When a global corporation needed a captivating news personality to host and moderate a crucial product launch for 1,200 of their sales representatives, they came to Empire Entertainment for a fresh alternative to the humdrum newscaster.Empire's suggestion, Lisa Ling, the host of National Geographic Explorer was the ideal answer. Ling provided the respectability of a legitimate reporter - she has reported from more than two dozen countries, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Colombia, Algeria, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Japan, India and Iran, and produced eight documentaries for PBS, several of which won awards. But along with her informative, substance, Ling also exudes an appealing youthfulness that compels her audience to take notice - as she has shown on ABC Daytime's popular morning talk and entertainment program, The View, and now The National Geographic Channel.With little time to spare, Empire was able to pinpoint the perfect talent and fulfill the special requirements of this unique product launch.

Empire Entertainment is the go-to, one-stop company to negotiate, secure and coordinate the right talent for the right job.

For the second year in a row, the Executive Council of New York, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to fostering innovation and commerce in New York City, chose Empire to produce their Ten Awards program in New York City. This important business event was sponsored by a variety of companies including Microsoft, AT&T, Orrick, NASDAQ & Philips and was staged to recognize and reward innovation and business achievement in the New York business community.

The theme of the event was "Leadership & Innovation: Achieving Your Potential..." The Awards program was hosted by the host of CNBC's "Closing Bell with Maria Bartiromo and Tyler Mathisen", Tyler Mathisen and featured a keynote address by David Neeleman, CEO of jetBlue Airways. This year's award winners were: Robert Catell, CEO, Keyspan Energy Richard Korhammer, CEO, Lava Trading Corp. Adam Moss, Editor-in-Chief, New York Magazine Barry S. Sternlicht, CEO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Stephen Messer, CEO, LinkShareBarbara Chang, Executive Director, Npower New York (2004 Civic Award Winner)Bruce Mosler, President, Cushman & Wakefield David Neeleman, CEO, JetBlue Airways L. Gordon Crovitz, CEO, Dow Jones, Inc. Tim and Nina Zagat, Co-founders, Zagat Survey.

For this upscale event for more than 400 attendees, Empire provided virtually all services including venue selection (Gotham Hall), staging and set design, sound, lighting, the production of 10 video roll-in packages, graphic design and all program graphic production, catering, stage management, decor, florals, logistics management, security, and signage.

Empire is a cost-effective, efficient and creative producer of business events, meetings and awards shows worldwide.

When the Dysautonomia Foundation sought to produce their first-ever concert benefit for Familial Dysautonomia, they turned to Empire Entertainment's Not-For-Profit division to help them put on a world class show and effective fundraising event. The event began with a buffet-style reception at the Upper-West Side Asian restaurant, Ruby Foos, where the audience of 700 gathered to enjoy specialty cocktails and appetizers. The audience then moved smoothly around the corner to the historic Beacon Theatre for a video on Familial Dysautonomia featuring some of the individuals living with and affected by the disease. Upon completion of the video, guests were treated to the main attraction - a 75-minute concert performed by Grammy Award-winning singer Seal.

The Nigerian/Brazilian superstar performed a set of his greatest hits including "Crazy," "A Prayer for the Dying" and "Kiss From a Rose" which was a Billboard #1 hit from the motion picture "Batman Forever." When he played "Waiting for You" a giant heart-shaped balloon drop fell on the dancing audience. The audience included several notable attendees including Heidi Klum. After the show Seal participated in a VIP Meet and greet with sponsors and guests.

As guests left the theatre, they were presented with goody bags organized by Empire featuring products like Men's Life Magazine, HBO Yo Yo's, Bazooka Gum, Seal CD's and Familial Dysautonomia baseball hats.The event raised more than $1.1 million for this worthy cause and was an immensely positive experience for the audience, the sponsors, Seal and his band.

Empire's Not-For-Profit division focuses on serving charitable organizations with a host of event-oriented services. In addition to helping clients design & develop successful fundraising event programs, Empire also secures headline entertainers, emcees, celebrity attendees and auctioneers, provides all production, staging and A/V services, provides decor and event management and also secures sponsorships, in-kind services such as flights & hotel accommodations, live & silent auction prizes and gift bag items. Empire's Not-For-Profit division is designed to offer charitable organizations a full range of professional services to help them raise essential funds for their respective causes.

For the fourth year in a row, Empire provided entertainment for a prominent restaurant industry annual gathering. In previous years, Empire secured Tim Russert, James Carville and Mary Matalin, Penn & Teller and comedian Jeff Ross for the event. This year, the program was held in Los Angeles and our client wanted to take advantage of the local celebrity talent pool to maximize their investment and to reach for the most recognizable name they could deliver. Empire met and exceeded these requirements, delivering ‘Tonight Show' Host Jay Leno. Leno took the stage at 8:00AM, delighting the coffee-drinking attendees with his massive celebrity status and an hour of early morning laughter. Empire leveraged its' long-standing, active relationship with Mr. Leno to manage the client's scheduling constraints. The end result? A thrilled and loyal client.

Whether it be Los Angeles, New York, Monte Carlo or Dubai, Empire is consistently able to deliver the best local talent to maximize our clients' budgets.

Empire Entertainment had a strong presence at the 2004 International Monetary Fund meeting in Washington DC, providing entertainment and production for several of our financial services clients at this annual meeting of global finance executives. For these upscale events, attended by well educated audiences from around the globe, Empire was asked to provide sophisticated, yet cost-effective entertainment for intimate groups of high powered bankers and government finance ministers.To accomplish this, Empire secured both the Harvard Krokodiloes and the Yale Whiffenpoofs to perform at separate events.

The Harvard Krokodiloes are the the Ivy League university's legendary all male a cappella singing group, founded in 1946 at the hasty Pudding Club. Providing both musical and comedic entertainment, The Kroks were a great hit, opening the show with a comedic bit that included an invitation to "sit back and enjoy the next three and a half hours" as they performed an a cappella version of a classical opera, before launching into a set of 4 contemporary songs including a jazzy version of "When You're Smiling". In the first set, at the client's request, they brought up a specific female attendee and serenaded her with "What's Your Name", much to the delight of the rest of the audience. The Kroks were welcomed back with much applause to finish the evening with excellent performances of "Runaway" and "Run Around Sue".

On the following evening, Empire had the privilege of presenting Yale University's own a cappella group, the Whiffenpoofs, for a private corporate dinner at the Folger Shakespeare Library. The Whiffenpoof's performed a haunting set of songs including "Down by the Sally Garden" and an intricate and lyrical version of "On Broadway" before finishing the evening with their traditional "Whiffenpoof Song" which delighted the audience with it's tongue in cheek lyrics and puns. Empire also provided sound and a classical duo consisting of a flutist and a harpist who played classical back ground music during cocktails for this event. The Harvard Krokodilies and the Yale Whiffenpoofs are inexpensive, high quality, performing ensembles with name recognition and a reputation earned over decades of performances around the world.

Empire Entertainment is known for delivering high quality entertainment for every kind of audience.

When a leading home loans institution needed a headline comedian to act as the finalé for their "Platinum Producers Circle" conference, they called Empire Entertainment. As the final event was on a Saturday evening, Empire recommended and secured former 'Saturday Night Live' cast member, Dana Carvey. Dana performed a number of dead-on impressions including both former and current Presidents George Bush, John Kerry, Howard Dean, Ross Perot, The Croc Hunter, and Michael Jackson. He also brought some of his best-known characters from SNL to life, such as "The Church Lady" and Hanz (of "Hanz and Franz" fame). Dana also played guitar and piano with some absolutely hilarious bits, and his material about being a parent and raising children had the crowd in stitches.But most importantly, Dana performed a great deal of customized material specific to the client. He referenced their company name and their industry in a number of routines, and sang ad-libbed songs about the highest-ranking executive at the conference as well as about a VIP couple who was seated front and center. The audience's standing ovation and sustained applause after the 60-minute long performance was so tremendous, that Dana came back for an impromptu encore.

Empire Entertainment is a leading producer of customized headline comedy entertainment. Aside from Dana Carvey, we have produced other former SNL cast members Kevin Nealon performing customized "Weekend Update" and "Subliminal Man" segments for numerous clients, and recently had Darrell Hammond, perform a set of customized comedy in full makeup as former President Bill Clinton.

When celebrity event designer Colin Cowie was asked by Jennifer Lopez' to help produce a surprise birthday party for her husband, Latin music superstar Marc Anthony, Colin turned to Empire Entertainment to help with the entertainment for the evening. Working with very short notice and under precautions to keep the surprise concealed, Empire was challenged with the task of providing Latin music that would impress Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, dance music that would rise to their standards, and production support that would impress the most A-list musicians and top music industry personnel.

Working through its extensive network of contacts in the Latin music community, Empire was able to secure the Jimmy Bosch Band / Oscar Hernandez Orchestra, who have recorded with many of Latin music's biggest stars, along with up-and-coming turntable artist DJ Cassidy, who has spun for Sean "Puffy" Coombs, Ben Affleck and Naomi Campbell among many others.

For the exclusive event, held in a private home on Long Island, Empire provided production management, concert sound system, backline as well as stage management and travel logistics. The Jimmy Bosch Band / Oscar Hernadez Orchestra got people on their feet after the surprise was revealed and DJ Cassidy kept them dancing until early the next morning when the police were called in to shut down the party. Throughout the evening other guests such as Latin Legends Johnny Pacheco & Luis Miguel, hip hop guest artist Fat Joe & The Terror Squad and Little Louie Vega also performed and Empire easily handled their needs in a seamless fashion. The live performance session ended with Mark Anthony & his Orchestra.Empire is a leading producer of high end private events around the world.

From East Hampton and St. Barts, to Gstadt and St. Tropez, Empire is the company to call.

For the sixth year running, Empire secured talent for the new model reveal show for one for of the world's largest and most successful car-manufacturers, and it was a resounding success.This year's program was held at The Arena at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas, where Empire-partner Kaleidoscope Productions once again designed a stage and produced a show to rival the Academy Awards. Empire Entertainment outdid its efforts in past years and delivered a program of headline talent the caliber of which are rarely seen at corporate meetings.The relaxed and hilarious Ellen DeGeneres hosted the event and delighted the audience with material tailored specifically to the show. She delivered laughter consistently, whether on- or off-script. The general session featured a stunning performance by top-of-the-charts hip-hoppers, the Black Eyed Peas, which included their smash hits, "Hey Momma" and "Let's Get It Started". The Peas were backed up by the wicked moves of urban dance legends, The Rock Steady Crew.

The show also featured breath-taking, audience-interactive illusions performed by the world famous magician, David Copperfield. The piece de resistance in Mr. Copperfield's performance was a custom-designed illusion in which one of the client's soon-to-be-released vehicles vanished.The show culminated with a roof-raising concert by rock legend Rod Stewart. After taking the audience on an electrifying tour of his greatest hits – Tonight's the Night, Forever Young, Hot Legs, The First Cut is the Deepest, Some Guys Have All the Luck, the list goes on -- Stewart closed the show with a raucous version of "Maggie May", during which he kicked dozens of signed soccer balls out to the adoring audience.The day-long event also showcased a short film starring Danny Glover and actor/comedian Larry Miller, and featuring Saturday Night live stars Seth Meyers and Chris Parnell – all secured by Empire Entertainment.

When it comes to the world's largest corporate entertainment projects, world-class companies turn to Empire Entertainment.

When Huis Ten Bosch, a European style resort located in Nagasaki Japan, needed to find a great central attraction for their Autumn Festival they turned to Empire Japan to deliver contents that were unique to Europe.The client wanted to emphasize the fact that new and exciting things were happening at Huis Ten Bosch, while remaining true to the European romantic theme of the resort. It was important that the attraction generate interest from the media and result in significant PR exposure for the park. It was also important that word-of-mouth be generated from park guests themselves.To meet these challenges Empire Entertainment's Japan office identified Master Painter Kurt Wenner as the answer to Huis Ten Bosch's needs.

Working with Empire and Dentsu, Huis Ten Bosch's agency, Kurt developed ideas for two separate street paintings based on the theme of metamorphosis. He also allowed for the integration of Huis Ten Bosch's Autumn Harvest Festival into the context of the pieces. Both designs prominently featured Huis Ten Bosch's name, allowing for maximum PR and word of mouth exposure (through both PR and guest photos). Kurt's ability to combine extraordinary drawing talent with a perspective technique virtually lost in today's creative process created large scale one of a kind works that dazzled park visitors.Kurt Wenner's works utilize a Baroque era painting technique called Anamorphism. Wenner's unique and innovative use of anamorphic perspective creates unforgettable images that combine the painted surface with its surroundings into a single composition that appears 3-dimensional.Kurt's first work for Huis Ten Bosch, "The Banquet of Circe," was inspired by Homer's Odyssey. The painting features a scene where the sorceress Circe offers a bountiful harvest to the hungry companions of Ulysses, but the magical food transforms them into animals.Kurt's second work "The Triumph of Puck" was inspired by Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, and features Puck, having transformed the farmer "Bottom" into a donkey as the sprites harvest grapes, pumpkins, chestnuts, and mushrooms in the foreground.These paintings were both executed on the floor's flat surface using Kurt's hand made pastel chalks. They represent the first street paintings Kurt has ever created in Japan, and were tremendously well received by Huis Ten Bosch, the media and the park guests.

Four television stations visited the park and filmed Kurt's work in progress, with a total of over twenty minutes of on-air coverage (ten minutes of that being a live broadcast from the park). Five newspapers also covered the event, publishing articles with images of Kurt's artwork.Huis Ten Bosch was thrilled with both the artistic and PR results of the project, and has expressed interest in inviting Kurt back to Japan in 2005 to create new works.For this event Empire identified and contracted the artist, was responsible for all production logistics associated with the performance, and performed as the on-site producer.

Empire is a leading provider of unique talent of every kind from around the world and serves as a one-stop source of talent to a variety of buyers including resorts, theme parks, fairs, festivals, casinos, colleges, and performing arts centers in addition to corporate meetings, events and trade shows.

At the 2004 National Business Travel Association convention, Empire Entertainment was again asked for the 7th year in a row by co-sponsors American Express and American Airlines to secure and manage headline entertainment and provide all of their production requirements. This year the event took place at Orlando's Epcot Center at the World Showplace Pavilion with a special, rare corporate performance by Cyndi Lauper.

From the moment she took the stage, Cyndi Lauper was electric. Her first number, a standard American ballad, featured Cyndi alone in the spotlight with just piano accompaniment. She then exploded into the audience with her own song, "Shine", exuberantly moving above the amazed concert goers from chair to chair. The crowd remained standing for the entire night while she performed her most memorable hits as well as rock standards "Walk On By" and "Stay", performed as a salsa number with her trademark bravado. She held the crowd her hand with a slow acoustic waltz version of her hit "She Bop" and brought the room to complete silence with her moving #1 hit "True Colors." True to form, her inter-song banter was charming and funny, giving the history of each song and what it meant to her. By the end of the evening it appeared Cyndi was enjoying the show as much as the audience, as they rushed the stage for her encore, "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun."Empire Entertainment was asked to not only provide and manage the talent, but to supply all aspects of the production, including sound, backline, staging, lighting and labor.

The challenge this year was not only to accomplish this at the same budget as year's past, but to deliver production at an equal level to one of the world's most prestigious entertainment venues, Walt Disney World. Empire Entertainment brought in its own trusted vendors from the sunshine state and delivered under budget, more than satisfying the needs of client and talent alike.