Spectactular galas celebrating art, science and theater.
“One” was in play at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art during its recent Birthday Bash celebrating the first anniversary of its expanded size-15 footprint.
That monochromatic theme was expressed in the sartorial ensembles of 1,800 guests (dressed head to toe in a single hue of their choosing), and the superb Stanlee Gatti decor that defined floors in bold tones like hot pink or burnt orange.
“The neon centerpieces are all different languages that translate to ‘one,’ ” said Bash chairwoman Penny Coulter. “The color scheme is one color. As well as the deeper meaning that we’re all one as a people.” Outside Schwab Hall, artist
Judy Chicago, working in white sweats, fired up her one-night-only installation “Be No More,” with flares illuminating the word “Truth.”
As billowing clouds of dry ice drove revelers back inside, we tallied up the museum’s storied 82-year history, during which both Chicago and fire marshals have factored in.
At the museum’s 1992 groundbreaking for its thennew SoMa home, Survival Research Laboratories artist
Mark Pauline was almost arrested for, literally, breaking ground with flame-throwing robots. In 1979, SFMOMA was the first museum to install Chicago’s epochal feminist opus, “The Dinner Party.” “The director then, Henry
Hopkins, was the first in the world to open his museum doors to feminist culture,” Chicago recalled fondly.
And she was thrilled to be back at SFMOMA for a lively, action-packed night filled with artful encounters around every corner.
Parsed into three parties, everyone ended up at the late-night bash where scenesters swarmed the stage for a sizzling Solange set. But this fete was also a fundraiser, so first, deep-pocketed donors dined on two divine McCalls dinners.
Or as one wag, who calculated ticket prices (from $100K per 10-top table to $1,200 per ticket), joked: The dinner division was billionaires vs. millionaires.
Yet these ducats are why SFMOMA Board Chairman
Charles Schwab could proudly proclaim the museum’s one-year accomplishments: 1.2 million visitors; 40,000 schoolchildren thanks to free admission for anyone 18 or younger. Museum membership has almost tripled to 82,000.
The seated Birthday Supper, chaired by Lydia Shorenstein, was set in the Sculpture Garden with velvet-draped Gatti banquettes and a stage for dancer Lil Buck.
Upstairs, Surprise Bash chair Kaitlyn Krieger corralled a looser vibe with a buffet that encouraged mingling for guests to “selfie” with Mission Style graffiti murals by artistspouses Clare Rojas and
Barry McGee or “get ink” at a flash tattoo parlor.
Chicago was joined by 49 other artists, either guesting
(Doug Aitken) or participating (musical artist Helado Negro), amid vastly expanded galleries now enriched by some 4,000 new works led by the vaunted Fisher Collection.
“As a museum dedicated to contemporary art, our finest aspiration is presenting those great works,” toasted SFMOMA Director Neal Benezra. “Tonight is a great party. But the real point: It enables us to sustain the life of contemporary art in the Bay Area. Artists are the heart and soul of what we’re committed to, and we’re nothing without the artists.”
Cosmic force: Intrepid explorers in Golden Gate Park recently raised a white-hot $2.7 mil during another one-theme fundraiser, “One Night, One Planet,” at the Big Bang Gala benefiting the California Academy of Sciences. Led by event chairs Kana
Muraki and her husband, academy trustee Larry Miao, this heavenly fete featured environmental conversations starring Katharine Hayhoe, an atmospheric scientist, and Dr. Patrick Brown, a geneticist and Impossible Foods founder, prior to a 500-person McCalls dinner in a glorious Got Light illuminated tent. Then 2,500 more guests landed, grooving to DJ Hot Chip at the Party After Dark. Academy executive director
Jonathan Foley, who spoke at the #MarchForScience in our nation’s capital, could not be more dedicated to the academy’s continued mission.
“We’re celebrating science in a time when science is under attack like never before,” he said.
Support for the Academy for All initiative provides more free-admission days. And because there is no BART to the park, the academy now hires buses, on its own dime, ensuring Bay Area school kids can access the best science museum experience. “We want the next Neil
Degrasse Tyson or Rachel Carson to visit the academy when they’re young and get inspired to pursue a life of science,” Foley continued.
“Science is what made America great already. If you want to make America great again, we need to invest in R&D and STEM education,” he declared. “Scientists are saying, ‘When science is cut, when science is muzzled, when science is censored, we can’t do our jobs.’ And science won’t keep us healthy, safe and prosperous if we’re censored by our politicians. That’s dangerous.”
Standing O: Though a mere 50, the American Conservatory Theater celebrated that fantastic feat with a golden jubilee gala (designed by Ken
Fulk with a McCalls menu) stretching along Market Street from the theater’s Costume Shop to its jewel-box Strand Theater.
“Most theaters start as a little acorn that grows bigger. But ACT was a wild imagination, big dream from day one. Bill Ball turned up with 45 permanent-contract actors, in a thousand-seat theater with a rotating 14-play repertory. And, go!,” enthused artistic director Carey Perloff. “There’s been so many neardeath experiences, the fact ACT is still here is a miracle.”
The fete raised $1.2 million for ACT actor training and theater-education programs. Gala chair Priscilla Geeslin, a longtime ACT trustee, recalled that early dates with her now-husband, S.F. Opera Board President Keith Geeslin, often played out at the theater.
“We’d drive from Palo Alto to attend ACT, which is what made us move to San Francisco. We reverse commuted for years because we wanted to be part of the arts here,” she enthused. “And for 24 years, Carey has been the force that is ACT.”