A circus theme came to town last Thursday night when the Boston-based Room to Dream Foundation held its first annual gala at the South End art space turned event venue, Cyclorama. Dubbed the Carnival of Dreams, the party was a grown-up version of a day at the circus, complete with jugglers on unicycles, games, three bars, and food from more than a dozen area chefs.
Room to Dream’s mission, to provide chronically ill children with healing environments, was suggested via children's room vignettes designed by four of Boston's top interior designers—ASID New England Board of Directors, Dennis Duffy, Andrew Terrat, and Erin Gates. The rooms were examples of what Room to Dream creates in the homes of chronically ill children.
“We wanted to pick a theme that related to kids and would make guests remember that they were attending the gala to help raise money for chronically ill kids,” said Room to Dream executive director Alexandra Bier Abramowitz, noting that many of the foundation’s supporters are from the interior design, architecture, and furniture industries. “The biggest challenge was creating an event concept that was different from the majority of charity functions. We really wanted people to walk away from the event with a memorable experience that will keep them coming back year after year.”
Decor for the rest of the space was simple and on-theme: The Cyclorama space went from a bare-bones rotunda to an indoor carnival space with brightly colored fabric draped from the ceiling and food-and-game booths with striped awnings around the perimeter of the room. A cocktail area sat at the center of the space, with small tables covered in bold-colored linens and glass vases filled with taffy as centerpieces.
The presentation portion of the night included a live auction lead by WCVB-TV anchor Susan Wornick, a dance performance by Boston Youth Moves, and an Unsung Heroes awards presentation, including a special award to Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield, which he accepted via video from training with the team.
To keep the fun factor high and the formal presentations shorter next year, Abramowitz said the foundation will stick with the cocktail format but perhaps hold a separate, smaller-scale awards ceremony for the Unsung Heroes.
