The 4th annual Internet Week New York festival featured hundreds of events around New York City between June 6-13, 2011. For the second consecutive year, the founders of the event entrusted Empire Entertainment to produce the many events that took place at the festival headquarters at the Metropolitan Pavilion and Altman Building.The ground floor of the Pavilion became a “digital playground”, packed with new technologies and interactive exhibits and presentations brought in by more than 40 sponsors of the event.The HQ kicked off on Monday, June 6th with a private preview for dozens of members of the press who turned up to hear opening remarks from David-Michel Davies (Chairman of Internet Week New York), Katherine Oliver (commissioner of the New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment), as well as a keynote presentation by Senator Chuck Schumer. The Senator outlined his vision of New York moving to the forefront of the nation's technology leaders, taking over Silicon Valley before long. He advised the crowd that a working group that included Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo has already been created to work towards that goal.The HQ was then opened to the public who flocked to the space to enjoy the many techno-lounges and installations. Just a few highlights included:• A “Digital Archaeology” exhibit consisting of 28 extinct - - but historically significant - - websites. The sites were cleverly displayed on vintage hardware and software corresponding to the period of each site’s launch, which made them all the more fun for attendees to interact with.• An interactive experience entitled "Can You Draw The Internet?", which challenged "students, creative directors, and established artists" to "[c]apture the spirit of the Internet's billions of pages in a single image."• An immersive Yahoo! experience designed to take attendees “deep into the Yahooverse with interactive, themed zones” which brought to life the brand’s leading content properties, including Yahoo! Finance, Entertainment, News and Sports. Khloe Kardashian made an appearance at the Yahoo exhibit for a guest spot on “The Thread,” where she talked about how important social media is to her and the Kardashian sisters’ many businesses.The first day culminated with a buzzworthy opening night party, attended by over 1,000 guests, and which included live DJ sets by The Hood Internet and the Rapture DJ’s, followed by a tremendous live performance by Brooklyn-based experimental synthpop band Cold Cave. Attendees over the course of the week were also able to take in an incredible abundance of content provided in live presentations on two stages in the HQ, as well as a smaller “classroom” custom-built for the event. Topics of discussion ranged from the light and quirky (“Love on the Go -- How Mobile is Changing Modern Dating”) to the more serious and content driven (“How Mobile Advertising is Impacting Brands and Consumers”). One highlight of the stage presentations at the HQ was a panel discussion called “The 24/7 Online Newscycle & Reaping the Rewards of Real Time Reporting,” featuring Jim Frederick, managing editor of TIME.com, Tony Haile, GM of Chartbeat, the analytics service, Paul Berry, CTO of Huffington Post, and moderated by Laurie Segall from CNNMoney.And for sponsors who wanted a space for even longer stage presentations, Empire also secured the Altman Building, a beautiful space adjoining the Metropolitan Pavilion which was perfect for a full theater-style set up for larger presentations. OMMA held a day long conference, titled "The Tablet Revolution." Featuring keynote presentations and panel discussions, they highlighted the innovations in the emerging technology for Tablets. The next day, the Yahoo! “Provoke Summit” featured a keynote presentation by best-selling author of six books on the intersection of science, technology and personal experience, Steven Johnson.And in just a few hours after the Yahoo! Presentation, Empire changed over the theater into a cocktail party & fashion show, sponsored by Kaboodle. The show featured 24 fashion bloggers, styled by Bloomingdales, strutting their looks down the runway, built down the center of the room. Following the fashion show, Empire once again transformed the Altman Building, this time into a 500 seat theater, where it hosted the 2-day IAB Sponsored Conference, with keynotes and panel discussions throughout. The IAB Conference also utilized the Altman Building's downstairs Gallery space as a breakout room, and it's Green Room as an Interview location. Empire oversaw the 4th Annual Internet Week New York festival headquarters from conception to completion, coordinating registration for the thousands of guests, stage management and producing all of the presentations in the theater and on both HQ stages, and managing the event sponsors from the design process for their footprints in the space and all of their needs from load-in to load-out.Empire is proud to produce Internet Week New York, and has provided production support to many other festivals including The New York Film Festival, The World Science Festival, The Tribeca Family Festival, and more.

On Monday, June 13, 2011, Empire Entertainment co-produced The 15th Annual Webby Awards at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.The Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence in web design, creativity, usability and functionality, and has been referred to as "the Internet’s Highest Honor" by the New York Times. Empire secured Lisa Kudrow to host the event, and in her opening remarks, she explained that the event is designed to “celebrate the transformative, uplifting, and life-changing role that digital media plays in all of our lives”. Kudrow also reminded the 1,000+ attendees that the event was livestreamed for the first time ever, on a number of Facebook media pages, including those of The Huffington Post, SportsNation, (RED), National Geographic, Funny or Die, BuzzFeed, Martha Stewart and more.The Webby Awards is perhaps best known for allowing winners just 5 words for their acceptance speeches, which has led to many touching, hilarious, and creative moments over the years. A few of the highlights in 2011 included:• Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe presenting The Webby People’s Voice Award for Fashion to Vogue.com. Vogue Editor-In-Chief Anna Wintour accepted the award, and her 5-word speech “Sometimes geeks can be chic” brought a great roar from the crowd.• Peter Vesterbacka, CMO of Rovio, the company that created “Angry Birds” accepting the Webby Award for Best Mobile Game. Dressed in a pig costume, Vesterbacka used his 5-words to say “Stay angry - - get those pigs!”, and was then pelted by dozens of stuffed animal birds that had been handed out to audience members earlier in the evening.• 82 year-old Martin Cooper - - inventor of the cell phone - - accepting the 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award to a standing ovation from the crowd. Holding an oversized mobile phone from many years ago, Cooper’s 5- word speech “Can you hear me now?” was a huge hit with the audience.• ABC News Anchor Christiane Amanpour presenting the 2011 Webby Special Achievement Award to the country of Egypt. The award was accepted by Amr Salama and Mohamed Diab to a standing ovation. Their poignant 5-Word speeches were “Injustice….Oppression…SocialMedia…equals Revolution!” and “Support freedom - - come visit Egypt”.The evening had many high-points, including a live performance of “The Bed Intruder” song by Antoine Dobson, as “auto-tuned” by The Gregory Brothers. And later in the evening, Norah Jones hit a more serious note, performing a beautiful and haunting version of Johnny Cash’s “Ain’t No Grave” in celebration of Chris Milk's beautiful video piece "The Johnny Cash Project" which won the Webby Award for best NetArt. These two musical performances highlighted the ability of the Webby Awards to seamlessly move between poignant moments and the kind of quirkiness that only is possible thanks to the Web. Co-produced by Sunset Lane Entertainment, and with a fantastic set design by Performance Environment Design Group, the 15th Annual Webby Awards was a huge success. Major League Baseball Advance Media expertly handled the livestream, even allowing viewers to watch a second livestream of the backstage green room while the event itself was unfolding live onstage. Highlights of the event can be viewed at The Webby Award's YouTube Channel.Empire Entertainment has been a producer of The Webby Awards since 2005. We take pride in clients such as Recognition Media who choose to work with us year after year on their most important projects.

When Telemundo - one of the world’s leading producers of Spanish language television programming - needed a world-class, full-service, creative production team to help them deliver their 2011 Upfront experience to their advertisers,they looked to Empire Entertainment to help them design, execute and realize their futuristic vision for this all important, one-chance only event. This year’s Upfront presentation and party, delivered to an audience of over 1000 of Telemundo’s key advertisers & sponsors, would have to present Telemundo as a future-forward brand and integrated media platform, but would also have to communicate a deep understanding of the opportunities created by the profound demographic changes in an increasingly Hispanic America which Telemundo calls “the Shift.” The venue chosen was New York’s American Museum of Natural History with the presentation to be held in the LeFrak IMAX Theater and the party to be held in the futuristic and Astronomy-themed Cullman Hall of the Universe. Working with the client’s desire to take the audience on a futuristic journey and making best use of the Museum’s powerful architecture and design, Empire was able to create a scripted guest experience from invitation to departure. Electronic save the dates and invitations were designed as boarding passes that installed a countdown clock widget on both recipients desktops and mobile devices as a constant reminder to build anticipation in the weeks leading up to the event. On the evening of the Upfront, the futuristic arrival area was designed as a check-in area for a spaceflight inspired by motion pictures like The Fifth Element. Check-in attendants dressed in custom silver, black & blue body suits and holding Telemundo-branded iPads welcomed guests to present their synchronized countdown invitations on their PDAs, smart phones and tablets to check in for their transcendental odyssey to Telemundo’s vision of the future. Even before the start of show, guests were ushered into the grand LeFrak IMAX Theater – their launch pad for the evening - where UV / blue lighting runway lights and futuristic sounds transformed the space into a mission control readying for a blast-off. As the moment for the Upfront began, the animated mission control panel on the huge 60’ wide X 38’ high IMAX screen faded away and was replaced by a countdown in Spanish …Cinco, quatro, tres, dos, uno! A powerful opening video sequence featuring moving graphics, animations and programming highlights kicked off the show and took the audience for a lightspeed ride into the Upfront presentation. The opening highlighted current programming and built energy for the introduction of the first presenter, outgoing President and Hispanic television legend Don Browne. Don and other speakers from programming, news, specials, sports, music television programming platform Mun2, sales and executive management including Lauren Zalaznick, all helped tell the hugely promising story of Telemundo’s value proposition as the Shift comes to be all around us. The various presenters displayed current & future programming and emphasized Telemundo’s role in both reflecting and creating U.S. Hispanic cultural experience while showcasing an awesome influence of several up and coming Hispanic actors, athletes and musical artists. The Upfront presentation ended with a surprise performance by Fast & Furious 5 actor and musical performer Don Omar, who had the audience on their feet dancing to his hit Danza Kuduro.Immediately following the presentation, guests were led out down a hallway of modular tunnels lit with brightly colored LED runway lights and were handed futuristic cocktails by their flight attendants as they made their way into the after party in the Cullman Hall of the Universe. As guests mingled and danced beneath the suspended planetarium, the futuristic theme of paradigm shift was again realized. The after party was a great hit with the guests. As a cultural and experiential immersion, attendees were given leave to eat, drink & lounge on white space-age furniture and play with interactive, touch-screen web tables while listening to a huge range of Latin music from Regional Mexican to Latin Electro spun by DJ Donna D’Cruz. As a highlight to the afterparty, Telemundo star Jencarlos Canela took the stage and performed a 30 minute dance set of hits with his band that kept the audience dancing right up to the end. From countdown clock invitations to infinity mirror cocktail tables at the after party, Empire delivered a cosmic odyssey of epic proportions for Telemundo’s guests. By the end of the evening, Telemundo had successfully communicated their vision to hundreds of senior marketing and advertising executives – effectively mobilizing their targeted audience to partner with them in capturing a burgeoning Hispanic market in a shifting American demographic. From start to finish, our client’s objective and futuristic vision were achieved in every aspect of the event. Great partnerships with the American Museum of Natural History, Restaurant Associates, Sales Graphics and many others led to precise implementation of the event. Empire is a full-service, creative production company that produces world class events for world class clients.

When the largest news agency in the People's Republic of China wanted to hold opening events for their new North American Headquarters in Times Square, they asked Empire Entertainment to produce a sophisticated launch party.In existence for 80 years, Xinhua News Agency operates roughly 40 domestic bureaus in China and 140 overseas offices across the globe. Xinhua owns more than 20 newspapers and a dozen magazines, and it prints in eight languages: Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese, Arabic and Japanese. In 2010, they launched their own news network "CNC World TV". For the New York launch, the festivities began after the Opening Bell Ceremony at the NASDAQ MarketSite. Empire produced a luncheon event at Xinhua's brand new offices overlooking Times Square. The event was attended by Xinhua executives from across North America and the world, including a delegation from the global headquarters in Beijing. Among the nearly 100 guests were high-level business and political leaders including Ambassador Peng Keyu of the Chinese Consulate-General in New York, Tom Gallo of the U.S. State Department Office of Foreign Missions, and President of the National Committee on U.S.-China Relations Steve Orlins. Following a brief cocktail hour, giving the guests a chance to explore Xinhua's state-of-the-art offices, attendees were greeted by North American Bureau Chief Zeng Hu. Remarks were also given by Ambassador Li Baodong of the Chinese Mission to the United Nations and finally from Zhou Xisheng, Xinhua Vice President and Executive Deputy Editor-In-Chief. The speakers then participated in a ribbon-cutting ceremony and champagne toast to Xinhua's future in New York and the world. In the evening approximately 200 friends, colleagues, and honored guests arrived at the Marriott Marquis Sky Lobby just across the street from Xinhua's North American Headquarters for a cocktail event. In addition to remarks from Zhou Xisheng celebrating the day's joyous occasion, a special performance was given by Huang Ruo and his Fire ensemble. Known internationally for his compositions which blend Eastern and Western musical conventions, Dr. Huang gave a rousing performance at the piano while accompanied by clarinet, violin, viola, and pipa (Chinese lute). Empire worked closely with Xinhua and their PR firm the Brunswick Group to design these events and ensure a smooth flow between remarks, dining, and other important moments in the program. Serving as overall event producer, Empire managed/coordinated all aspects of production including venues, lighting, staging, audio, video content, catering, catering staff, video documentation, design and décor, graphic presentation, security, and overall project management. In this unique venue, Empire coordinated between the in-house production team, external audio/video vendors, electronic news media, and building management to integrate the various technologies and production elements required to execute the first-ever production held in this private office space. Empire Entertainment is a leading event producer for international companies in New York City and around the world.

In May 2011, Empire Entertainment returned to Alice Tully Hall to produce the Film Society of Lincoln Center's annual Chaplin Award Tribute Gala. This year's star-studded Gala, the 38th annual, honored Academy Award winner Sidney Poitier. 
The Film Society's Annual Gala Tribute began in 1972 and honored Charles Chaplin – who returned to the US from exile to accept the commendation. Since then, the award has honored many of film's visionary talents, including Alfred Hitchcock, Billy Wilder, Laurence Olivier, Federico Fellini, Elizabeth Taylor, Bette Davis, James Stewart, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Diane Keaton, Meryl Streep, Michael Douglas and Tom Hanks. 

This year's gala evening began with VIP cocktails in the Hauser Patron's Lounge in Alice Tully Hall and was followed by a seated dinner in the glass-walled atrium. For the dinner, Empire worked closely with Gala Co-Chair Liz Swig and the Film Society of Lincoln center’s events team to design a striking black & white abstract pattern that was printed on the surface of each dinner table and mirrored on the facades of bars and other event furnishings. Following dinner the 1000+ guests entered the Starr Theater for the all-star tribute program. The program began with a video retrospective of the Chaplin Awards through the years followed by remarks from the event committee chair Ann Tenenbaum. At the conclusion of her remarks, Tenenbaum welcomed Bill Cosby to the stage where in his legendary comedic style he praised his friend Sidney Poitier while skewering him. The evening progressed with a series of heartfelt tributes interspersed by film clips of Sidney Poitier's work. The presenters included James Earl Jones, Chris Tucker, Mary Louise-Parker, Danny Glover, Ruby Dee, Morgan Freeman, Norman Jewison, Harry Belafonte, Quentin Tarantino, Sydney Tamiia Poitier, and a video greeting from Oprah Winfrey. The clips included highlights from "Guess Who's Coming To Dinner", "Blackboard Jungle", "Uptown Saturday Night", "The Defiant Ones", "A Raisin In The Sun", "Patch of Blue", and "In The Heat of the Night” among others.One of the many highlights of the evening were comedic remarks delivered by Dan Aykroyd and Sir Ben Kingsley in which they presented a slideshow comparing Poitier to other film icons such as John Wayne and Paul Newman. A surprise moment came following a film clip of "To Sir With Love" when Poitier's co-star and singer Lulu gave a powerful, yet intimate performance of the song before an ecstatic audience. As the final presenter of the evening, Quincy Jones at last presented Sidney Poitier with the Chaplin Award. Poitier then gave his heartfelt remarks and thanks with his trademark delivery while all of the evening's presenters stood by his side.The program was followed by a lively after-party in the transformed Atrium space that stretched late into the evening. For this high stature event Empire served as overall event producer and was responsible for aspects ranging from overall creative and production design, to coordinating with presenters and talent, working with Lincoln center to provide production design and supervision, working with the Film Society to develop the run of show and stage managing the event. Empire also designed and implemented all aspects of the red carpet and presenter arrivals, press and step & repeat, VIP cocktail party, dinner design & décor, catering, and after-party design. Empire is a leading producer of high-profile award and tribute programs and is frequently engaged to present programs with international stature talent & celebrities.To learn more about the Film Society of Lincoln Center and to become a donor, visit www.filmlinc.com

On May 1st, 2011, Empire Entertainment was proud to produce the 2nd Annual Mary J. Blige Honors Concert on behalf of The Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now (FFAWN), Mary J. Blige and Steve Stoute’s fast growing charitable organization. Held at NYC’s Hammerstein Ballroom, over 700 guests including Russell Simmons, Ellen Pompeo, Evan Rachel Wood, Kerry Washington and Donna Karan attended to support FFAWN and their mission to empower and encourage women by shaping and supporting programs that foster education, career development, strong self-esteem, and personal growth.

Hosted by the incomparable Queen Latifah and Elle Magazine Editor-in-Chief Robbie Myers, the event honored the 2011 FFAWN scholarship recipients and celebrated the dedication of these special young women to achieve greatness. Joining them onstage was a star studded all female line-up of extraordinary performers, leading ladies and role models, including Corinne Bailey Rae, Jill Scott, Christina Aguilera, Jennifer Hudson, Anita Baker and the Queen of Hip Hop Soul herself, Mary J. Blige.

Powerful video and emotive graphic images of FFAWN’s work played on a large projection screen flown over the stage while the all female cast drove FFAWN’s mission home - to inspire women from all walks of life to gain the confidence and skills they need to reach their individual potential.Guests were seated in a stunning ballroom lit by candlelight with sexy lounge décor graciously donated by Donna Karan’s Urban Zen Foundation, one of the evening’s presenting sponsors. With complete VIP treatment and bottle service donated by Moet Hennessy, attendees lounged comfortably while listening extraordinary live female vocal performances.

Some highlights of the evening included Corinne Bailey Rae’s "Put Your Records On," and "Like a Star," Jill Scott’s soulful, “Golden,” Jennifer Hudson’s "I Got This" and her powerful rendition of “I'm Every Woman." Christina Aguilera, accompanied by a pianist, singing a moving performance of “Beautiful,” Anita Baker singing an incredible surprise duet with Mary J. Blige, of "Caught Up In The Rapture,” the song that launched Mary J. Blige’s career.At the end of the evening Nine Time Grammy Award winning artist, Mary J. Blige took the stage and tore the house down with “No More Drama” and her finalé, “Just Fine.” As the audience stood for a standing ovation everyone felt the incredible power of her voice and understood that FFAWN had achieved what they had set out to do.

The memorable night was sponsored by Elle, Gucci, Moet Hennessy, Covergirl, The Urban Zen Foundation and Scholarship America as well as supported by many in-kind donations and support from others.All told, the event raised over half a million dollars for FFAWN, while paying tribute to young girls with big dreams of becoming the leaders of tomorrow.

Empire Entertainment served as overall event producer for MJB Honors and managed all aspects of the event including site selection and contracting, logistics, catering, décor, video creation, talent management and coordination, production, security and onsite management, collaborating with FFAWN and all of the other sponors, partners and donors.

To find out how you can get involved with FFAWN and help make the difference in the lives of women, visit their website at www.ffawn.org. You can also go their star-studded online auction featuring exclusive music and entertainment experiences at www.charitybuzz.com/Ffawn.

Empire Entertainment is a proud supporter of The Foundation For the Advancement of Women Now (FFAWN), and its mission to help all women gain the confidence and skills they need to reach their full individual potential.

On May 16, 2011, Empire Entertainment, in partnership with @Radical.Media, produced Conservation International’s Los Angeles Gala at the Montage Beverly Hills. The third of four, national fundraising events that Empire is producing for Conservation International, this event brought together some of Los Angeles’ leading philanthropists with some of the world’s most notable champions of the environment.The event began with an elegant cocktail reception and proceeded into a seated dinner in the Marquesa Ballroom. Once guests were seated, Conservation International Chairman’s Council Member, Gillian Wynn welcomed the audience and set the stage for the impressive evening to come.Then Conservation International Chairman, and CEO Peter Seligmann delivered a powerful keynote address highlighting critical environmental and conservation issues around the world and focusing on CI’s vital work in these areas.After dinner, Conservation International President Russ Mittermeir and motion picture superstar Harrison Ford presented an award to DreamWorks Animation CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg who spoke to the audience. Katzenberg’s appearance was well timed with the release of Kung Fu Panda II which gave both him and Conservation International an opportunity to spotlight their efforts in saving natural habitats in rapidly developing China.At the conclusion of the evening, Jack Black delivered a pre-recorded greeting and then Gillian Wynn took the stage to ask the attendees to remain engaged with what hey had heard on this night and to give generously with a special Save an Acre appeal.Following the dinner, guests adjourned to an after-party dessert reception.Empire served as overall event producer for this gala and was responsible for all technical production, stage design, and stage management. @Radical.Media provided all screen content and graphics.Conservation International empowers societies to responsibly and sustainably care for nature, our global biodiversity, and for the well-being of humanity. To learn more about Conservation International, visit http://www.conservation.org/Empire is a leading producer of innovative gala events and is proud to serve Conservation International.

Empire Entertainment was honored to produce the New York Foundation for the Arts 40th Anniversary Gala, which took place at the Prince George Ballroom on April 26, 2011. Although the event took place nearly a month after the first day of spring, the change in season did not seem official until the day of the 40th Anniversary Gala––an appropriate coincidence given the mission of the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) support artists at budding stages in their creative lives.The gallery of the Prince George Ballroom was filled with works by several of NYFA’s most celebrated artists, including two 13 foot paintings by David Sandlin, as well as an enormous ceramic sculpture by Steven Montgomery entitled Green Door. During the cocktail reception Combo Nuvo, an improvisational jazz ensemble featuring several of New York’s most acclaimed jazz artists, played while guests enjoyed the artwork, passed hors d’oeuvres and cocktails.Guests were then ushered into the ornate ballroom for to find appetizers awaiting them. Abigail Kirsch catered an exquisite dinner, during which Kathleen Chalfant, actor and member of the NYFA leadership counsel, introduced each honored artist. The honorees included Todd Haynes, writer, director and executive producer whose most recent film I’m Not There won the Robert Altman award at the Independent Spirit Awards. Critically acclaimed choreographer and Editor-in-Chief of Dance Magazine, Wendy Perron, controversial artist Andres Serrano and NYFA trustee Kathleen O’Grady were also on the list of honorees. Following the award presentation was a performance by Suzzy Roche.

Working closely with New York Foundation for the Arts events team, Empire Entertainment served as overall producer of the event and as responsible for aspects ranging from event design, layout, technical production and logistics to décor and music.To learn more about New York Foundation for the Arts or to donate, please visit, NYFA.org.

On April 12, 2011 Empire Entertainment Japan, together with the support of our sponsors, partners and friends produced the charity event "Power to the People" to provide aid to Tsunami and Earthquake victims in Japan's hard hit Tohoku region.All proceeds from this event were donated to the not-for-profit organization Civic Force, one of the many groups doing excellent work delivering urgently needed relief services to isolated areas of Northeast Japan.Despite a strong aftershock earthquake on the day of the event, over 200 guests joined our artists and speakers for the event and over 1 million yen was donated to charity.Event Website：http://empireentertainmentjapan.web.fc2.com/Artists and Speakers (Alphabetical Order):AHN MIKA: tencarat-plume.jp/models/details/anmika.shtmlAMIGA: http: www.electrical-lovers.com/DJ ALEX from TOKYO: www.alexfromtokyo.sakura.ne.jp/en/profile.htmlDJ YUMMY: www.djyummy.net/Naomi Grace: www.naomigrace.com/Sherry: www.mh-fujiga.com/sherry/TONFU: www.mimi-e.com/tonfu/ Supporting Organizations (Alphabetical Order):Asian Tigers Japan: www.asiantigers-japan.comAZA: www.aza.co.jpConcept Artists: www.conceptartists.comEmpire Entertainment Inc.: www.empireentertainment.comEvent 21: www.event21.co.jpFashion TV Japan: www.ftv.co.jpMiss Universe Japan, IBG Japan, Co. Ltd.: www.missuniversejapan.com Santa Fe Japan: www.santafejapan.co.jpSleep Solutions Inc.: www.sleeptracker.comTAKE AND GIVE NEEDS Co., Ltd: www.tgn.co.jpWeatherly Japan: www.sleeptracker.jpHaiyuza Theater: www.haiyuzagekijou.co.jp/theater

On Thursday, April 28th at the Metropolitan Club in New York City, celebrity friends and family joined Goldie Hawn for the Hawn Foundation Gala. The Hawn Foundation promotes it’s MindUP programs that focus on equipping children with the social and emotional skills they need to navigate the challenges of the contemporary world in order to lead smarter, healthier, and happier lives. The event featured a cocktail reception, stage program and performances in the spectacular Metropolitan Club spaces on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 60th Street in New York City. During the stage program, speakers including Kurt Russell and Kate Hudson spoke on behalf of the Foundation to the packed room that included several celebrities such as Courtney Love. Kate Hudson graciously introduced her mother, Goldie, who emotionally discussed how the Foundation was her most important achievement. In addition to the speaking program, the entertainment at the event included a soloist from the Newark Boys Choir, The CityKids Dancers, jazz icon Christine Ebersole and an acoustic set from Matchbox 20's Rob Thomas. Following the stage program International DJ sensation Donna D'Cruz spun a mix of dance favorites that had Goldie Hawn, her husband Kurt Russell and the other guests dancing until late into the evening. For this worthy gala, Empire Entertainment was engaged by Elizabeth Rose Consulting who worked closely with Ms. Hawn to create the exclusive cocktail event in the century-old East side venue. Empire is a leading producer of not-for-profit events.