Holding the same party in the same venue every year presents a problem: How do you keep it interesting for your guests? For the Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education, held at the New York Public Library on Tuesday night, McGraw-Hill, which presents the prize, resolved the issue by hiring a design team that keeps reinventing the space.
The black-tie event has been held at the library for more than 12 years, previously in both the library’s Bartos Forum and Astor Hall. But moving guests upstairs to Astor Hall for dinner became too much of a problem, as was Astor's lack of air-conditioning—making for some uncomfortable men in tuxedos, said Laura Breitenbach of LMB Communications & Events, which planned the event in collaboration with McGraw-Hill vice president of corporate affairs Eileen Gabriele.
Five years ago, designer Carolyn Bakula of Grayson Bakula Design determined that both cocktails and dinner could be held in the Bartos Forum if the team could creatively divide the space. “We just needed a way to create a square within a square,” says Bakula, who has used hedges, lanterns, and plexiglass in the past to keep the central dining room separate from the outer cocktail area.
This year, to commemorate the 20 years the prize has been given, they chose a traditional platinum theme, with illuminated strands of metallic beading holding the guests during the cocktail hour like a stationary waterfall. At 7 p.m., Bentley Meeker's lighting changed its focus to the room’s center, signaling guests to be seated for the awards and a Mediterranean-themed meal from Sonnier & Castle, with a boneless rack of Australian lamb as the main course.
With the party evolving every year, and the library's air of academia suitable to honor leaders in education, McGraw-Hill sees no reason to change venues. Its relationship with the NYPL has even deeper roots than the party: The McGraw rotunda sits just two floors above—itself an impressive space, just not large enough to accommodate the 225 who attend the award ceremony.
