Lest we ever forget, the Hon. Thurgood Marshall, the first African-American to serve on the United States Supreme Court and one of the most effective civil rights crusaders of the 20th century, will be recognized on Thurgood Marshall Law Day 2017. The tribute to pioneers of equality and justice in America will be held Saturday, May 13, at St. Philip’s Church, 204 W.134th St., beginning at 4 p.m. Highlighting the afternoon event will be “An Evensong Conversation,” with the Hon. Stephen G. Breyer, associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
While we are saluting “firsts,” the Liberty Science Center celebrated techno-optimists Katherine Johnson, along with Ray Kurzweil and Robot SpotMini at the LSC Genius Gala 6.0. Johnson is one of the first African-American women to be employed by NASA and the subject of the Academy Award nominated film “Hidden Figures” (also starring my girl Cookie Lyons—I mean Taraji P. Hanson.) Ray Kurzweil is recognized as being one of the world’s leading inventors, thinkers, authors and futurists. SpotMini, the most technologically advanced canine robot, was accompanied by CEO Marc Raibert of Boston Dynamics and its robotics team. All received the prestigious LSC Genius Award.
Welcoming the more than 700 guests was host for the evening, LSC President and CEO Paul Hoffman. Among the tech aficionados in attendance were Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop, Basil and George Harris, who recently won the $3-million Qualcomm Tricoder XPRIZE for inventing a state of the art medical diagnosis device; Steve Howe, US chairman and Americas managing partner of EY, the gala’s corporate chair; John Urscel, scholar athlete and Baltimore Ravens guard, who is also a doctoral candidate in mathematics at MIT, and recently named to Forbes’ “30 Under 30”; Joylette Goble Hylick, daughter of Katherine Johnson; and Helen Maroulis, the first American woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling. All gala proceeds are to benefit LSC’s exhibitions and programs, particularly the science-education programs that LSC does for 91,000 at-risk children across the New Jersey/New York region.
It was a sold-out evening at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Temple of Dendur, honorary co-chairs Debbie Allen, Agnes Gund and Sir Salman Rushdie, and gala co-chairs Sarah Arison and Thomas Wilhelm, and Gillian Hearst Simonds and Christian Simonds, welcomed more than 300 of New York’s top cultural and community leaders, philanthropists, celebrities and art aficionados to the second annual YoungArts New York Gala. More than half a million dollars was raised as patrons celebrated this year’s nearly 700 YoungArts winners in 10 arts disciplines. Aspiring young artists came from across the nation to participate. The YoungArts New York Gala was presented in collaboration with luxury brand Swarovski, with support from Max Mara. Master of ceremonies for the evening was former “Gossip Girl” and “The Knick” actress Zuzanna Szadkowski (1997 winner in theater and U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts), and the event featured a series of dynamic cross-disciplinary performance vignettes directed by YoungArts alum Jake Goldbas (2007 winner in jazz). And if you must know, the reception and seated dinner was catered by Restaurant Associates with decor was by Raul Àvila. Debbie Allen, auntie to actress Codola Rashad, who is starring in the off-Broadway play, “The Doll House 2,” looked absolutely gorgeous in a sky-blue and white lace, tea-length dress, with sparkling strappy heels.
Goodbye, farewell, adieu to the old Lenox Lounge, as demolition has now begun on the once famous Harlem landmark and home to many of the world’s famous artist, who were also once aspirants, such as Billie Holiday and Miles Davis. One can only imagine what will stand in its place. A high-rise? Probably. Well, we still have Paris Blues.
Although the month of May is traditionally all about galas and raising funds before the summer when everyone heads for the hills, it has also been about the arts, entertainment and show biz. Theatre Forward, an organization dedicated to advancing American theaters and their communities by providing funding and other resources to the country’s leading nonprofit theaters, hosted their 2017 Chairman’s Awards Gala at the Pierre. The annual gala supports the work of Theatre Forward, which seeks to advance equity, diversity and inclusion goals for a targeted under-represented community, and their Educating through Theatre Initiative, which supports education programs for underserved children. Performing at the gala were members from the cast of “Barnum,” including Lance Roberts and Britney Coleman. The Theatre Artist Award was presented to actress Glen Close. For more information about Theatre Forward, visit www.theatreforward.org.
Culture For One’s fifth annual benefit brought out the city’s most prominent philanthropists to raise more than $250,000 to provide the underserved youth in NYC’s foster care system with access to the arts. Brady H. Funn III took the podium to introduce former foster youth and Culture For One participant Jahlika Hamilton, who received a standing ovation for her deeply emotional recounting of the positive impact that Culture For One had on her life, and how the organization helped create new happy memories to help her overcome the hurt and many challenges she faced in the foster care system.
Diana and Joe DiMenna were honored with the Culture For One Inspiration Award for arts and entertainment leadership and their dedication to the organization. Lulu Falls and the cast of the popular Broadway production, “The Great Comet of 1812,” performed three songs from the musical. WABC news anchor Sade Baderinwa served as the master of ceremonies for the evening. You simply must check out the website, cultureforone.org, to view the heartwarming work the organization does and find out how to get involved.
P.S. Bruno Mars is coming to Madison Square Garden, Sept. 23.
Until next week…kisses.