On
Wednesday, May 20, 2009, El Museo held its 2009 Spring Gala at Cipriani
42nd Street in New York City. The Gala honored Tony Award winner Lin
Manuel Miranda; Luis Ubiñas of the Ford Foundation; and Gloria
and Emilio Estefan. The Gala raised close to $600,000 in support of
El Museo's exhibitions, education and public programs.
El Museo's gala was graced by the stellar presence of much of the
Latin design and social world, and a surprise visit from Gov. and Mrs.
Paterson to celebrate his birthday. Gala chairs Yaz and Valentin Hernandez
and Isabel and Ruben Toledo were joined by designers Carolina Herrera,
Jason Wu, Christian Cota, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Angel Sanchez and
Brian Reyes; model Liliana Dominguez, and Triana Bautista (the first
gypsy top model), and many more.
In addition, El Museo kicked off sales of the whimsical portraits
created by Ruben Toledo together with schoolchildren from East Harlem.
Over a third of the portraits of Latino greats sold at the gala—including
portraits of Diego Rivera, Marc Anthony, and Carolina Herrera, among
many others. The portraits will be available El Museo's website http://www.elmuseo.org
beginning the week of May 25th. The special edition cigar boxes created
for El Museo by Ruben Toledo will also be available for continuing
sale.
Heralded by The New York Times as "an institution in its ascendancy," El
Museo del Barrio was founded in 1969 by a group of Puerto Rican educators,
artists, parents and community activists in East Harlem's Spanish-speaking
El Barrio, the neighborhood that extends from 96th Street to the Harlem
River and from Fifth Avenue to the East River on Manhattan's Upper
East Side. Since then, El Museo del Barrio has evolved into New York's
leading Latino cultural institution, having expanded its mission to
represent the diversity of art and culture in the Caribbean and Latin
America. As the only museum in New York City that specializes in representing
these cultures, El Museo del Barrio continues to have a significant
impact on the cultural life of New York City and is now a major stop
on Manhattan's Museum Mile on Fifth Avenue. Currently El Museo is undergoing
a $22 million-dollar facelift, which will be completed this fall. The
mission of El Museo del Barrio is to present and preserve the cultural
heritage of Puerto Ricans and all Latin Americans in the United States.
