GALA PUTS HEADLANDS AHEAD
Headlands Center for the Arts has been closed for a year, but none of the 600 guests at the Festival Pavilion in Fort Mason Center had forgotten this 35year-old cultural institution, which held its annual Art Auction June 7.
Artist residents have returned to Headlands and, come Sept. 17, the Commons, a redesigned outdoor space for programs and public engagement, opens in the heart of the Marin Headlands art compound housed at Fort Barry, the 1908-era Army post.
“The Commons represents a full transformation of the Headlands experience for people coming to visit,” said executive director Sharon Maidenberg. “We’ve created a central place with site-specific commissions. In addition to welcoming guests, the Commons is also a very accessible, poetic space for all to enjoy.”
Back at the gala (organized by Melissa Barber, Evie Simon, Rimma Boshernitsan and Jessica Silverman), guests nibbled gourmet Betty Zlatchin Catering fare as they scoped out 85 contemporary works in the silent and live Bonham’s auctions. A Ruth Asawa work on paper led the pack, garnering $42K of the total $650K raised for Headlands’ programming and its artists-in-residence program.
But participating auction artists benefitted, too: Headlands shares a 50 percent cut of sales from each work, returning a total of $121K.
Around the pavilion specialty installations were created by artists Jose Figueroa, Sarah Klein, Nicole Lavelle, Jenny
Sharaf and Tucker Nichols, whose ginormous word painting expressed Headlands’ ethos: “It looks like the artists will have to save the world again.”
Gallerist Silverman is a longtime fan of Headlands and its very competitive, sought-after residency program — as well as its epicurean family-style members’ dinners that give any citified restaurant a run for the money.
“The dinners are amazing and nothing short of absolute beauty,” she says. “But Headlands is meant to visit again and again, whether for open studios or an artist talk.
“It draws intriguing artists, writers and performers from around the world who are producing truly innovative work. Headlands is also a quiet, magical and visually beautiful location where, thankfully, your cell phones don’t work!”
Scholar stars: You’d think after 15 years, “Beach Blanket Babylon” producer Jo Schuman
Silver would have her joyful tears under control. But once again, the petite powerhouse got verklempt at Club Fugazi during her annual Scholarship for the Arts. Led by former mayor Willie
Brown and emcee Don Bleu, this rollicking pep rally paid tribute to the madcap genius of Schuman Silver’s late husband and “BBB” creator, Steve Silver, for whom the nation’s longestrunning musical revue’s foundation is named.
The sold-out house shook with the cheers of family and friends for the nine talented Bay Area high school teens who belted out their best onstage as they competed in the disciplines of dance, theater and voice. Yet just three — dancer Yongfeng Lim (Bellarmine College Prep), actor Peter Stielstra (Lowell High School) and singer
Emilie Kealani Suarez (Independence High School) — took home a big “BBB”-size $15K check to further their artistic college ambitions.
Also in the house: a roster of celebrity judges, including composer Gordon Getty; Grammy winner Tracy Chapman; SFJazz Artistic Director Randall Kline; movie maven Jan Wahl; YBCA’s Jonathan Moscone; jazz artist Paula West; S.F. Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock; ACT Artistic Director Carey Perloff; and choreographer Val Caniparoli.
“These young people who have done their best to compete are in keeping with what Steve Silver had in mind,” Brown exclaimed, “and what’s been taken around the world. This show has gone everywhere, representing San Francisco in the most glorious, wonderful way! And if you haven’t seen ‘Beach Blanket Babylon’ with Trump, you haven’t seen anything.”
All in the family: Without even hassling over seating assignments, Farah and Victor Makras raised a whopping $100K at the recent Dia del Niño gala cocktail reception they hosted at the Rotunda at Neiman Marcus for Family Builders by Adoption.
But the Makrases also had a few expert assists: Dapper Neiman’s GM Alan Morrell oversaw the swank setting; musician Freddy Clarke delighted guests with his guitar tunes; and Willie Brown, who knows from shaking loose cash in unsuspecting wallets, helped raise funds.
This Oakland nonprofit, now in its 40th year, finds permanent families for children and youth in the foster care system. Farah Makras was drawn to serve on the board following her difficulties with the U.S. federal adoption system (she and her husband eventually adopted their daughter from Guatemala).
“I have a deep love for children and like the fact that Family Builders makes it possible for average families to adopt,” she said. “We also educate the community about the needs of children languishing in the system and advocate on their behalf to place them in permanent homes with nurturing families.”