organization’s mission to end AIDS.
The National Capital Area Chapter of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society held its annual ball on March 11 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington. Event producer Julie Hanson designed the event around the nonprofit's red logo with purple accents in flowers and lighting.
In January, the Miami City Ballet celebrated its 31st annual gala, raising more than $1 million to support the organization’s work both onstage and in the community. The theme of this year’s ball—an ice-kissed fairytale with frozen ballet shoes as centerpieces—was inspired by the world premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s "The Fairy’s Kiss." It was the first charity gala to be hosted at Miami Beach’s Faena Forum.
On March 11, the Lookingglass Theatre’s Glassquerade “A Night in the Forest” gala celebrated 29 years of theater at VenueOne Chicago. The event raised $865,000 for artistic and educational programs.
In January, the National YoungArts Foundation hosted its annual fund-raiser, the Backyard Ball, on its campus in Miami, capping off the organization’s weeklong workshop program. The all-white origami theme included geometric details and decor elements, including suspended paper butterflies, angular candleholders and vases on the dining tables, and structural signage.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s opening-night gala was held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in February. Volanni created four floral designs incorporating red flowers, monstera leaves, succulents, lily grass, and mini cymbidiums blossoms for the centerpieces.
The event design of the Wolf Trap Ball, hosted by the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, featured screens with scrolling images of the national parks that rotated throughout the reception and dinner. Plants and greenery walls around the dining areas, as well as floral centerpieces, also reinforced the night’s theme celebrating the National Park Service's 100th anniversary. The event was held in September in Vienna, Virginia, and raised $1.5 million.
For the 2016 Headdress Ball, which was held in September at the Orlando World Center Marriott, the Hope and Help Center selected “Love” as the theme. It included a pre-party dubbed the “Love Lounge,” which was filled with red lighting and decor and logo gobos on the walls, while chocolate-heart centerpieces decorated the tables in the ballroom. The event is the largest annual fund-raiser for the nonprofit, which provides support and services for people infected with and affected by H.I.V./AIDS around Central Florida.
MoMA PS1, which is housed in a former public school building in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York, hosted its first fall benefit in September. The event, which was conceived by performance artist Ryan McNamara, featured an artistic, subversive twist on the high-school theme, with guests dressed as they were back in the day and throwback activities such as paper airplane-throwing.
At the Canadian Opera Company’s fund-raising gala, Centre Stage, held in November at Toronto’s Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, lights and projections transformed the venue’s ceiling into a cloudy blue sky with 14 suspended orbs draped in white silk orchids that hung above the dining guests. The tabletop floral arrangements consisted of white hydrangeas and white orchids in gold vases.
For the City of Hope’s Spirit of Life gala, which was held in November, Natalie McAdams of Namevents designed a night under the stars—inside a tent in the parking lot below the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles. To recreate the outdoor evening look, the production team built a stage that resembled the moon's surface and used fiber-optic panels to resemble stars.
Baptist Health Foundation’s The Grand Gala fund-raiser, which took place in November at the soon-to-open campus of the Miami Cancer Institute, featured a reception, dinner, and dancing, plus a silent auction. The cuisine and decor was created by Le Basque. The event raised $4.5 million for the Miami Cancer Institute, which is slated to open later this month.
Howard Brown Health held its second annual Halloween soiree, the Big Orange Ball, at restaurant and event space Carnivale in Chicago in October. More than 400 costume-clad guests attended and raised money to provide health and social services to Chicago’s L.G.B.T.Q. and allied community. RuPaul’s Drag Race season eight winner Bob the Drag Queen performed and emceed the event, along with a special meet-and-greet for “R.I.P.” ticket holders. Kehoe Designs provided the themed decor.
The Boston Symphony Orchestra held its opening night gala in September, raising $1.5 million. The gala dinner, created by Café ArtScience's Patrick Campbell, was served in four rooms at Symphony Hall, each decorated in different artistic themes (watercolor, charcoal, dance, and architecture) that were inspired by Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky's "Pictures at an Exhibition," which had been performed by the orchestra prior to the dinner.
At the Choral Arts Society of Washington’s annual fund-raising gala at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in December, event designers created a snowy Swiss Alps theme complete with icicle-like chandeliers and wintry decor.
Nonprofit educational organization Outward Bound hosted its National Benefit Dinner in October at Cipriani 25 Broadway in New York. Artist Michael Arthur, who specializes in live drawings of key moments, sketched on a projection screen as current and former students spoke about their experiences in the organization. The artistic showcase was designed to capture the impact and inspiration created by an Outward Bound experience. The event raised nearly $700,000 for the group’s work and chartered schools.
Design Exchange's annual fund-raiser, held in November at the Canadian design museum in Toronto, featured the theme "Dispatch" and explored the country’s intersections of design, art, and culture. Each floor showcased interactive installations and multi-sensory experiences, while Drake’s producer DJ Boi-1da performed a live set. Proceeds from the event support DX's public and education programs.
For nonprofit organization Knock Out Abuse Against Women’s Knock Out Abuse seated gala dinner at the Ritz-Carlton, Washington D.C. in November, florist Millicent Bluford created a mix of centerpieces, including some with thistle, cabbage, and miniature carnations.
In September, Friends of the High Line hosted its 2016 High Line Art Dinner featuring a seated dinner for 200 guests under the Chelsea Market passageway in New York. Proceeds from the event helped support the High Line’s public art projects as well as the ongoing maintenance and operation of the park. The colorful rainbow-inspired decor was designed by Van Wyck & Van Wyck, with catering by Bite Food and lighting by L&M Lighting and Sound.
In October, Events By Fabulous produced the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles "Once Upon a Time" gala, complete with whimsical storybook tablescapes and decor. More than 1,200 philanthropists, local dignitaries, and supporters gathered at the Event Deck at L.A. Live to raise $4 million in support of the hospital. The main stage featured a beanstalk-wrapped proscenium and larger-than-life props from fairy tales such as Peter Pan and Cinderella, while the cocktail area included theme performers and a Mad Hatter acrobat troupe.
Keep a Child Alive’s Black Ball, which was held in October at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York, evoked the spirit of '80s activism, when the fight against AIDS began, and paid respect to those who acted during that time. The decor reflected the theme with elements such as a glow-in-the-dark graffiti wall and street art-inspired linens, programs, and graphics. In addition, for the first time the event was live-streamed on Tidal. The evening raised $2 million for children and families with H.I.V. in Africa and India.
In October, Meridian International Center hosted the 48th annual Meridian Ball. Following dinners at venues around Washington, guests, including high-level officials, ambassadors, business leaders, and media, gathered in the Meridian House’s gardens, as well as inside a tent on the venue’s lawn for dessert and dancing. The event’s inspiration was the Orient Express, featuring elements such as hanging faux gas lamps, luggage accessories, leather furniture, and a travel-theme dinner menu. In addition, the dance tent was transformed into the Moulin Rouge (since Paris was a popular spot on the Express) with marquee letters and fiery red accents.
In September, New Yorkers for Children hosted its annual fall gala, which celebrated its 20th anniversary benefiting youth in foster care in New York City. The event, which took place at Cipriani 42nd Street, included an evening of dinner and dancing, with a standout decor element in an oversize number “20” decorated with a collage of children who have benefited from the organization. David Stark Design and Production designed the event.
