The New York Women’s Foundation (The Foundation) held their annual Celebrating Women® Breakfast virtually this year. Empire was honored to help produce the first-ever virtual Breakfast dedicated to honoring women who are leading the way by example, empowering their communities, and spotlighting the importance of women in the world.

The event was hosted on Hopin, featuring an hour-long program with closed captioning and ASL interpretation, virtual breakfast tables, live breakout sessions, two mini-doc style videos focusing on two of The Foundation’s grantee partners, Start Small Think Big, Jahajee Sisters, and an expo hall for grantee partners. The site also featured event branding and graphics prompting guests to watch available live and OnDemand content.

The Celebrating Women Awards were presented to the New York Anchor Women: Pillars of Courage including Amanda Farinacci, Vivian Lee, Jeanine Ramirez, Kristen Shaughnessy, and Roma Torre V; artist Jordan Casteel; and Poderistas, accepted by Co-Founder Mónica Ramírez. The program also included remarks by Ana L. Oliveria, President & CEO of The New York Women’s Foundation, Vision Award recipient, Sheri Sandler, and performances by Fogo Azul and the Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Empire worked closely with The Foundation’s team to create the overall event, implement design and run-of-show, coordinate and record all speakers and talent remotely, and oversee the technical production and livestream.

Empire is a leading producer of virtual awards ceremonies and fundraisers, special feature video productions, and more.

To learn more about The New York Women’s Foundation and donate, please visit https://www.nywf.org/donate

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Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) engaged Empire to help produce their 20^th Annual Leadership Awards Gala. The event included a virtual livestream as well as multiple VIP Zoom Receptions hosted concurrently before and after the main program. The virtual celebration honored four individuals who have helped unite the world through outstanding leadership while raising funds to provide financial support to SIPA students.

The main program was livestreamed on the Columbia SIPA website and featured pre-recorded remarks from Lee C. Bollinger, President, Columbia University; Merit E. Janow, Dean, Columbia University SIPA; Caroline Kennedy, Trustee, Carnegie Corporation of New York and Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan; Lan Yang MIA ’96, SIPA Advisor Board Member, Chair, Sun Media Group; and Charles “Chuck” Schumer, U.S. Senator from New York. There were also exclusive messages from SIPA Alumni including Eric Garcetti ‘92CC MIA, Mayor of Los Angeles; Jennifer Morris MIA ’97, CEO, The Nature Conservancy; and many more.

This year’s recipients of SIPA’s Global Leadership Awards recognized Kristalina Georgieva, Managing Director of the IMF, for her leadership in helping stabilize the global economic and financial system, and the late Vartan Gregorian, Former President of Carnegie Corporation of New York, for his work in furthering education, democracy, international peace, and security.

The celebration also recognized inaugural recipients of SIPA’s Global Inspiration Awards, Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano and activist, for her activism using music, and Lang Lang, pianist, philanthropist, and cultural ambassador, for his dedication to global arts education. The program also included very special performances by Joyce and Lang Lang.

Empire’s scope of work included run-of-show development, remote and in-person pre-recordings, speaker advance, producing an Alumni feature video and overall virtual gala editing, staff training, technical production, livestreaming for the main gala, and production and management of pre- and post-gala Zoom breakouts for attendees joining from the United States and China.

Empire is a leading producer of virtual, hybrid, and live events.

Thelma Golden, Director and Chief Curator of the Studio Museum, and Tracee Ellis Ross, actor, CEO, and producer, engaged in an open conversation on art, culture, film, and design.

Empire filmed and produced the discussion, worked closely with the Museum to develop the creative identity, and hosted a special virtual toast to celebrate the premiere of Beyond the Studio.

Proceeds from Beyond the Studio directly support the museum’s general operations and their growing schedule of digital programming. As they continue to navigate these challenging times, the Studio Museum remains committed to providing meaningful and engaging programs for audiences of all ages.

Empire is proud to support these efforts and assist Studio Museum as they continue to expand into virtual events and programming.

To learn more about the Studio Museum and to support visit this website.

Empire recently presented Malcolm Gladwell for two virtual keynote addresses. In February, Malcolm spoke at an online conference for one of the world’s leading cyber-security software companies. For that program, Malcolm delivered a customized presentation entitled “A Crisis is a Terrible Thing to Waste” in which he shared that, while Covid had obviously created challenges around the world, it had also created new opportunities for innovation for those who were forward-thinking and optimistic. Gladwell shared fascinating anecdotes to support his keynote and was humorously self-deprecating and endearing as he fielded Q&A. In April, Empire again presented Gladwell, this time for a company that develops software and other tools to enable corporate teams to work more efficiently. For that summit, Malcolm spoke about the changing nature of work over the last several generations including the differences between hierarchical and networked team structures and the strengths and weaknesses of each. He explained that workers focused on a common goal should allow differences of opinion, respectful debate, and constructive conflict to deliver better team decisions.

Empire is proud to have presented Malcom Gladwell as well as other thought leaders including Amanda Gordon, Malala Yousafzai, His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, Richard Branson, Adam Grant, and many more for our clients around the globe.

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Bravo’s Top Chef Drive-In & Dine Experience was the tastiest ticket in town when it was held at the iconic Rose Bowl Stadium in Los Angeles.

This very special screening of Bravo’s long-running megahit cooking competition show hosted an audience of Television Academy voters, Bravo VIPs and executives, as well as some very lucky fans of Top Chef. The latest season was taped in Portland during last fall’s Covid-19 restrictions and Episode 5 featured an appropriate elimination challenge: The Drive-In. In a very meta twist, guests of Bravo’s Top Chef Drive-In & Dine Experience received a complimentary tasting of the winning creations as seen on the giant 40-ft screens.

Bringing Portland vibes to Pasadena, a custom retro Bravo’s Top Chef drive-in sign signaled attendees to turn into the entrance of the famous Rose Bowl Stadium, where they were led through a drive-up photo booth featuring Portland’s iconic neon White Stag sign. At check-in, guests received complimentary Hedley & Bennett face masks, Top Chef water bottles, and printed menus with a preview of the special tasting that guests were to be treated to during the screening.

Before the show, attendees played Top Chef trivia and enjoyed an exclusive conversation with the series’ host Padma Lakshmi, head judge Tom Colicchio, and Gail Simmons.

As the episode started, the special tastings were delivered directly to guests’ cars in Bravo’s Top Chef-branded bento boxes, which included very generous portions of the Sonoran Hot Dog with all the fixins, Korean Fried Chicken with Gochujang glaze, the Unidentified Dominican Object Pupusa, and a Duo of Popcorn with chicken-skin furikake and spiced caramel. Later in the show, guests received the Your Place or Mine chocolate hazelnut milkshake to cap off their meal with a sugary fix.

The screening took place simultaneously with the episode airing on Bravo, keeping the audience shifted forward in their seats, rooting to see their favorite contestant make it to the next round.

Empire is a leading producer, setting industry standards for live and hybrid events in an ever-evolving health and safety landscape. To learn more about our work, please visit: http://www.empireentertainment.com/listing.php

More than 2,500 of the world’s most engaged social entrepreneurs, journalists, civil servants, and social activists gathered together online for the annual Skoll World Forum.

With two plenary sessions hosted by Femi Oke anchoring the three-day program, attendees heard from world leaders, activists, and notable voices including Donald Gips, Ernesto Zedillo, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Stacey Abrams, José Andrés, Maria Ressa, Audrey Tang, Gloria Walton, and Mark Ruffalo, among others—all sharing stories and experience to fuel the global audience’s efforts to create social and environmental impact.

The program also included performance segments from Venezuela’s Liana Malva and the UK’s House Gospel Choir.

To bring the Forum’s theme, “Closing the Distance", to life, the Empire and Skoll teams worked hand-in-hand to design and execute the event’s creative motif, using custom animations, curated footage, and creative filming techniques intended to emphasize “a sense of space and place".

Empire managed all aspects of the plenaries’ production, including speaker management and briefings, international filming (on-site and remote), COVID-19 safety protocols, budgeting, creative, host preparation, and video editing.

To learn more and experience the Skoll World Forum content, visit https://skoll.org/skoll-world-forum/2021-virtual-forum/

Empire is a leading producer of thought leadership events and virtual events of every kind, and has been proud to serve leading not-for-profit organizations and foundations for nearly three decades.

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This April marked the first ever virtual iteration of the Orange County Youth Environmental Summit (YES). Orange County Water District (OCWD) hosts YES annually for up to 8,000 Orange County 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.

Due to the pandemic, OCWD engaged Empire to help produce the week-long summit virtually this year. Empire partnered with BuzzCast to develop a safe and secure platform where students and teachers could tune in to daily live presentations, meet with their class online, watch educational on demand content, download worksheets and lesson plans, and view sponsor booths to learn more about OCWD and their partners.

The mission of YES is to educate students about environmental issues, water-related and beyond, that support next generation science standards. The platform hosted on demand content and sponsor booths all week, in addition to two livestreamed sessions each day from Tuesday through Thursday.

To support the live content, Empire built a broadcast studio at the Orange County Water District facility in Fountain Valley to capture kid-friendly science experiments, demonstrations about the groundwater replenishment process, and the animals that make up the ecosystem of the water district. The week included live segments with OCWD, the California Science Center, and Emily Calandrelli, The Space Gal from Emily’s Wonder Lab on Netflix.

Interactive program features engaged students with quizzes and polls throughout the duration of each session, as well as live Q&A segments with speakers to close. Corresponding worksheets and lesson plans were made available for download for each live session, as well as for On Demand video content. Over 60+ educational On Demand videos or Grab & Go worksheets with lesson plans were made available to the students of Orange County for the duration of the week.

​Empire is a leading producer of thought leadership events and virtual events of every kind, and has been proud to serve leading environmental and cause-related organizations for nearly three decades.

Empire was proud to produce World Food Program USA’s livestreamed panel discussion entitled Climate Starves: Hunger and the Climate Crisis. This engaging conversation was part of their US Against Hunger series and moderated by award-winning international journalist, Femi Oke. The panel featured Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, President of the Association for Indigenous Women and Peoples of Chad (AFPAT); Gernot Laganda, Chief of World Food Programme’s Climate and Disaster Risk Reduction; and Laura Melo, World Food Programme Representative in Guatemala.

The virtual panel focused on the U.N. World Food Program’s work of fighting food insecurity and addressing how climate change impacts hunger. The discussion was livestreamed through a Vimeo player on the World Food Program USA’s website and Facebook page for hundreds of viewers.

Empire worked closely with the World Food Program USA team and served as overall producer of the virtual event, which is the second in a series of four.

Empire is a leading producer of virtual events of every kind and has been serving not-for-profit organizations for nearly three decades.

Empire was proud to help The New Museum present their Virtual Gala honoring artists Faith Ringgold and Pipilotti Rist. The evening served as the virtual film premiere of Ringgold and Rist for the New Museum’s closest friends, family, and patrons—a global, virtual audience that was a who’s who of the contemporary art world.

The film featured the artists themselves, along with renowned voices from the world of art and philanthropy who reflected upon and honored the impact of each of these powerful women.

Among other narratives, Faith Ringgold was recognized for her consistent activism over decades through her story quilts, paintings, and children’s books. Pipilotti Rist was recognized for her immersive installations and multi-media work, including her major exhibition, Pixel Forest, at the New Museum.

The evening concluded with an exciting live auction, remarks from Lisa Phillips, Toby Devan, Lewis Director of the New Museum, and toasts by Artistic Director, Massimiliano Gioni.

Empire worked in close partnership with the New Museum to direct, film, and produce Ringgold and Rist, as well as to produce the overall virtual gala and interactive segments.

Empire is a leading producer of virtual events of every kind and has been serving not-for-profit and arts organizations for nearly three decades.

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During Shibuya Fashion Week, Empire was proud to help "KANSAI YAMAMOTO", one of Japan’s most famous fashion designers, stage the world’s first-ever runway show at Tokyo’s iconic Shibuya Crossing.

The creative team of Quenta Takaya, a long-time student of the pioneering and recently-departed fashion designer, Kansai Yamamoto, played a central role in creating the collection. In addition to archived pieces from the “KANSAI YAMAMOTO” collection, the show also showcased the new collection “TOMORROW”. Combining the essence of Shibuya and artist Taro Okamoto’s greatest mural, Myth of Tomorrow, illustrating the tragedies of the atomic bomb explosion, this new collection conveyed the tremendous energy of human strength and pride.

"March this year marks 10 years since the Great East Japan Earthquake, our recovery of everyday life from the COVID pandemic since last year, and our new voyage after Kansai’s passing. We instilled our hope for tomorrow in many levels in creating clothes with the image of people coming and going through Shibuya."—Quenta Takaya

The show featured numerous celebrity appearances including musician/actor MIYAVI, dancer/actor Kaiji Moriyama, make-up artist Kodo Nishimura, and many more.

Empire was honored to support  the production of this amazing runway show, continuing our long-standing relationship with “KANSAI YAMAMOTO” as they push the boundaries of both fashion and entertainment.

Watch the show here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vv7o22Sk8bk

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