Grass Valley, Calif. October 17, 2019 – All the stars came out to the Veterans Memorial Hall on Friday, October 12th for The Center for the Arts Inaugural Gala. This important fundraising event raised support for The Center’s arts programming and its core outreach and youth arts education programs.
The sold out event featured a fabulous dinner by Antonio Ayestarán Custom Catering, entertainment by Lolo Gervais, and the guests danced the night away at the after-party band to the genius San Francisco cover band Pop Rocks.
The Hollywood Ball was filled with glitz and glam, 260 guests entered via a red carpet with photographers and paparazzi while Hollywood lights lit up the front of the Veterans Memorial Hall.
“We wanted our first Gala to be fun, theatrical and celebrate the incredible impact The Center has made on everyone in our community,” said Amber Jo Manuel, Executive Director.
The Center’s OnTheGo series brings art to our community while our main theater is closed for renovation but comes with increased costs such as renting the venue, lights, and sound etc. The goal of this gala was to raise funds to help offset the costs to continue arts programming in our community including our youth arts education programs which serve over 7,500 annually.
The Live Auction was led by David Sobon and Patrick Desmond and filled with fun prizes that included Poolside Staycations in Nevada City, Pizza and Beer parties at the newly renovated Center for the Arts, and a fantastic trip to New York City to see Hamilton which was sold 3 times to different bidders! The auction ended in a Fund-the-Need paddle raise.
The Hollywood Ball successfully raised $112,000 for The Center for the Arts.
“The generosity of our community knows no bounds!,” said Gala Chair Lisa Swarthout, “Thank you to all of the people who came to support The Center for the Arts Inaugural Gala – The Hollywood Ball. It was an honor and privilege to serve as the Gala Chair and I look forward to continuing my support for The Center.”
The Center for the Arts is proud of its incredible staff that worked so hard to make this event a success! Manuel said, “We can’t wait to do this event again. Next year our gala will take place in our new premiere venue – at the exciting opening of the new Center for the Arts!”