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.
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum honored the 2018 National Design Award winners with a cocktail reception and award ceremony at the museum’s Arthur Ross Terrace and Garden in New York in October. The decor by David Stark Design & Production was inspired by Cooper Hewitt’s exhibition “Tablescapes: Designs for Dining” and featured gravity-defying light fixtures made from chairs and a red-carpet backdrop of plates.
At this year’s event, held at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts in Toronto in November, guests enjoyed a dinner created by Nota Bene executive chef David Lee on the stage of R. Fraser Elliott Hall. A close-up shot of roses was projected on the large screen behind them.
The New York Public Library hosted the 2018 Library Lions Gala in November, with honorees Ron Chernow, Francis Ford Coppola, Jessye Norman, Claudia Rankine, and Elizabeth Strout. The event raised more than $2.7 million. Once again, event designer David Beahm transformed the Rose Main Reading Room into the gala’s dining room with floral projections by L&M Sound and Light cast on the walls and table decor that included white blooms.
In November, Tyger Productions transformed the Cyclorama at the Boston Center for the Arts into a sparkling purple space for the Boston Purple Party 2018, benefiting the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network. The gala's co-chair Ty Kuppig of Tyger Productions and his team suspended floor-to-ceiling panels of reflective paillettes to create a more intimate setting within the large venue.
