In May 2010, 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 37th annual, honored Academy Award winner Michael Douglas. 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, and in 2009, Tom Hanks. This year's gala evening started with VIP cocktails with the honoree 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 the Film Society of Lincoln center events team and with Gala Co-Chair Liz Swig to design a unique, Lucite table with internal LED lighting and a low, geometric centerpiece that contained florals. The dinner décor was implemented fully by Empire Entertainment.Following dinner the 1000+ guests entered the Starr Theater for the all-star program produced by Empire Entertainment. The program began with remarks by this year's event committee chair Ann Tenenbaum and by Film Society Executive Director Mara Manus and Program Director Richard Pena. Then came a career retrospective montage featuring work from Michael Douglas' past films and ending with a clip of the forthcoming, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. NBC Nightly News anchor, Brian Williams, delivered the first tribute of the evening. This was followed by film clips and tributes by writer/director Milos Forman, actress Erika Christensen, writer/director Curtis Hanson, actor Tobey Maguire, actor/comedian Danny DeVito, and actor Frank Langella.

One highlight of the evening was a live performance by Jimmy Buffett, who performed "Margaritaville" and "He Went to Paris." Buffett's performance was followed by remarks by Michael's wife, actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and by his father, Kirk Douglas, who presented the Chaplin Award to his son. Following the tribute program the guests returned to the atrium for a DJ'ed after party with sponsored drinks by 42 Below and Stella Artois.For this high stature event Empire served as overall event producer and was responsible for overseeing creative and coordinating program participation for all participating presenters and talent, working with Lincoln center to provide necessary production design and supervision, creating the run of show and stage managing the event and working with the various film clips and graphics to integrate them into the program. Empire also designed and implemented all aspects of the red carpet and present arrivals, press and step & repeat, VIP cocktail party, dinner design & décor, catering, and after-party design including DJ booking.The program was immensely successful and the client, all of the participating presenters and Michael Douglas were ecstatic with the results.

Empire is a leading producer of high-profile award and tribute programs and is frequently engaged to present programs with international stature talent & celebrities.

When Healing the Divide and The Tibet Center invited His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama of Tibet to again present his teachings in New York City, they engaged Empire Entertainment to serve as the production company. Following the success of His Holiness’ visit to New York in October 2007, Empire Entertainment eagerly agreed to return. Working in partnership with Healing the Divide, The Tibet Center and Radio City Music Hall, Empire worked on every aspect of the program including set design, logistics and technical production. Over the course of three days, His Holiness' delivered six, two-hour sessions on the topics of “A Guide to the Bodhisattva’s Way of Life” by Shantideva, and Nagarjuna’s “Commentary on Bodhicitta”. The historic teachings drew full houses for three consecutive days and the public talk entitled “Awakening the Heart of Selflessness”, was introduced by Richard Gere, and was completely sold out.Each session was simultaneously translated into three different languages: Cantonese, Mandarin and Korean. In addition to its role as producer, Empire was able to secure sponsors to donate services in order to keep event costs to a minimum. ABC Carpet & Home generously donated carpeting and staging items while Turning Star discounted their fireproofing services for all flammable items. Empire coordinated the briadcast-quality recording of each session with a four camera, high-definition video package which included one robo-cam to capture His Holiness’ expressions up close. Empire is honored to have had another opportunity to present His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama at Radio City Music Hall. Empire is a leading producer of major public and civic events and programs.

TEDxTokyo 2010, held on May 15th at the Kagaku Miraikan in Odaiba, featured performances and presentations by a wide variety of global innovators including Musician and Composer Jake Shimabukuro, Filmmaker Jin Tatsumura, Brain Scientist Ken Mogi, as well as Techno-Illusionist Marco Tempest.Empire Entertainment Japan is proud to have supported TEDxTokyo 2010 through production of the debut performance of Marco Tempest's Magic Projection, and through helping to secure Symantec Corporation as a Core Partner of TEDxTokyo.Marco Tempest's performance of Magic Projection leveraged the latest application of augmented reality and projection mapping techniques in a perfect fusion of entertainment and technology. p;One website's review stated, "When the robots come to enslave us, Marco will be the only man we can trust to negotiate a truce."TEDx was created in the spirit of TED's "ideas worth spreading" mission, with TEDx events planned and coordinated independently on local basis. The concept has gone viral, and events in more than 60 countries, and a vast number of cities and communities have already been held or are in formative stages. The goal is to spark deep discussions and connections in groups both intimate and expansive.If you would like to find out more about the TEDxTokyo, please visit www.tedxtokyo.com

The Big Lunch, established by The Eden Project in 2009, is an annual event which encourages people to sit down with their neighbors for lunch on one day of the year, in a simple act of friendship and community.Over 750,000 people took part in the inaugural event, but for 2010 The Big Lunch wanted to blow past that initial benchmark and record over 3 million participants in the nationwide July event.Generating heavy media exposure in anticipation of the 2010 event was critical to achieving The Big Lunch's challenging goal of over 3 million participants. The Big Lunch called on Empire Entertainment Japan for a solution to their challenge. Empire enlisted the support of revolutionary 3D 'Trick Artist' Kurt Wenner to create an original artwork that would deliver the world of "The Big Lunch" to viewers and news outlets.

In designing this original work, Kurt Wenner placed emphasis on not only the painted artwork, but also the interactive element of the artwork, helping to underline the community-oriented theme that The Big Lunch represents. The final artwork featured a picnic scene where Londoners interacted with the floating food and other elements picture within the arwork.Kurt Wenner completed the work at a live event at Aberdeen Road in London, and the public, press, and social media response to the work was immediate and overwhelming, with one outlet reporting, "Walking the streets can be incredibly dull. Walking the streets where artist Kurt Wenner has walked before you is generally anything but. Wenner 3D piece for The Big Lunch's kickoff is more than 16 feet by 16 feet and features the largest, most beautiful picnic lunch we've ever seen. This is one sidewalk we wouldn't mind tripping over."

In April 2010, Empire Entertainment Japan had the opportunity to serve one of the world's leading IT companies, HP, in connection with their product launch event in Japan.The launch was HP’s largest Enterprise product launch event in Japan in a decade and was part of several events and initiatives taking place simultaneously across the world.The Japan event was held at Shinagawa Intercity Hall, a large, open event space in the heart of Tokyo city. The event was structured with two sessions for press and customers. For this important event Empire designed and delivered from concept to execution.Empire secured the venue, provided all staging, sound, lighting, created a branded backdrop, catering and premium items and directed the product unveiling scene by the company representative. Additionally, Empire created original videos and graphics for invitations, décor and presentations to deliver a consistent and powerful message underlining the significance of the product launch.Onstage, Hewlett Packard Japan’s President, Mr. Shinichi Koide, was joined by Intel Japan’s President Mr. Kazumasa Yoshida for the unveiling of HP’s next generation mission critical enterprise server the Superdome II.Empire produced both the Press Conference – attended by over 50 members of Japan’s top media outlets, as well as the exclusive customer launch event – attended by over 200 hundred CTO’s CIO’s and top IT professionals of Japan.In selecting Empire Japan as it's producer, HP recognized Empire's position as a leading production company of cutting-edge product launches that utilize state-of-the-art design and technology as well as an effective partner on the ground in Asia.

In 2010 the city of Oran in Algeria hosted the LNG 16 Conference. LNG is the largest event in the world dedicated to the liquefied natural gas industry, attracting more than 2,500 delegates and 200 exhibitors. The LNG Exhibition and Conference takes place every three years with LNG producer and consumer countries taking turns to organize the event.The LNG Exhibition and Conference featured several major sponsored events on each day of the multi-day conference. Empire Japan had the opportunity to produce a party for a Japanese company participating in the exhibition.

The party performances kicked off with a grand opening featuring Japanese traditional Taiko drumming. Next Empire presented a live performance of Japanese calligraphy Shodo performance in which guests could participate. The show closed with a series of mysterious “Geisha Magical Performances.” The international audience responded with thunderous applause. The party was a great success and Empire Japan collaborated with technical teams from Japan and Morocco and managed the shipping of equipment from Germany to facilitate the performances.

Empire Entertainment Japan is a production company with global production experience, able to coordinate and manage flawless productions from the Middle East and Asia to Latin American and Europe.

The setting: The idyllic Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Cancun, Mexico. The purpose: An incentive program for one of the world’s leading communication technology companies. The perfect headline entertainment: International, Platinum-selling superstar Seal.Seal’s participation in the event was kept a secret until the moment he was announced onstage to the excited audience of 500+ guests & spouses. Once onstage Seal did not disappoint. His eighty minute set included several danceable R&B and soul covers as well as all of his biggest hits including “Kiss From A Rose,” “Bring it On,” and “Crazy” which had the audience dancing and shouting for encores. Following the performance, Seal graciously greeted and talked with VIPs for almost 30 minutes, taking photos with all of them. For this incentive program, Empire worked closely with the client’s meeting production company, Swift Media Group, to identify talent candidates, negotiate the performance contract (enticing him out of the studio where we was then recording), and facilitated the development of a working production plan with Swift Media Group and local vendors. Empire also worked to manage complicated logistics including the freight of equipment into and out of Mexico, local musician’s union requirements and work permits & visas.

Empire is a leading provider of headline entertainment for corporate meetings & events and is deeply experienced in overcoming the challenges of presenting headline entertainment outside of the United States.

Bravo Media, a division of NBC Universal, selected Empire Entertainment to produce their Upfront Event, held on March 10, 2010 at Skylight Soho in New York City.Empire collaborated closely with Bravo Ad Sales Marketing to create an attention-getting event that would bring Bravo’s distinctive brand and unique programming to life for its advertising clients. The result was a stylish, experiential marketing event and party for 600 guests that featured a variety of programming-themed, custom-designed vignettes in which clients could interact with show talent.To showcase Bravo’s roster of programs, Empire proposed the concept of transforming a raw space into a “house” comprised of highly stylized rooms, with each room representing one of Bravo’s 5 passion points: Food, Fashion, Beauty, Design and Pop Culture.

Empire built temporary walls to partition the interior of Skylight’s expansive, high-ceilinged venue into the Kitchen (food), Closet (fashion), Bath & Fitness Studio (beauty), Living Room (design) & Pop/Screening Room (pop culture).The Kitchen featured Top Chef chef’testants cooking and serving small plates to guests across a 20-ft wide central island counter, while former contenders from Shear Genius styled guests’ hair in the Bath. Other interactive stations included interviews with Andy Cohen on a reproduction of the Watch What Happens Live! set, love consultations with the Millionaire Matchmaker team in the Pop Room, couture fashion styling and photo shoots with the stars from Double Exposure in the Closet, and workout tips with Thintervention’s Jackie Warner in the Fitness Studio.For this Upfront Event, Bravo brought in nearly 70 stars from their shows, half of which were flown into New York City by Empire’s talent logistics team, which managed all air and ground transfers. All participating talent walked the Bravo blue carpet inside the heated 60-ft press tent before heading into the party through the custom-branded entrance canopy, accented with box hedges.

Inside the party, Creative Edge served up tasty hors d’oeuvres and a variety of food stations, while guests sipped specialty cocktails tinted to match each passion point’s color. DJ Eric Cubeechee, a contestant from Launch My Line, spun a set of pop tunes that kept the crowd partying 45 minutes past the scheduled 4-hour party time frame. Celebrity attendees included Matthew McConaughey, Isaac Mizrahi, Sarah Jessica Parker, Tom Colicchio and others. The striking design and unique interactions with show talent combined to create an unforgettable experience for Bravo’s top clients and one that will keep Bravo’s brand front and center as they determine their advertising purchase decisions for 2010.Empire Entertainment worked closely with the Bravo Ad Sales Marketing team and served as overall event producer and designer for the program. Empire’s responsibilities included overall design & management, coordinating custom scenic, decor, audio/visual, catering, activities, venue, helping Bravo’s press department with red carpet, talent travel logistics, graphic design, printing, permits and security.

Empire has also produced many upfront events and parties for clients that include Disney Media Group, FOX Broadcasting and the National Geographic Channel among others.

As the global economy continues its rise out of recession, many companies remain reluctant to invest significant portions of their event budgets for top-tier talent despite the undiminished need to inspire and entertainment employees & customers. Empire Entertainment, while continuing to secure high-end artists and large-scale corporate events, has responded to increasing client needs for cost-effective, high quality entertainment by delivering talent options to suit any budget. On three recent corporate events, Empire managed to deliver big name value and up-and-coming pricing. When a consumer products client needed an after dinner show for several hundred people in Dallas Texas, Empire delivered technology magician Marco Tempest's 'Power Show' with over 30 minutes of dazzling illusions on a large meeting stage with only one performer traveling. For a recent business meeting at the Dubai World Trade Center for a technology client with over 3000 attendees, Empire provided a 4 member cast of Europe's Phoenix Fire Dancers to perform one of their "Light Vision" sequences to open the first morning's general session. For a global consulting firm meeting in La Quinta, CA Empire provided after-dinner entertainment in the form of comedic improv troupe "Whose Live Anyway." Cast members Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Chip Esten and others brought down the house with their hilarious and spontaneous routines.

For these and other projects, Empire has used its extensive knowledge of locally-situated performer options, its negotiation ability and its longstanding relationships with artists to deliver top quality talent at prices that clients can afford. Empire has established itself in the securing and booking of talent, and have worked within every budget range.

For the highly anticipated launch of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition 2010, the Sports Illustrated events team selected Empire Entertainment to provide the perfect entertainment for two high profile, sexy marquee events in NYC and Las Vegas. Empire secured Sugar Ray's lead vocalist and host of Fox's "Don't Forget the Lyrics", Mark McGrath, to emcee the stage program. McGrath introduced the sexy models including this year's cover girl, Brooklyn Decker. At NYC's Hotel Gansevoort, Club Provocateur, first stop of the multi-media tour, onlookers such as John Legend, Jay Sean, and Gregg Bello watched the bevy of supermodels rock a runway that spanned the packed club. The models, guests, sponsors and McGrath partied the night away and later departed on a chartered jet from New York City to their next destination, Las Vegas.

At the final night of the launch at the Hard Rock Hotel's newest edition, Club Vanity, Mark McGrath once again emceed the stage program to an eager crowd of over 1,000 guests and sponsors. For this party, Empire secured rockers Maroon 5 to perform while DJ Cassidy spun. Empire was responsible for securing Maroon 5 and McGrath, handling details relating to their performances with the help of the Sports Illustrated Events team. Empire also worked closely with Team Velocity / Vivid who staged the events.

Empire is a leading provider of high-profile talent for corporate and media events.