DKMS - Linked Against Leukemia Black Tie Gala

On Wednesday, May 7, 2008 Empire Entertainment produced the DKMS Linked Against Leukemia Gala to help raise awareness of the fight against Leukemia. DKMS strives to give every blood cancer patient an equal chance by recruiting marrow donors from every race and ethnicity. They inspire hope and healing by matching their donors with patients around the world. Over 600 guests including host Mario Cantone of Sex and the City attended the sold out event, held at Capitale in New York, NY. The evening's honorees included Cindy Crawford; Chairman and CEO of Phillips-Van Heusen, Emanuel Chirico; and CEO of Coty Inc, Bernd Beetz. Distinguished guests such as actresses Eva Mendes, Amy Adams and Morgan Fairchild and supermodel Carol Alt also showed their support for this worthy cause. Following a cocktail reception, which featured a 30-foot long red carpet and step & repeat banner, the attendees entered the ballroom where Empire had installed a white flowing ceiling treatment and backdrop with the charity's logo: a red butterfly lit throughout.

The emotional dinner program included the "Moment of the Match" where a donor from Germany was introduced to the 6-year old recipient on stage for the first time. This moment was magnified by the music of New York City DJ, Mike Williams. Following this moment, musical performances by German performing artist, Sarah Connor, DMC and Natasha Bedingfield capped off the night. Empire provided event production for this program including collaboration and execution of all décor aspects, all technical production and stage management, talent logistics and management, and maintained the master run of show, production schedule and script of stage presentations.