New York\u2019s wavering and chilly weather\u2014halfway into April, no less\u2014finally gave way to a balmy 85 degrees on Wednesday, creating the perfect vibe for the Bronx Museum\u2019s annual spring gala and art auction. The beloved institution assembled a room full of artists and art-lovers alike, ready to wholeheartedly support upcoming initiatives and programming.<\/p>\n
Mickalene Thomas, Ella Emhoff, Danielle Falls, rapper and actor Joey Bada$$, Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, and Michael McGinnis were among those who came out for the celebration, which honored artist Awol Erizku, cultural patron Lois Plehn, and KidSuper designer and artist Colm Dillane.<\/p>\n
Upon arrival at Tribeca Rooftop, elevators swiftly ushered guests up to the open-air event space for a golden hour cocktail reception, where they were greeted by servers holding trays of Beluga caviar and flutes of Veuve Clicquot. \u201cTonight is a beautiful night\u2014and this setting helps me to not be nervous before giving my speech,\u201d said multi-platinum artist A$AP Ferg, who presented Erizku with the museum\u2019s Artistic Visionary Award. Echoing Ferg\u2019s sentiments, artist, singer, and songwriter Young Paris stated: \u201cI appreciate the museum shining a spotlight on the culture and highlighting the positive things happening in-and-around the Bronx.\u201d<\/p>\n
After sunset, attendees were ushered downstairs to the main event, where more than 40 dining tables were decked out in black-and-gold place settings with floral centerpieces. A three-course dinner of Mesclun greens, steak, Chilean sea bass, and strawberry and chocolate mousse tarts ensued. Over dinner, museum trustee and gala co-chair Annie B. Taylor stated, \u201cI cherish the importance of what we\u2019ve done and what we\u2019re doing for the Bronx. We\u2019re extremely blessed to do such important work.\u201d Taking it all in, Jeanice Parker, an art curator and owner of the brand Four Cees, agreed: \u201cGalas like this are a necessity. This is my second time attending, and each time, the d\u00e9cor, atmosphere, and crowd are beyond amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n
In between the spotlights on the honorees\u2014where McGinnis presented Plehn with the Cultural Ambassador Award, and Dillane was given the Innovator Award by Joey Bada$$\u2014the night\u2019s festivities continued with a rousing auction overseen by Phillips\u2019 Sarah Krueger. Bids of $10,000 were placed for a personal studio visit with Thomas, and artwork by Ann Craven went for more than $20,000\u2014ultimately won by Taylor. Representing the Mind Games luxury fragrance company (the night\u2019s official gifting sponsor), Dorian Braxton, senior global director of PR, said: \u201cArt is very important to Mind Games. And as a native New Yorker, seeing this type of community service in action is what the company and myself are all about.\u201d Chiming in with shared excitement, Terry Long, the founder of 69 Crosby Consulting, added, \u201cSeeing how the museum is able to rally community is really riveting. The artist connections and fundraising are extremely important.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ending the night\u2019s on-stage activity and announcing the closing of dinner, emcee and television personality Denise Richardson ushered in the after-party by motioning guests towards the extended area of the ballroom. Well-heeled\u2014and full-bellied\u2014folks made their way onto the large dance floor, where swaths of golden chiffon fabric cascaded from the ceiling, illuminated by fire-red floor lighting. DJ D\u00fce Champ spun a curated mix of top 40 and classic hits, keeping the floor alive all night as a wraparound bar offered up espresso martinis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s wavering and chilly weather\u2014halfway into April, no less\u2014finally gave way to a balmy 85 degrees on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":591209,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88,101239],"class_list":{"0":"post-591208","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment","13":"tag-vogue-parties"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=591208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/591208\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/591209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=591208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=591208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=591208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}