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They are costly, labor-intensive and seemingly dated, but cultural organizations say black-tie dinners remain essential to pleasing donors and paying the bills.
Dec. 3, 2024Updated 1:41 p.m. ET
They drank salted maple espresso martinis and ate snow crab, Wagyu short rib and passion fruit bonbons.
They watched Kim Kardashian pose on the red carpet in a plunging white neckline. Leonardo DiCaprio charmed them as their host, and Charli XCX pumped them up with her hit song “360.”
But these were not attendees at some glamorous awards show. They were at a benefit for the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
For its own annual fund-raising event, the New York Philharmonic served Skuna Bay salmon and beef tenderloin. The tables were set with Wedgewood blue linens and tall arrangements of hydrangeas and orchids, surrounded by silver votive candles with sprigs of blue delphiniums.
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At a time when cultural institutions are still recovering financially from the pandemic shutdown and face rising costs, one might expect their expensive annual fund-raisers, first born as 19th century soirees, to have gone the way of top hats and opera glasses.
