2013
03/18/2013 - The Perlman Music Program Cocktails, Dinner and a Chamber Music Concert in Palm Beach
03/15/2013 - Asia Week New York Kick-off Reception at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,
03/12/2013 - Third Annual Fountain House Associates Spring Breakfast: “Between The Sheets”
03/05/2013 - NYU LANGONE MEDICAL CENTER’S FACES GALA HONORING LEON CHARNEY RAISED $4.5 MILLION
02/23/2013 - "I Have A Voice" fundraiser for Gigi's PLAYHOUSE
02/23/2013 - Eleventh Annual “Thanksgiving in February” Feeds over 500 of New York’s Needy
02/21/2013 - The French Heritage Society's Annual Palm Beach Gala Dinner
02/21/2013 - 24th Annual Gala of Heart & Soul Charitable Fund Auction at Christie’s
02/21/2013 - Eva Longoria Hosts Benefit for “Food Chains” Documentary - Exposes Exploitation in Am’s Farm Labor
02/13/2013 - Verdura hosts a fundraiser for“The Michael Feinstein American Songbook Initiative”
02/13/2013 - Lost and Found: The Pinajian Discovery, a benefit preview for the Fund for Armenian Relief
02/08/2013 - 56th Annual Red Cross Ball in Palm Beach
02/07/2013 - Lost and Found: The Pinajian Discovery benefit preview for the Fund for Armenian Relief
02/06/2013 - All Star Orchestra’s Preview Screening of their New Classical Music and On-line Education Television
01/29/2013 - Urban Greenwalk
01/23/2013 - The Perlman Music Program Fourth Charity Wine Auction
01/20/2013 - Budapest Festival Orchestra
2012
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2007
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The Battery Conservancy 14th Annual Spring Gala
06/09/2009

The Battery Conservancy 14th Annual Spring Gala

The tip of Manhattan was aglow in orange last night, as The Battery Conservancy’s 14th Annual Spring Gala celebrated The Battery’s revitalization and honored The Kingdom of the Netherlands with The Battery Medal for Cultural Heritage.

Over 400 guests gathered to celebrate New York’s Dutch legacy, built on commerce, diversity, and self-determination, in recognition of four centuries of strong and inspiring friendship with the Netherlands since Henry Hudson’s voyage into New York Harbor in 1609.

The evening began with cocktails and a silent auction in the blooming gardens of the Battery Bosque, designed by Dutch garden planner Piet Oudolf. The gala dinner followed on The Battery’s waterfront promenade in a banquet-style tent. The tent’s interior was bedecked in orange construction fencing to celebrate the construction of New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion, the Kingdom of the Netherlands’ NY400 permanent gift, to be located on The Battery’s Peter Minuit Plaza.

As further tribute to the Dutch, guests were festively dressed in royal orange, delft blue and porcelain white attire. The evening’s MC, Melissa Francis, host of CNBC’s The Call and MSNBC’s It’s the Economy, presided over the festivities. She acknowledged the lasting Dutch legacy of commerce and the early Dutch laws that granted women the right to own property and lead their own businesses.

Annually at its gala, The Battery Conservancy awards a medal to an individual or an organization that has influenced and inspired the revitalization of The Battery. This year was the first year that the Conservancy honored a Kingdom. Battery Conservancy Chairman William C. Rudin and NYC Parks & Recreation Commissioner Adrian Benepe presented the inaugural Battery Medal of Cultural Heritage to Frans Timmermans, the Minister for European Affairs & International Cultural Policy. Commissioner Benepe awarded Timmermans the Battery Medal.
Following the gala, the tent’s festive construction fencing, donated by Tully Construction, was put to good use on The Battery’s Peter Minuit Plaza, future site of New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion.

Timmermans has been politically responsible for the co-ordination of the input of the Dutch Government into NY400 celebrations. It was through his leadership that The Battery Conservancy became the recipient of the NY400 permanent gift, the spectacular New Amsterdam Plein & Pavilion.

Also present for the awarding of the medal were Battery Conservancy President Warrie Price and women leaders of New York Parks, including: NYS Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation Commissioner Carol Ash; Chair of the NYS Council of Parks, Recreation & Historic Preservation Lucy Waletzky, MD; National Parks of New York Harbor Commissioner Maria Burks; and Chair of the Hudson- Fulton-Champlain Quadricentennial Commission Joan K. Davidson. Frans Timmermans, Minister for European Affairs and International Cultural Policy, addressed the gala guests after receiving the medal. From left, Battery Conservancy President Warrie Price, Bill Rudin, Joan K. Davidson, Lucy Waletzky, Melissa Francis, Commissioner Adrian Benepe and Carol Ash.

Following dinner, David Redden, vice chairman of Sotheby’s, conducted an entertaining live auction, which included items to benefit The Battery. This “reverse auction” included: bakfiets (Dutch utility bicycles), summer internships at The Battery Conservancy, deeds to 24 sq. ft. of Battery Garden Bikeway, and bulbs for The Battery. Exclusive auction items that benefited the donors include a private Statue Cruises tour of New York Harbor for 350, and fully planned trips for two, a Holland Holiday and a Tuscan Treat for Mind, Body & Soul.
This year, The Battery Conservancy partnered with nonprofit The Big Apple Circus to share its gala space and expenses. Big Apple held its own gala at The Battery on June 10, using The Battery Conservancy’s tent. The collaboration is a rare example of two not-for-profits sharing resources to lower expenses in this economic climate.

Every year, contributions raised by the Battery Gala fund over half of The Battery Conservancy’s park operations and cultural activities. The Battery Conservancy is a nonprofit organization founded in 1994 to partner with government to design and rebuild the historic 25-acre Battery, the largest and most dynamic public place in Lower Manhattan. The park is the front lawn of Downtown and a hub of harbor access and cultural tourism. Over five million people, including residents, office workers, school groups, and tourists from around the world, visit the park and its major landmark, Castle Clinton National Monument, every year. The Battery Conservancy, with its partners at the city, state and federal levels, has raised over $110M to revitalize the park.

Expansive lawns, overarching shade trees, vast perennial gardens, waterfront promenades with sweeping views and cultural programs will soon be complemented by the Battery Garden Bikeway connecting the East and West Sides of Manhattan; the much-anticipated SeaGlass carousel; and a remarkable new Battery Playspace, designed by Frank Gehry. To learn more about The Battery Conservancy, visit www.thebattery.org.

Photos: Richard Koek


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