To highlight that the brand has more than 160 hotels around the world, one wall displayed imagery of select properties.
At the Hollywood Reporter Lounge, sponsor Francis Ford Coppola Winery invited talent such as Alfre Woodard to record video birthday messages for the director’s upcoming 80th birthday. NVE Experience Agency produced the lounge.
American Civil Liberties Union returned as a sponsor of the space. Guests including actress Awkwafina were invited to pose with signs calling out constitutional rights and issues the nonprofit organization fights for.
This year’s Harlem School of the Arts Masquerade Ball and after-party raised more than $1 million for the second year in a row. The event was held at the Plaza Hotel in New York in October. The dining setting included tall palm leaf centerpieces and African-inspired fabric chair tie-backs.
Heal the Bay hosts a fund-raising gala each year, but it had identified a past problem with losing guests’—and donors’—attention in a disconnected environment. So this year, for its 30th anniversary, the environmental nonprofit worked with Events by Fabulous to tweak the layout so it would feel more intimate and inclusive. That meant a new stage design and program meant to draw an emotional response from guests by showing high-res video stories of the honorees and the mission of the charity, rather than by way of a speaker with a microphone. Beyond that, the team also created a multistage arena, with a catwalk that led into the center of the crowd and two additional satellite stages for performances that could better distribute the action within the event space.Â
Sponsor Tiny Prints made a contribution to the Robin Hood Foundation for each guest who wrote a thank-you note to a loved one or anyone else on site; reps from the brand later mailed the letters to the chosen recipients. Additional sponsors this year included DeLeon, Fiji Water, Marie Claire, and Hearts on Fire Jewelry. Â
Moët provided a popular champagne vending machine. Guests picked up tokens to drop into the machine; they could either take their bottles for later or have a staff member pop them open on the spot.
