On Friday, August 4th, Guild Hall celebrated its annual summer gala honoring Trustee Ken Wyse. First guests were privy to a special preview of Leo Villareal’s Celestial Garden at Guild Hall, a composition of LEDs diffused through a vinyl membrane in the gallery recently renovated by Peter Pennoyer Architects and celebrated theatrical consultants Apeiro Design. Cocktails and cheeseboards were served in the hydrangea-filled garden by Hollander Design Landscape Architects. Then guests sauntered to Mulford Farm for a second cocktail event with impressive delectables by Laurence Craig.
Over 350 dinner guests entered the lavishly decorated tent with the Celestial Garden theme with all things periwinkle like hydrangea. Emceed by Jordan Roth and featuring exhibiting artists Leo Villareal and Renée Cox, the Benefit Event Raised Over $1.1 Million for the Art Center in support of the institution’s year-round interdisciplinary programs. Guild Hall is also in the process of raising funds for the ongoing facility-wide improvements project with the theatre opening in early 2024. The design, construction, and advisory team also includes Akustiks, Conceptual Lighting, Arrowstreet, 2×4, Altieri Sebor Wieber, Gilsanz Murray Steficek, Leonard Ackerman, Esq., and Twomey Latham Shea Kelley Dubin & Quartararo, LLP. Original Guild Garden Furniture designed by Evan Desmond Yee.
Guild Hall supporters included Marty & Michele Cohen, Myrna Daniels, Florence Fabricant, Gina Gibney, Kim Heirston, Ed Hollander, Peter Pennoyer, Lisa Perry, Daryl Roth, emcee Jordan Roth & Richie Jackson, Cynthia Rowley, Jeffrey Seller, Patsy & Jeff Tarr, Barbara Tober, Alex Vinash, and honoree Ken Wyse, and artists Ross Bleckner, Philippe Cheng, Renée Cox, Jeremy Dennis, Ralph Gibson, Alice Hope, Bryan Hunt, Arcmanoro Niles, Toni Ross, Bastienne Schmidt, Julian Schnabel, Leo Villareal & Yvonne Force Villareal, Andrina Wekontash Smith, Robert Wilson, Lucy Winton, and Lisa Yuskavage.
“Guild Hall is artist and community-driven, and this evening celebrating art champion Ken Wyse and experiencing the artworks of Leo Villareal and Renée Cox reinforced this core tenet of the institution: Artists Lead Us,” said Executive Director, Andrea Grover.
