Empire produced a wedding celebration for a Russian client at the historic Plaza Hotel. The bride and groom welcomed over 200 guests from Russia and around the world to the iconic New York hotel for an elegant evening punctuated by performances from the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Affiniti NYC, and Gloria Gaynor, among others.

The evening began with an elegant cocktail reception in the Palm Court. In spectacular formal attire, arriving guests enjoyed caviar and champagne under palm fronds and a domed glass ceiling as the Todd Londagin trio played jazz standards.  

Suddenly the enormous mirrored panel doors swung open and guests moved into the Terrace Room for the wedding ceremony. The Terrace Room had been transformed with hydrangeas and peonies and the room glowed with thousands of candles lit as the wedding party entered to a string and woodwind ensemble for the ceremony. At the top of the steps stood a huge floral Chuppah.

After the smashing of the glass, a Russian violinist struck up a lively song of celebration as guests followed the wedding couple to the Grand Ballroom which had been transformed into a vision of old Hollywood glamour, with lighting and florals that accented the decadent gold interiors.

Empire secured the world-renowned Duke Ellington Orchestrato perform for the newlywed’s grand entrance into the ballroom. The 17-piece orchestra crooned American jazz classics as guests enjoyed a seven-course meal and numerous toasts from the wedding party. Two Russian hosts emceed the evening in English and Russian.

Towards the end of dinner, Gloria Gaynor, the soulful disco singer, was welcomed to the stage by the cheering guests and performed a full set including her hits “I Will Survive” and “Never Can Say Goodbye.” Her soulful voice and classic hits had guests on their feet throughout the performance. Affiniti NYC closed out the night with modern dance classics, keeping guests on the dance floor into the early hours of the morning.

Empire worked closely with The Plaza and a team of florists, lighting designers, and engineers to orchestrate every moment of the wedding. Photo's credited by @vertdegris

Empire is a leading producer of both corporate and private concert events.

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For the seventh consecutive year, Empire served as the producer of the Fragrance Foundation Awards, the fragrance industry’s premier event celebrating outstanding achievement and creativity.

Held at the iconic David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, the evening began with guest arrivals and an elegant cocktail reception in the theater’s soaring marble lobby. A delicate fragrance created exclusively for this year’s awards by the Lifetime Achievement Perfumer scented the lobby while guests walked the red carpet, mingled, and sipped champagne. A breathtaking floral backdrop made with real peonies, irises, and roses served as an interactive photo-op indoors.

For the second year in a row, comedian and actor Jane Krakowski, hosted the main program. Once guests were seated in the theater, Jane kicked off the star-studded awards with a humorous opening monologue and medley of songs covering the fragrance industry and achievements since the prior year.

Notable program participants included Hall of Fame Honoree, Tom Ford, Lifetime Achievement Perfumer, Dominique Ropion, and Fragrance Industry Game Changer, Laura Slatkin.

Celebrity presenters and attendees included Michelle Pfieffer, Henry Golding, star of Crazy Rich Asians, Carine Roitfeld, Bebe Rexha, Maria Borges, Nick Youngquest, Luma Grothe, Jason Wu, Hilary Rhoda, Hannah Bronfman, and Maye Musk, among others.

Following the awards program, guests ascended a gorgeous marble staircase to the David Koch Promenade for a seated dinner for over 500. The evening ended with an afterparty held on the terrace of the promenade, overlooking the iconic Lincoln Center fountain where guests danced to music by DJ Coleman.

The Fragrance Foundation Awards bring together virtually every luxury and consumer brand in the fragrance industry, including Estée Lauder, John Varvatos, Coach, Dior, Coty, Ralph Lauren, Tom Ford, Giorgio Armani, Bottega Veneta, by Killian, Jo Malone, Maison Margiela, Victoria’s Secret, BYREDO, Viktor & Rolf, LVMH, Puig, Chanel, Chloé, Marc Jacobs, Versace, Lancôme, diptyque Paris, L’Oréal, Revlon, NEST, Bvlgari, and YSL.

Empire is a leading producer of events, award shows, and programs for the luxury brand, fragrance, cosmetics, and fashion industries.

Empire proudly produced the 5th Annual World Connect Benefit Dinner at Chelsea Piers’ waterfront venue, Current.

World Connect invests early-stage funding in grassroots, locally designed and led projects that drive transformative, self-sustaining development in the most under-resourced areas of the world. World Connect success stories were integrated throughout the event with enlarged photos and informational signage explaining their mission connecting the attendees to opportunities to support specific initiatives.

A handpan performer welcomed guests into a vibrant, waterfront space where bold and colorful activations were featured. Vinyl decal paths on the floor guided guests from point to point, designed to tell stories of various World Connect initiatives and their impact. Some paths led to beautiful imagery from their sites, while others led to experiential stations where guests could purchase items made by World Connect-supported businesses and sample their handmade products.

There was also a Portal, which was a livestream media room for guests to interact live and in real-time with two World Connect project leaders on site in Lagos during the cocktail hour. Music by the World Guitar Duo, Jason and Elysa Hochman, played music while guests enjoyed cocktails overlooking gorgeous views of the Hudson River.

Guest entered the dinner room where tables were set with beautiful glass globe centerpieces set amid nests of greenery and fairy lights. These were surrounded by white, modern candles warming the room with a grounding energy.

The thoughtful stage program featured the Executive Director, Pamela Nathenson, Board Chair, George Biddle, and Dinner Co-Chair, Christoph Becker, who shared the powerful impact of what World Connect can achieve with minimal funding.

The program’s feature was an incredible conversation between Dinner Co-Chair, Clara Bingham, and honored guest, Chief Theresa Kachindamoto, who was the first female Chief of the Dedza District in Malawi, overseeing over 900,000 people. Chief Kachindamoto has successfully annulled over 5,000 child marriages, encouraging children to go back to school. World Connect has launched three projects in her district–a primary school with $3,000, a reforestation project with $3,000, and a maternity house with $10,000.

The evening helped World Connect raise $600,000 which will launch 135 projects across the globe to catalyze locally-led development. To learn more about World Connect and to donate or get involved, visit https://www.worldconnect.global

Empire is proud to support World Connect and their global initiatives to connect the world.

For the first co-ed Cruise Collection fashion show, Giorgio Armani has chosen Tokyo in homage to the designer's affinity with the Japanese culture and aesthetic. Hidetoshi Nishijima, Uma Thurman, Honami Suzuki, Takumi Saito, Kento Yamazaki, Tadao Ando, Moka Kamishiraishi, and Tomoyasu Hotei (HOTEI) were some of the famous faces who took their front row seats at the fashion show. To close the show, a longtime favorite, Ai Tominaga, one of the country’s most well-known models, walked the runway.

Empire was contracted to support id creations, a Shanghai-based international production house, with the livestream production of the event on Instagram. Thousands of followers watched the show live on Instagram and over 20,000 post event on IGTV.

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Celebrating its 11th anniversary, the Shorty Awards continue to honor the best influencers, celebrities, brands, and agencies on social media, across Snapchat, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, and other platforms. The show returned to PlayStation Theater in the heart of Times Square in New York City for the ceremony.

Over 800 influencers, brands, agencies, and guests packed the theater for the ceremony, which featured a hot pink carpet, cocktail reception, seated dinner, and an afterparty at the W Times Square hotel. The staged event livestreamed on YouTube and Twitter to over 211,000 (and counting!) viewers internationally, as fans all over the globe tuned in to watch their favorite social media stars.

Comedian and actress Kathy Griffin hosted the show and kept the audience entertained with her trademark comedy from both the stage and the audience during a crowd interaction bit.

Helping keep the show lively throughout, well-known presenters included Jay Shetty, Shangela, Mamrie Hart, Denzel Dion, Eva Gutowski, and Sean Evans.

This was the most competitive show to date, as over 7 million votes poured in from fans all over the world, a record for participation. Winners of the signature Whale-Tail Trophy included Shantell Martin, March for Our Lives, Ryland Adams, Shane Dawson, and Shorty’s very own host, Kathy Griffin.

Recognized this year for their contributions to the world, Phenom Award recipients included Kevin Love (Athlete), Marsai Martin (Entertainment), March for our Lives (Changemakers), and Terry Crews (Activism).

New Orleans-based band and 2017 NPR Tiny Desk Contest winners, Tank and the Bangas, brought down the house performing four hits from their new album Green Balloon, including "Nice Things" and "Ants" to finish out the night.

Empire is proud to partner with The Shorty Awards for our fifth year and we congratulate all the 2019 winners, as well as an even larger congratulations to eleven successful years of the Shorty Awards!

Empire is excited to announce that the production team behind Solve at MIT, Peak XV Global, joined the company this month. The team has produced Solve at MIT, Solve’s annual flagship event, for the past three years and just completed the 2019 event.

Solving the world’s most pressing challenges is no small goal, but that is exactly what Solve at MIT aims to do. Each year, Solve launches four challenges and convenes more than 550 leaders, innovators, and entrepreneurs from around the world on MIT’s campus to develop solutions to those challenges. Along with partnership building and intensive working sessions, Solvers gain access to more than $1 million in funding for their solutions.  

Attendees from more than 28 countries are treated to plenary discussions featuring MIT President Rafael Reif, U.N. High-Level Commissioner Alaa Murabit, Inter-American Development Bank President, Luis Alberto Moreno, Schmidt Family Foundation President, Wendy Schmidt, and Crate and Barrel CEO, Neela Montgomery. This year, the opening plenary featured a moving performance by poet and musician, Lyla June, followed by a lively reception at the MIT Museum.

Over the course of three days, our team created an environment across multiple buildings on MIT’s campus conducive to information sharing, networking, and partnership building. Arriving Solvers were greeted by a full-building graphic on the windows of the iconic Kresge Auditorium. During the evenings they were invited to curated salon dinners to further their solutions and networking within the Solve community.

Our team designed plenary rooms to accommodate a variety of content, from live performances, to custom video content, to Solvers presenting their challenge solutions. This year we designed a custom wall installation in MIT’s Media Lab where five Scribit robots drew artwork for Solve attendees to enjoy throughout the conference. We designed multiple conference venues to create an intimate feel for networking while enveloping the Solve community in a branded environment and creating a seamless, multi-day experience.

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For the fifth consecutive year, Screenvision Media called on Empire to produce their Upfront to demonstrate the power, emotional impact, and multifaceted reach of cinema advertising to their audience of media buyers and planners.

Screenvision Media asked Empire to strategically conceptualize and design an elegant event that would show media buyers why cinema advertising plays a critical role in any advertising campaign.

Traditionally held the week prior to network upfronts, the decision was made to present this event during the week of network upfronts to draw the most prestigious clientele. The chosen venue was the storied motion picture theater now known as the Ziegfeld Ballroom and the theme would be Inside Cinema.

Guests arrived at the Ziegfeld and were welcomed to the space with a striking champagne tower. Guests were served movie theatre popcorn as they took their seats in a theater over which hung custom-made, oversize crystal and LED chandeliers in the art deco design of the movie house.

The stage presentation was led by Screenvision Media CEO, John Partilla, CRO Katy Loria, and EVP Christine Martino. To help drive their key messaging, renowned cinema stars Hilary Swank and Vince Vaughn joined them on stage to discuss the impact cinema has on moviegoers.

In addition to announcing their 2020 10-pack offering, Screenvision Media also unveiled their newest initiative, a partnership with the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media, where they will work alongside studios in the earliest scripting stages to promote gender equality in movie roles. As part of this initiative, Screenvision introduced a new content segment in their Front + Center pre show, where Geena Davis will introduce a special look at upcoming films that receive a ‘GD-IQ Check’.

To conclude the presentation, Idina Menzel, star of Frozen and Frozen 2, performed her hits “Defying Gravity,” and “No Day But Today.” During her finale performance of “Let It Go” from Frozen, Menzel invited several guests to join her on stage.

The evening continued with cocktail reception/afterparty where guests created their own cinema-inspired gifs with two custom-created photo booths.

Empire was responsible for event details including concept ideation, venue acquisition, layout and scenic design, catering, production, scripting, screen graphics, décor, staffing and talent booking.

Empire is proud to work with Screenvision Media to reach advertisers with a high-impact, experiential upfront.

Empire is a leading producer of innovative Upfronts, Newfronts, and other mission critical business-to-business events.

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The 23rd Annual Webby Awards was held at Cipriani Wall Street. Honoring the best of the internet, the show is renowned for limiting award recipients’ speeches to five words or less. Host Jenny Slate, from Parks & Recreation, Big Mouth, and Obvious Child, set the tone with a hilarious opening monologue before getting into the awards. Presenters and winners at the event included Michael Douglas, Tracy Morgan, Issa Rae, Tierra Whack, Hasan Minhaj, and many more. Empire produced the event for the 15th consecutive year.

As always, winners’ five-word speeches alternated from poignant (Monica Lewinsky’s anti internet-bullying “Unbelievably grateful. Click with compassion.”) to protest (climate change activist Greta Thunberg’s “Act now or face disaster”), to spur-of-the-moment irreverent (Michael Douglas holding up his trophy and saying “My kids think it’s hilarious”).

The Webbys also took time out to reflect on the fact that 2019 is the 50^th Anniversary of the birth of the internet by inviting Vint Cerf to the stage to say a few words. Widely heralded as one of the very small handful of people who invented the internet, Cerf was thoughtful about just how far the technology has come in such a short time, and the incredible impact it has as “a mirror of our society”.

The Webbys took a new approach this year in order to distribute the best moments from the show. The night’s highlights, five-word speeches, and biggest moments were shared in real-time, with #Webbys, across Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. The show was optimized for social sharing from how the show was filmed, to how the stage was built, to a partnership with Instagram, and beyond, in order to ensure people across the Internet were able to experience the best moments of the show as they happened.

Empire is proud to maintain longstanding relationships with our clients and is honored that the Webbys have chosen us as their production partner since 2005. You can view the 23rd Annual Webby Awards in full here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cOtdiLaK2N4

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Empire was proud to recently serve as producer of Smile Train’s 20^th Anniversary gala titled “It Starts with a Smile.” Over 500 people gathered at Capitale in New York City to celebrate Smile Train’s two decades of empowering local medical professionals and supporting comprehensive cleft care for more than one million children worldwide.

During the program and seated dinner, which was hosted by ABC’s Ginger Zee, Smile Train CEO, Susannah Schaefer, delivered moving remarks about the huge impact that proper care has on a child with a cleft. Chairman of Smile Train’s Medical Advisory Board, Dr. Larry Hollier, Miss Universe Organization President, Paula Shugart, and Top Chef’s, Graham Elliot, were all honored for their philanthropic efforts, while retired NBA player, Dikembe Mutombo, was recognized for his humanitarian work. The program also included a moving tribute to Smile Train Founder, Charles B. Wang. Other program highlights included appearances by Miss Universe 2015, Pia Wurtzbach, Miss USA 2015, Olivia Jordan, and a lively auction conducted by Paul Florez.

Guests arrived at the landmark Stanford White building to see a beautiful photo backdrop adorned in greenery. Interviews took place on the red carpet while others enjoyed cocktails at crystalline design-inspired bars that displayed rotating imagery of children helped by Smile Train. Additionally, an LED background interactive photo activation allowed guests to choose to be pictured in a variety of locations around the world where Smile Train supports cleft programs.  

Inside the grand ballroom, large, heart-warming photos of Smile Train beneficiaries from around the world flew from the soaring skylight roof. Stunning decor included luminescent centerpieces with gorgeous geode designs and bars covered in matching images. Ambient screens with moving visuals were set up as backdrops behind each bar to ensure the room was glowing throughout.

Alexa Ray Joel, Christie Brinkley, and Billy Joel’s daughter performed classic covers to end the dinner program, and later in the evening, Rev Run and DJ Ruckus raised the roof with a dance party of old-school music.

Empire is a leading producer of fundraising galas and corporate social responsibility initiatives.

We are grateful for the opportunity to support Smile Train’s incredible work by producing Smile Train’s 20^th Anniversary Gala. To learn more and donate, visit smiletrain.org.

Following the acquisition of 21st Century Fox by The Walt Disney Company, Fox Corporation embarked on a bold new path of growth with its retained divisions: Fox News Media, Fox Sports, Fox Entertainment, and Fox Television Stations.  

As part of this new journey, Fox Corporation convened an Investor Day event as a platform for the company’s top leadership to share the company’s new strategic direction with the global financial community. The Investor Day event would need to present the company’s future vision flawlessly to this critical audience. Empire was entrusted to serve as the producer of all aspects of event. Working closely with Fox’s Los Angeles-based Creative Services and Special Events team and the New York-based Operations and Finance teams, the team secured the auditorium at historic One Madison Avenue building. Empire transformed the 110-year-old space into a future vision of innovation with a set that included a custom LED stage and scenic screen surrounds showcasing three large LED walls (with design direction by David Korins Design). The program, which included both a live conference and a livestream transmission, began with Chairman Rupert Murdoch who welcomed the audience before turning the stage to Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Lachlan Murdoch. Following remarks by Lachlan Murdoch, Chief Operating Officer, John Nallen, took the stage before handing it off to the heads of the four divisions of Fox Corporation. CEO of Fox News Media, Suzanne Scott, CEO & Executive Producer of Fox Sports, Eric Shanks, CEO of Fox Entertainment, Charlie Collier, and CEO of Fox Television Stations, Jack Abernathy, each presented their divisional plans and performance in multi-media presentations that featured multiple videos and extensive animated graphics for each portion. After a short break, the audience was treated to a panel discussion with the commissioners of Major League Baseball, Rob Manfred, and the National Football League, Roger Goodell, who shared their insights on relationships the leagues have with FOX Sports.

Chief Investor Relations Officer, Joe Dorrego, led a Q&A period, and Chief Financial Officer, Steve Tomsic, presented the company’s overall financial performance.

In addition to the main stage program and livestream, Empire also designed and staffed the registration, lounge, and reception areas, all based on the new Fox Corporation visual design.

The flawless program came off not only on time and on budget but was, in the words of the client, “An Awe-inspiring feat.” Empire has been proud to serve Fox for over 15 years and is a major production resource to many of the world’s largest media and entertainment companies.