Posted on December 13, 2011 by Maria Fregoso This November, in an effort to raise funds and awareness for the Coalition’s programs, nearly 900 New Yorkers gathered at Skylight Soho for the 17th annual ARTWALK NY. Co-chaired by Alec Baldwin, Richard Gere and Carey Lowell, with honorary chair, Coco Rocha, the benefit featured a live and silent art auction, music by DJ Donna D’Cruz and DJ ADD, restaurant tasting stations from Macao, Michael’s and Edi & the Wolf, complimentary beverages by Star Vodka, Beck’s, Sud de France and the Odeon, and much more. Guests had the opportunity to hear remarks from artist, Shepard Fairey, who introduced the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation’s inaugural “Artist as Activist” print project to benefit the Coalition for the Homeless. Fairey created an original print, The Future is Unwritten, to commemorate Rauschenberg’s dedication to important social issues and the mission of the Coalition for the Homeless. The print, now available on artnet, will raise over $150,000 to support the Coalition’s life-saving programs. Guests also heard from Baldwin, Rocha, Gere and Lowell as they joined auctioneer, Aileen Agopian on stage to auction off lots to support our Crisis Intervention, Camp Homeward Bound, First Step, and Grand Central Food programs. To close the live auction portion of the evening, supermodel Coco Rocha enchanted the audience by Irish dancing in exchange for pledges to support the Grand Central Food Program, helping us raise over $35,000! In our most successful live auction ever, bidders vied to win works by Andy Warhol, Kim McCarty, Ed Ruscha, Thomas Hirschhorn, Shepard Fairey, Jenny Holzer, Leonard Rosenfeld, Wade Guyton, and Invader. With artworks donated by over 100 artists, including Roxy Paine, Mary Heilmann, Kenny Scharf, Hernan Bas, Olaf Breuning and Yoko Ono, this year’s silent auction also featured many exciting moments. A crowd-favorite of the night was the Selleria Bicycle by FENDI, the title sponsor of the event. Despite all of the excitement of the evening, guests never forgot the important cause we were there to support. The enthusiasm and generosity of this year’s ARTWALK patrons helped make it our most successful ever! Thanks to this support, almost a million dollars will go towards ensuring that the Coalition can continue offering a safety net to more than 3,500 homeless men, women and children every day. We are truly grateful to the many artists, committee members, and sponsors that helped make the 17th annual ARTWALK NY possible.
