On a beautiful early spring evening, over 150 friends and patrons of Metropolis Ensemble gathered at Riverpark, Tom Colicchio’s newest restaurant overlooking the East River in Manhattan. Together we honored and recognized our “Founding Visionaries” — the foundations, volunteers, and patrons who provided the vital support necessary to create and launch Metropolis Ensemble, five years ago.
Metropolis Ensemble’s Inaugural Benefit on March 8 included memorable performances, delectable food and festive cocktails, an auction conducted both live and silent, and toasts throughout the room to the current and future success of the organization. All told, the benefit was a huge success: $30,000 raised through the auction, and over $70,000 raised by the end of the night!
Thank you to those who attended and supported our work. Your patronage helped support our Innovation Fund, which provides vital support for the commissioning and performance of new works; our Artists Fund, which provides artist fellowships and residencies; and Youthworks, our arts-in-education program that serve underresourced schools.
Thanks to the following individuals and companies who helped make this night possible.
Riverpark and Jeffrey Zurofsky for their generous sponsorship of this event, their talent, and hard work to make this evening possible. Thank you to Erin Bellard and Kelly Cervantes for their enthusiasm and stewardship.
Our amazingly talented artists, including Timothy Andres, Jakub Ciupinski, Kiera Duffy, Ryan Francis, Bridget Kibbey, Kristin Lee, Nick Choksi, and Ricardo Romaneiro, for donating their time and talent tonight, it has been a joy to collaborate with them to create tonight’s program which reflects the many aspects of our mission and organization.
Brian McComak and Christie’s for supporting our live auction.
Our silent auction donors: Mike Figgis, Peter Knell and IMG, Rebecca Roth and Meredith National Media Group, Christie Salomon and Richard Lombard, Satya Twena, Jack and Linda Viertel and New York City Center, and Jeffrey Zurofsky and Riverpark.
Our gift bag donors: Timothy Andres, Amy Chen and MoMA, Jennifer Gilmore and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and Mariner Books, Lashcard, Sisha Ortuzar and Riverpark, and Mateo Paiva.
Our dedicated benefit committee, including our seven volunteer benefit co-chairs and fifteen committee members co-chairs, volunteers, and Stephanie Amarnick whose vision and hard work made this milestone evening possible and a great success.
Last but certainly not least, a special thank you to the Metropolis Ensemble community who came together this evening and many times in the past five years to make our organization what it is today!
Photos by Gareth Paul Cox.