A Toast Before the Party
Last night, Findlay Galleries, joined by HRH Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia, Stephanie Borynack Clark, Frederick Stirling Clark and Jacqueline Weld Drake, toasted the countdown to Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education’s annual Fiesta! celebration. The gathering was a kick-off rather than the main event, which is precisely how the hosts wanted it. The real night arrives on October 5th.
Drake, whose name is attached to Casita Maria’s highest honor, set the tone. “Thank you all for being here to celebrate Casita Maria, an organization that has meant so much to me for so many years,” she said.
Three Honorees, One of Them Close to Home
“This year at Fiesta!, we have the great pleasure of honoring three truly wonderful people,” Drake continued. “Hunt Slonem and Sonia Gutt de Haime, who have been tremendous friends to me personally and to Casita Maria, and Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas, Casita’s Vice Chair, who will receive the Jackie Award, an honor that, as you can imagine, is especially close to my heart.”
She then turned to the hosts. “I want to thank Fred and Stephanie, who so generously offered to host our lovely kick-off gathering, as well as Jimmy Borynack, who is always among the first to step forward and offer his help.”
Her closing was less a speech than an invitation. “Fiesta! is one of my favorite evenings of the year, because it brings together wonderful friends in support of Casita Maria’s children and families, and the arts and education programs that make this organization so special. Fiesta! is also a FUN party, light on speeches and heavy on dancing. I hope you will all join us for a beautiful evening, and join me on the dance floor, on October 5th.”
There is something worth noticing in this year’s Jackie Award. The honor is usually a way of looking outward, and the roster of past Fiesta! honorees reads like a survey of twentieth-century glamour and craft. Giving it to Casita’s own Vice Chair turns the attention inward instead, toward the unglamorous committee work that keeps a ninety-two-year-old organization solvent and staffed. Drake’s phrase, “especially close to my heart,” was doing more work than a room of well-dressed guests might have registered.
The Room
Guests included Steven M.L. Aronson, Edgar Batista, Cece and Lee Black, Martha Bograd, Halim Bulos, Sharon Bush, Shannon Donnelly, Michele Gerber Klein, Susan Gutfreund, Beth Hardwick, Cheri Kaufman, Margo Langenberg, Jeanne Lawrence, William Ivey Long, Janet Mait, Christopher Mason, Michael Gregson Reinert-Sessions and Jonathan Reinert-Sessions, Gabriel Rivera, Victor Roquette, Marc Rosen, Georgina Schaeffer, Jean Shafiroff, Peggy Siegal, Kathy Sloan, Christopher English Walling, Saundra Whitney, Victoria Wyman, and Casita Maria Executive Director Felix Urrutia.
October 5th at The Plaza
Anticipation is running high for Casita Maria’s most important night of the year. On October 5th at The Plaza Hotel, the organization will honor Sonia Gutt de Haime and Hunt Slonem, with Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas receiving the Jackie Weld Drake Living Legend Award.
Fiesta! honorary chairs include Adrienne Arsht, Carolina Herrera, Wes Gordon, Audrey Gruss, Julio Larraz, Juan Montoya, Daisy Soros and Lynn Wyatt, among many others. Past honorees include Gloria Estefan, Margot Fonteyn, Audrey Hepburn, Baz Luhrmann, Mary McFadden, Paloma Picasso, and Oscar de la Renta. For tickets and more information, visit www.casitamaria.org
Ninety-Two Years in the Bronx
Founded in 1934, Casita Maria Center for Arts and Education is the oldest Latino charity in New York City, with a long history of serving children, families and communities through education, the arts and social services. Based in the South Bronx, Casita Maria provides young people with opportunities to learn, create and develop their talents in a supportive environment. Its mission continues to connect education and the arts while empowering the next generation.
Meta description: Findlay Galleries hosts the kick-off for Casita Maria’s Fiesta!, honoring Hunt Slonem, Sonia Gutt de Haime and Ben Rodriguez-Cubeñas.
One correction worth confirming before you publish: the original listed “Margot Fontaine” among past honorees, which is almost certainly the ballerina Margot Fonteyn, so I used that spelling.
