At the annual benefit, which took place in May, guests first enjoyed cocktails on the High Line at the Diller-Von Furstenberg Sundeck and in the Chelsea Market Passage before heading to dinner at two separate locations: Highline Stages and 60 Tenth Ave. in New York. Van Wyck & Van Wyck handled design for both venues. The Highline Stages space featured two columns reimagined to look like dogwood trees with flickering candlelight. The 60 Tenth Ave. venue boasted the “Tree of Life” (pictured), a column that was transformed into a tree dripping with fiber optics that changed colors.
Held at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington in March, the Leukemia Ball, which was designed by Hargrove, featured the event theme of “Illuminate: Shining the Light on Progress.” This idea was translated through the use of light throughout the design, including the stage and stage chandelier. The event raised $3 million.
The 20th anniversary edition of Power Ball, the annual fund-raiser for the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery in Toronto, which was held in May at the museum, featured a risqué circus theme with rides and stalls, including an onsite tattoo parlor and a fruit shooting range.
For the American Cancer Society’s 12th annual Discovery Ball, which took place in April at the Swissȏtel Chicago and featured the theme of “Impact From Every Angle,” HMR Designs extended miles of ribbons from 125 points on the ceiling. As guests moved around the room, the angles intersected to create dynamic visuals.
In May, more than 600 guests gathered in the New York art institution’s Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Sculpture Garden for the dinner—a first for the annual fund-raiser—to honor philanthropist Agnes Gund. The tented dining space featured sections of round and rectangular dining tables that were decorated in four springtime shades—sunshine yellow, robin’s egg blue, rich teal, and cherry blossom pink, with linens, seat cushions, glassware, and floral arrangements to match. Greenery swags hung from the clear plastic tent’s trusses, and faux grass carpeting lined the space.
