Hollywood Nights - Take Two

October 2, 2007

By Maria Mourikis

Australia’s A-List came out to dine in style this month at the Prince of Wales fundraiser Hollywood Nights - Take Two! The event was held at the historic Sydney Town Hall and consisted of a formal sit down dinner with a plethora of entertainment to boot hears Maria Mourikis.

The night began as any Hollywood evening should, with a star studded red carpet including Philip Seymour Hoffman, Kate Fitzpatrick, Andrew Upton, Pia Miranda, Ben Mendelsohn and Claudia Karvan, who all donned their finest for the event.

Being such a prestigious venue, only minimal decoration was needed to give the main dining room an exclusive movie star feel. “The Sydney Town Hall is a grand venue … through the use of lighting we simply highlighted the architectural features of the building,” said Julia Barnard, creative director of This Space Event Studio.

In the dining room the forty round tables were dressed in gold overlays with high ornate gold candelabras as centre pieces, adding a soft ambience to the majestic room.

Drawing on the Hollywood theme, This Space had small satellite stages set up around the dinning tables. The stages were illuminated from underneath and featured live statues of old Hollywood actors such as Marilyn Monroe and Judy Garland as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz. Throughout the night, the actors dressed as famous vintage stars slowly began to move and interact with the guests.

Restaurants Associates, the in-house caterers for Sydney Town Hall provided a delectable three course fine dining menu, which included a range of tasting plates for entrée and dessert.

Attended by some of Australia’s most creative and talented guests, it was only fitting that the entertainment was the highlight of the evening. The formal performances were presented by Tony Squires and included hilarious comedic acts by Kath & Kim, The Sandman and Gerry Connolly as the Queen. There was also a colourful Bollywood dance spectacular, amazing aerial artists and performances by The Brent St Kids and Deni Hines.

“The main challenge with any fundraising event is to engage all the guests throughout the evening and ensure that it isn’t just fundraising the entire evening,” explains Barnard. “We developed an order of entertainment that had high impact followed by the fundraising activity. For example the aerial act started on the main stage, then ran through the guests while being pulled up via a large silk ribbon into the ceiling. This was then followed by the live auction,” she added.

The event was organised as a sequel to the Prince of Wales Foundation’s first ever fundraiser Hollywood Nights 2006, hosted by Sam Neil. This year David Wenham enthusiastically took over the role, which Sara Quinn, a member of the Prince of Wales Hospital Foundation definitely raises the profile of the event.

“[It] enticed people to attend and support the event making it more memorable,” says Quinn. “It also helped to attract other entertainment and celebrity guests as well as wonderful prizes for the event.”

Fundraising for the evening was achieved through a combination of a live and silent “wish-list” auction.

Some of the covetable prizes included cases of wine from Sam Neil’s Dream Cellar, lunch on the set of Baz Lurhman’s latest film Australia, a Kumuka Adventures holiday to India, luxury accommodation at Trisara Resort, Phuket, and $200 vouchers at some of Sydney’s finest dining establishments such as the Park Hyatt, Bayswater Brasserie, Watermark and The Tearoom. Over 400 guests attended the event raising an impressive $120,000 for the foundation.

Deets:

Event production:

This Space Event Studio

Tel: 02 9810 9981

Creative Director: Julia Barnard

Email: info@thisspace.com.au

Venue:

Sydney Town Hall

483 George St

Sydney NSW 2000

Phone: 02 9265 9189

Email: enquiry@cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au

Catering:

Restaurant Associates

Tel: 02 9246 7731