For the 2003 MacWorld convention at the Jacob Javits Center, Empire was contacted by West Coast events company Milligan Events to provide suitable actors to play the role of MSN Butterflies to assist Microsoft in their event marketing efforts for this online service. Empire was able to quickly cast, costume, brief and direct three terrific, New York-based actors experienced in playing 'Brand Ambassador' roles. The client was thrilled with their enthusiasm, professionalism and can-do attitude.

Empire is a leading resource to communications firms in the casting, costuming, directing and deployment of brand ambassadors for street marketing campaigns.

For a private client in the Hamptons, Empire worked in collaboration with designer Colin Cowie to create an extraordinary evening's entertainment. Empire provided vocalist Patti Austin with her trio to perform at a dinner in a beautiful tented site in the Hamptons for approximately 250 guests. Following the dinner, Empire produced an intimate, greatest hits concert with rock and roll legend Rod Stewart who customized his show and included interstitial song introductions that related to the birthday host. One challenge that Empire was able to overcome was to arrange for rehearsal space at the last minute for Rod and his band that had not performed together for some time. Empire was able to accomplish this on very short notice.

Empire has many years of experience producing extremely high-end events in the Hamptons.

Working with travel management firm, Crossing Boundaries, Empire Entertainment designed and executed a complete entertainment program and provided all production in connection with three evenings of entertainment for a Midwestern insurance company's top incentive award program. The Diamond Club program was held for approximately 150 independent insurance brokers and their spouses. On the first night of the program, Empire provided production support for Michigan dance music ensemble, The Persuasion Band. On second night of the program, guests traveled to the Bay Harbor Yacht Club via ferryboat where they were treated to a dinner in a beautiful tented setting and a sunset concert by one of the Irish Tenors, Ronan Tynan, backed by a 41 piece local orchestra. For this performance, Empire secured Ronan Tynan, the 41 piece Interlochen Orchestra and provided all production including staging, sound, lighting and logistical management.

One of the challenges of this event was how to provide generator power to the tented setting in a way that the noise of the generator would not interfere with the peaceful lakefront setting or the incredible vocals of this world-class tenor. Empire's solution was to build a separate tent around the generator and treat the insides with sound absorbing materials. The result was a perfect performance with several standing ovations. On the final night of this program, Empire put together a surprise disco show featuring DJ / Emcee D Brown, four dancers in hot pants & afro wigs and headline performances by disco diva Gloria Gaynor ("I Will Survive"), Sister Sledge ("We Are Family") featuring all 4 original sister singers Kathi, Debbie, Joni and Kim, and The Village People ("YMCA," "Macho Man," and "In The Navy"). The performance kept the guests dancing and was the pinnacle of this incentive program. One of the challenges of this performance was how to mount a show on an island where all staging, sound and lighting had to be shipped by ferry and then carried up to the hotel by horse cart. Empire managed these challenges and produced a show the likes of which the 216-year old Grand Hotel has never seen.

For the 2003 worldwide incentive program awards dinner of a top global beverage company, Empire again worked to provide this longtime client with compelling interstitial entertainment with global appeal to break up sections of the awards presentations. In an enormous tent on the grounds of the company's worldwide corporate headquarters, Empire presented the modern circus ensemble Cirque to perform a series of dynamic segments that inspired and entertained the audience and perfectly suited the global themes. Performances included 3 female contortionists, a tandem balancing act called Rolla Bolla and the Tower Strength trio, a stunning hand balancing/strength performance. Extraordinary set & lighting design by Kaleidoscope Productions and decor by Bardin & Palomo combined with the performances to create an atmosphere of pure fantasy. Following the awards program, Empire again delivered top funk & R&B dance band Eturnity to rock the audience and keep them dancing until the end of the night.

For the 2003 Tribeca Film festival, Empire Entertainment was again engaged to produce the festival's largest single component, the Family Festival, which drew an estimated 300,000 visitors over the course of the one day event. This year's family festival encompassed more than 10 blocks of TriBeCa and incorporated a series of large sponsored pavilions and many smaller vendor tents, outdoor stages and activities. Empire Entertainment managed the entire event and provided virtually all services including tenting, permitting and street closure, community relations, integration with city agencies, security, electrical power distribution, decor, staging, sound, lighting, labor, bathrooms, street cleanup, video and A/V, event design and layout, stage management, etc. The key features of this year's event were a reading room and library by Scholastic which again featured storytelling by Whoopi Goldberg and others, a Bloomberg pavillion, a DJ station where children could learn to scratch and mix music, a Starbucks Coffee House pavillion which featured a full afternoon of live talent, a General Motors pavillion which featured an exhibit on hydrogen fuel cell technology and a futuristic hydrogen vehicle, an American Express pavillion where children created crafts, an additional arts & crafts pavillion where children could draw, paint and assemble collages and sculpt, and a Puppetville world which included a series of puppet performances. There were also approximately 50 tents for local merchants, restaurants and crafts people. Another feature of the event included a Tennis area by the USTA, a basketball area operated by the New York Knicks, a fencing area, giant street chess, sidewalk chalk painting, a public art mural, a face painting area, a kite making workshop, jewelry making, and dozens of other activities. There was also a main stage and 5 satellite stages where performances happened throughout the day as well as more than 100 street performers who entertained children and families continuosly throughout the event.

Empire is a leading producer of sponsored events and is proud to be part of the innovative team that presents the TriBeCa Film festival.

For the 3rd year in a row, Empire again produced the annual client conference for one of the world's largest financial companies. For this 4 day / 3 evening event, Empire booked and produced all entertainment and provided keynote and topical speakers including authors Ken & Maddy Dychtwald, Neil Howe & Bill Strauss, Jeri Sedlar and Dr. Bruce Pfau.The opening evening featured world-renowned mentalist, Michael Weber, who stunned the audience with his client-approved, custom mind-reading show. The second evening was an Italian-themed dinner, set in the beautiful hotel gardens, and featured festive décor by McNabb-Roick Events and the Ritz-Carlton Lake Las Vegas. Empire complimented this décor and setting by booking classical Italian stringed soloists. Following the dinner, guests walked through the gardens to the Ponte Vecchio Bridge where a beautiful stage was set for concert headline entertainer, Chris Isaak.

For this evening, Empire provided stage & set design, which seamlessly conformed to the bridge architecture and outside surroundings and color schemes, lighting design, sound and all production. Isaak's 90-minute, audience interactive performance was the perfect entertainment for this warm desert night.The third night was a night out on the Las Vegas strip, for which Empire secured 100 tickets for the 'O' performance at the Bellagio. Finally, Empire also designed, built and installed the conference's Resource Center in which a dozen client participants / partners were provided custom-designed spaces to showcase their latest materials to the conferences 300 attendees. This space also served as a place where attendees could relax, network and check email between general sessions. Empire completely transformed a 100' X 50' ballroom space into a stately athletic club environment with custom-made wood desks, backdrops, bookcases, and custom-produced & framed artwork. These elements were complimented with a combination of rentals of leather furniture, beautiful props, floor lamps, trophies, newspaper racks, antique desks and a library area.

An email bank was custom-built in the form of a library study carral. The client indicated how pleased they were with the work that Empire had done for them with an onstage moment of recognition by the company's COO who stated, "Each year, Empire raises the bar…"

At the 2003 NYC Auto Show, Toyota needed a dynamic way to reveal their new Solara Automobile at a press event at the Jacob Javitz Center. Working with production company 02 Creative and in association with George P. Johnson & Co, LUMA created a runway of light in the dark routine set to music. The Solara came in during this blackout and undulating waves of light reflected off the side of the car. When the lights came up, the car was revealed but there was no sign of the methods by which the effect was created. The client was thrilled with LUMA's creative process and their ability to work closely with the client to develop performance solutions that meet their needs.

Two weeks prior to his 40th birthday, Empire Entertainment was asked to secure the entertainment, sound and lights for an elegant club event designed by Colin Cowie at the Ritz-Carlton in Washington, DC for basketball superstar and American icon Michael Jordan's 40th birthday party. Empire Entertainment had the challenge of finding the appropriate dance band and current club DJ while providing suitable sound and lighting to fit not only within a pre-approved budget, but within the fabulous Colin Cowie décor plans. As with every event on this scale, sound and lighting must be the finest quality and appear seamless within the structure of the décor scheme, which in this case was a three level "club" created using the three ballrooms largest ballrooms in the lower level of the Ritz-Carlton. Sound and lighting, for the entertainment and décor, was set up three days prior to the event making it possible to hide virtually every single cable and speaker. Even the front of house console was invisible to the guests.

For the entertainment, Empire Entertainment selected perhaps the most exciting dance band available in the 11 piece Eturnity Band, featuring former James Brown drummer Tony Alston, and radio personality and club DJ Funk Master Flex. Empire Entertainment handled all aspects of the evening's production, including talent and stage management, coordination with the transition from cocktails to a "reveal" of a hidden dance section. The party, dubbed "Club Michael", was one of the most memorable events we've ever been a part of.

For the first annual Syndicated National Television Association Conference evening reception, Empire transformed a generic hotel ballroom into a sophisticated, elegant and exclusive nightclub/lounge. The ballroom was draped entirely in white fabric to create a blank slate and was filled with white square banquet tables, white square airport high tops and custom made white square ottomans. At the center of the room a 36’ x 24’ white bar stood with a giant white island in the center. Atop this island an array of white televisions displayed the color bar pattern that Empire brought to life through computer animation. Throughout the room the colors on the monitors were picked up and emphasized with bright bouquets of yellow, red, green and blue flowers, colored martinis containing lighted ice cubes, colored pillows, and extensive décor lighting. Along one wall, Empire printed and hung an image gallery consisting of 21 6’ X 4’ marketing images from various top syndicated television programs which were promoted at the conference. Comfortable lounge areas of low ottomans and stools were grouped around a dance floor and stage upon which a live band performed and a DJ spun dance music in front of a fiber-optic light curtain that changed colors throughout the evening.

For InStyle Magazine's What's Sexy Now Party Empire worked with Event Designer Colin Cowie and Ted Kruckle III to create a singularly sexy event in Manhattan's newest venue, the Hammerstein Ballroom. Reopened after a 60 year hiatus, the Hammerstein Ballroom was Oscar Hammerstein's vision of the rival opera house to New York's Carnegie Hall. At this elegant party for InStyle advertisers and celebrity attendees, Erykah Badu descended a series of candlelit stairs dripping with fag to sing her hits and enchant the crowd. After her set, a DJ spun a set of dance music while attractive models dressed in leather on roller skates danced on pillbox platforms beneath enormous plumes of ostrich feathers created by Colin Cowie.

Empire is a leading producer of Magazine and advertiser events.