Each year, The Public Theater holds its fundraising gala on the opening night of Shakespeare in the Park. The event is always a high point of the New York social season. The event features a seated dinner for almost 1000 people on the Great Lawn, an opening night performance in the Delacorte Theater, and an after-party with drinks, dancing & music among the ramparts of the Belvedere castle. All of this takes place under the stars on a glorious early Summer night. In 2008 the Public Theater engaged Empire Entertainment to help them produce this most sought-after New York City event.

The 2008 Gala honored one of the Public Theater's long-time collaborators and Board Member - Designer & architect David Rockwell. The event was chaired by The Related Companies Chairman & CEO Stephen M. Ross and Reservoir Capital Group CEO, Daniel H. Stern. The event was generously underwritten by Bank of America and other sponsors. The event began with a smoothly run check-in and registration area that swiftly accommodated check-in of various tiers of attendees including VIPs, general attendees, show-only attendees, after-party attendees and press. Empire worked closely with the Public Theater to design a fail safe system to quickly and efficiently separate and process over 1000 arriving guests and the system worked without a flaw.On the red carpet, celebrities ranging from Steve Martin, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Mike Nichols, Ethan Hawke, Cynthia Nixon, Alec Baldwin, Kathleen Turner, Diane Sawyer, Nora Ephron and others posed for press photos before proceeding into the event. Hudson Yards Catering designed a colorful and mouthwatering dinner buffet for the guests who were seated at a sea of tables on the lawn.

Empire worked with members of the David Rockwell Team on table design to integrate linen color, plates, stemware and silverware with a table runner that utilized Frederick Law-Olmsted's original map of Central Park and a centerpiece designed by Rockwell Group. The Howard Fishman Quartet provided the light jazz background music for the dinner. Following a short honorees' program at dinner which included remarks by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, guests moved into the Delacorte Theater to take their seats for the opening night performance of Hamlet starring Tony Award-winning Michael Stuhlbarg in the starring role. At the conclusion of the performance and curtain calls, the guests walked up the hill behind the theater to the after-party atop Belvedere Castle, which overlooks both Turtle Pond and the Delacorte. The grounds and ramparts of the castle had been elegantly lit with twinkle lights and DJ Marlon Morris spun a set of music perfect for the starry evening and guests drank and partied late into the night.

Fortunately for everyone, this year's weather was perfect -- warm and sunny with low humidity and not a drop of rain, unlike in 2007 when a last-minute downpour prematurely closed the curtains on Romeo and Juliet. The sold out evening was an incredible success and raised substantial funds for the Public Theater and it's programs. For this magical evening Empire served as overall event producer, coordinating check-in logistics with the Public Theater Development team, catering with Hudson Yards, decor & design with The Rockwell Group, Staging & Production with the Public Theater's own extraordinary production team and all talent and staff. Empire also managed the budget, production schedule, show flow and team assignments to keep everyone's efforts tightly integrated and coordinated with the operations of the Public Theater and the NYC Parks Department.

Empire is an experienced producer of public, private and not-for-profit, outdoor events with extensive work history in New York's Extraordinary Central Park. Empire is humbled to have been chosen by the Public Theater, one of the world's most prestigious and prolific presenters of theater to serve as their producer for this singularly important and exceptional event. To learn more about the Public Theater and their programs and to become a member and supporter, visit http://www.publictheater.org/

In June 2008, a business partnership called on Empire to design, produce and manage a Family Weekend for their 25th Anniversary. The New York City weekend began with a spirited cocktail hour and delectable dinner in the private dining room of Per Se. Guests then retired to The Four Seasons hotel to rest from the long day of travel.

On Saturday, Empire had the entire day mapped out with exciting tours and activities. At 8AM, the guests enjoyed a run through Central Park guided by a marathon runner from Team Continuum. Upon returning from the run, the guests enjoyed some breakfast in the foyer of The Four Seasons. Empire then acquired a New York Double Decker tour bus which brought them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for a private tour. For lunch, the guests proceeded to Orsay where they dined in private. After lunch, the Partners and their families jumped back on board the bus for a tour of New York City, with special guest Timothy "Speed" Levitch, the subject of the 1998 Emmy award-winning documentary "The Cruise". Speed brought the guests on a two hour tour throughout the city, showing them many landmarks like Central Park, The Plaza Hotel, Columbus Circle, The Empire State Building and more.

After the bus tour, the Partners and their families got ready for dinner at the world-famous Tavern on the Green. Following dinner, the guests were escorted into the park to a secret performance location by Wildman Steve Brill, an expert on Central Park and its urban plant life. To conclude their night the Partners and their families arrived in a secured location in the Park to watch a private performance by LUMA, an exhilarating and entirely original form of performance art that fuses a light show with the dynamism of live, human performers.

On late Sunday morning the Partners and their families met in the Metropolitan Suite for brunch with entertainment by Todd Londagin and his jazz trio.Throughout the weekend Empire brought in a video crew and a photographer to follow the group and document their trip. The guests were sent a photo slideshow and documentary DVD as a keepsake for this weekend.

Empire is a leading producer of creative events and activities for all ages, with a unique ability to mold our services to the client's special needs and to act as a team player to help execute flawless events.

In June 2008, Empire Entertainment was invited by Recognition Media, LLC to produce the Webby Awards for the fourth consecutive year. The Webby Awards are the leading international awards honoring excellence in web design, creativity, usability and functionality, and the event has been dubbed "the Internet's Highest Honor" by the New York Times. On the night of the event, more than 850 of the best and the brightest minds on the internet came to honor and be honored for their contributions to the information superhighway.For this year's awards Empire secured Saturday Night Live head writer Seth Meyers to host the 12th Annual event, which was again held at Cipriani Wall Street. Seth Meyers kept the evening light and fun, and introduced Webby Lifetime Achievement Award Winner, David Byrne. Rapper Ludacris was on hand to introduce The Black Eyed Peas' will.i.am as the 2008 Webby Artist of the Year.

The program was packed with memorable moments and legendary Webby 5-word acceptance speeches, but the highlight of the evening came when Colbert Report host Stephen Colbert took the stage to receive his trophy for Webby Person of the Year. After an over-the-top grandiose and complimentary introduction (which was clearly written tongue-in-cheek by Colbert himself), he used his five words to maniacally (and hilariously) scream "ME! ME! ME! ME! ME!!!" The evening concluded in high style with an after party at Hiro Ballroom, and a blazing live performance by Ludacris

The evening prior, Empire also produced the 2008 Webby Film & Video Awards at NYU's Skirball Theater. This event was held for the second year to honor the best films and videos to have premiered online in the last year, as well as to recognize individuals who have been influential and forward-thinking with respect to using the internet as a medium for the moving image. At Webby Film & Video Awards Tay Zonday (renowned for his song and viral Web video "Chocolate Rain") stunned the crowd by singing "The Star Spangled Banner" to kick things off. The offbeat and uproarious star of NBC's "30 Rock", Judah Friedlander hosted the event, and introduced Web superstars "Tim & Eric" as 2008's "Best Actor" and also interacted with robotic Web phenomenon Keepon. Later in the show, Academy Award-nominee Rosie Pérez provided a heartfelt and emotional introduction of The Person of the Year - Oscar-winning director Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"). The final award of the evening went to Lorne Michaels for lifetime achievement, primarily for his work on the SNL "digital shorts" many of which have become viral web phenomena. Lorne used his five words ironically, telling the standing ovation crowd "Five words is not enough."

Empire Entertainment again provided oversight of nearly every element of these complex events, including site selection and acquisition, signage, catering, décor, registration, staffing, audio and video, lighting, talent wrangling, and stage management. Empire was pleased to partner with Cipriani Wall Street, NYU, Production Glue, Digital Kitchen, Deccan Designs, Central Talent Booking, and MKPR on these successful projects.Empire is a leading producer of cutting-edge new media events and awards programs and take great pride for consistently delivering great performances for innovative clients like Recognition Media who have chosen to partner with Empire for many years running on their most important projects.

Now in its 7th year, the TriBeCa Film Festival once again turned to Empire Entertainment to produce the festival's largest single event - the TriBeCa Family Festival.The multi-faceted street festival pulled in an estimated 200,000 visitors throughout the day and served as a focal point for the growing celebration of the revival of Lower Manhattan. Larger than previous years, this year's Family Festival offered more than 60 tents of entertainment, activities, and food and stretched across 12 city blocks. Three outdoor stages presented a diverse collection of New York-based performers and community talent, including The Knicks City Dancers and David Grover and the Big Bear Band.Highlights of this year's Family Festival, sponsored by American Express, included an arts and crafts pavilion, a tennis activity area created by USTA, a basketball shooting court sponsored by the New York Knicks, a mini-movie studio, a life-size chess board, hundreds of street performers, face painters, kite-making, sidewalk chalk art, and numerous other kid-friendly activities.

The event also included the participation of dozens of restaurants and merchants in lower Manhattan and the spontaneous participation of schools, community groups and all manner of special interests and institutions in TriBeCa.Empire Entertainment served as event producer and managed all production and logistics elements of the entire event and coordinated all services including tenting, permitting and street closure, integration with city agencies, security, electrical power distribution, decor, staging, sound, lighting, labor, decor, bathrooms, street cleanup, video and A/V, event design and layout, stage management, etc.

Empire is a major producer of public events and is proud to be a partner of TriBeCa Productions in the TriBeCa Film Festival since it's start in 2002.

To bring their annual employee conference to a dramatic close, one of Europe's most celebrated multinational companies turned to Empire Entertainment to select, secure and deliver a world-renowned and critically-acclaimed musician: the multi-platinum recording artist, Zucchero!Zucchero, who is amongst the most internationally beloved rock singers ever to hail from Italy, has collaborated with Sting, B.B. King, Miles Davis, Mana, Sheryl Crow, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, U2, Elvis Costello, and Solomon Burke during a career that has spanned over 20 years. Empire arranged for Zucchero to take a break from his sold out world tour, which included concerts at the Royal Albert Hall in London and Carnegie Hall in New York, to play an action-packed concert in Berlin for an energetic and ecstatic crowd.

Following several days of informational meetings, the 5,000 attendees at Berlin's Messe Hall Nine were ready to unwind. Zucchero took the stage following dinner, and within minutes, the attendees were on their feet and rushing to stage of this music legend. Some attendees danced, others waved their hands in the air - everyone had a smile on their face. Zucchero performed a ninety minute show of his greatest hits, complete with three encores and boundless energy. Before he left the stage, Zucchero reached out into the audience to shake hands and personally connect with the gushing crowd. By the time he made his way back to his dressing room, the cheering roar from the ballroom was still audible behind him. The concert was the highlight of the conference.In addition to booking and contracting Zucchero and facilitating all logistics in Germany, Empire also managed the band onsite to ensure a smooth and successful concert experience.

Empire is a leading provider of international headline concert talent for corporate events throughout the world.

To commemorate the opening of their latest luxury building, "Portofino", Real Estate developer Veloqx engaged Empire Entertainmnt Japan's office to design and execute the grand reception. Veloqx is a Hong Kong-based real-estate development and investment company that constructs architecturally unique and futuristic buildings in popular areas of Tokyo.Veloqx's "Portofino" development features a small village inspired by Portofino, the most exclusive vacation spot on the Italian Riviera.Fo this grand VIP event Empire delivered a flawless experience with stunning décor and precise coordination of sound and lighting, with food and drink service, staffing and communocations mnagemnt that far surpassed the client's expectations. Empire was responsible for creation of the overall concept, talent booking, event design, lighting, sound, scripting and full production of the event.

Empire is a leading producer of building grand openings throughout the world.

Co-Founded by Brian Greene and Tracy Day, the World Science Festival's mission is "to cultivate and sustain a general public informed by the content of science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future." In May 2008 the World Science Festival launched with a prolific series of events and Empire Entertainment was engaged to manage production for over thirty major programs in over seven venues across New York City in a span of just four days. The diverse programming appealed to all demographics and included moderated panel discussions with some of the most brilliant scientific minds today, original theatrical productions. Major stars including Alan Alda, Anthony Lapaglia and Mia Barron, an interactive sports demonstration with NBA players and scientists, and a family street festival held in Washington Square Park.

Some of the many participants in this year's World Science festival programs included Leon Lederman, Michio Kaku, Robert Krulwich, John Hockenbery, Bill T. Jones, Sam Shepard, Lucy Hawking, Michael York, Charlie Rose, Oliver Sachs, the Disney Imagineering Team, Richard Leakey, Brian Greene and many others. More than 120,000 people attended the Festival. Empire's support on the project included management of numerous venue's staging and set requirements, sound, lighting, video playback, stage management and technical direction as ell as many other production elements required for such extensive and, elaborate productions. Empire also tracked all production expenses paid directly by the not-for-profit World Science Festival to ensure the foundation stayed on budget and could adhere to rigorous financial reporting standards. The 2008 World Science Festival is an ideal example of Empire's capability to act as a behind the scenes partner on all types and sizes of programs, as well as our unique ability to mold our services to the client's special needs and to act as a team player to help execute flawless events. Empire Entertainment was proud to serve as the production partner for the first annual World Science Festival.

On Wednesday, May 7, 2008 Empire Entertainment produced the DKMS Linked Against Leukemia Gala to help raise awareness of the fight against Leukemia. DKMS strives to give every blood cancer patient an equal chance by recruiting marrow donors from every race and ethnicity. They inspire hope and healing by matching their donors with patients around the world. Over 600 guests including host Mario Cantone of Sex and the City attended the sold out event, held at Capitale in New York, NY. The evening's honorees included Cindy Crawford; Chairman and CEO of Phillips-Van Heusen, Emanuel Chirico; and CEO of Coty Inc, Bernd Beetz. Distinguished guests such as actresses Eva Mendes, Amy Adams and Morgan Fairchild and supermodel Carol Alt also showed their support for this worthy cause. Following a cocktail reception, which featured a 30-foot long red carpet and step & repeat banner, the attendees entered the ballroom where Empire had installed a white flowing ceiling treatment and backdrop with the charity's logo: a red butterfly lit throughout.

The emotional dinner program included the "Moment of the Match" where a donor from Germany was introduced to the 6-year old recipient on stage for the first time. This moment was magnified by the music of New York City DJ, Mike Williams. Following this moment, musical performances by German performing artist, Sarah Connor, DMC and Natasha Bedingfield capped off the night. Empire provided event production for this program including collaboration and execution of all décor aspects, all technical production and stage management, talent logistics and management, and maintained the master run of show, production schedule and script of stage presentations.

When SONY Corporation sought to achieve worldwide impact by announcing a three year sponsorship agreement with International classical music Superstar Lang Lang, they turned to Empire Entertainment's Tokyo office to conceive, coordinate and produce the New York City event. Lang Lang is fast becoming one of the world's best-known classical pianists and has enormous appeal throughout the world and particularly in his native country of China. SONY Corporation identified Lang Lang as the ideal personality to represent their brands & products throughout the world and especially in China.

To announce the partnership, SONY CEO Sir Howard Stringer and Masao Morita, son of SONY founder Akio Morita and an executive of the company, hosted an intimate reception for Lang Lang at the plush Empire Hotel. The guest list included industry VIPs, international media and celebrities as well as some of SONY's senior leadership. The reception took place immediately following Lang Lang's world premiere performance of Tan Dun's new piano concerto at Lincoln Center. Tan Dun, another celebrated Chinese classical music figure, composed the music to SONY Pictures Classic release "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" among many other credits. Following introductory remarks by Sir Howard Stringer and Morita-san, Lang Lang spoke about his excitement for the SONY partnership and then performed a brief recital of Franz Liszt's Liebesträume and Hungarian Rhapsody #6 which brought guests to their feet. After the recital, Lang Lang invited the press to join him in an area designed to represent his living room where the newest Sony products were all on display. These included the Bravio television, the SONY Organic LED television and a product called the Rolly which will soon be released in the U.S. that resembles a dancing Walkman.

For this important press event Empire identified and secured the venue, provided all staging, sound, lighting and piano, created a branded SONY backdrop, oversaw catering and bar, designed and implemented the Lang Lang living room concept with SONY product, stage managed the live event, and even assisted in securing international press coverage. Given the high level nature of the event, flawless coordination between SONY management in Japan and the execution team on the ground in New York was necessary.

Empire's office presences in Tokyo, Japan and New York City enabled it to serve as the perfect partner for SONY in this international endeavor.

Expanding into a relatively new role with a longtime entertainment services client, Empire served as creative director for a major, annual marketing conference in Seattle, WA attended by over 2000 marketers. The one day conference featured keynote speeches by the company's CEO, it's head of marketing, Nothwestern University marketing professor Mohanbir Sawhney and Marketing guru and bestselling author Seth Godin. The conference also featured a marketing excellence awards program, five tracks and three sessions of meeting breakouts, opening and keynote video packages, and a post-conference networking expo. For this major undertaking, Empire worked closely with the client's marketing team and executive management over the period of several months, adding value in many areas including set design & room layout, lighting design, agenda development & refinement, scripting of segment & award program wraparounds, and writing and working with the client's impressive in-house video studios to produce the meeting's videos.

In the area of set & room design, Empire was tasked with finding economical ways to transform the cavernous expo hall into an intimate, immersive venue that would bring the attendees closer to the stage. The solution: to orient the room on a diagonal and spreading the seating more widely, effectively reducing the distance between the stage and the rear rows of seating. Empire also designed and worked with the client's production provider to implement a series of innovative ceiling 'pods' lit with LED strips that glowed and changed color to match the stage content and video tones, enveloping the audience with the content. In terms of content development, Empire worked throughout the process to develop a look, feel, tone and theme to make the program entertaining, inspiring and effective in conveying client's key messages. Prior to the conference and onsite in rehearsals, Empire worked closely with each presenter to best integrate their remarks into an overall theme and flow. Empire is a leading meeting production company with deep experience in designing and producing world class business meetings.

With staff creative directors, writers, graphic designers, video producers, production designers, technical directors and stage managers, Empire provides turnkey service to corporations looking to present state-of-the-art business communications.