Prominent collectors and arts patrons Jack and Becky Benaroya were among those gathered for the museum's annual funraising event.
The 420 people who bought tickets for the Bellevue Arts Museum‘s annual fundraiser, Artful Evening, last weekend raised $575,000 through the live and silent auctions, ticket sales, and sponsorships. In a sign of the museum supporters’ enthusiasm, more than $287,000 was raised in direct donations to museum programs during the event’s “Raise the Paddle” proceedings. Among the evening’s most notable gifts was the $100,000 matching donation by BAM board members Carol Auerbach and Albert Berger, Patty Edwards as well as Norma and Leonard Klorfine.
“We are immensely grateful to the many individuals and businesses who help us bring world-class art, craft and design into the lives of hundreds of thousands of people every year,” says BAM board president Susan Edelheit in a prepared statement. The main fund-raising auction was presided over by Kip Toner at the Westin Bellevue where Dale Chihuly, Sabrina Knowles and Jenny Pohlman, and Cappy Thompson were just a handful of the prominent artists who donated work.
A new national award in honor of BAM Director Emeritus Michael W. Monroe was announced during the event. Starting in 2011, the Michael W. Monroe Emerging Artist Award will be given annually to a single artist working in craft media. The winning artist will receive $10,000 in cash and the opportunity to be considered for a solo exhibition at Bellevue Arts Museum. “
BAM’s Artful Evening has grown to be its largest single fund-raising event, growing out of an event called the Patron Party. Last year’s Artful Evening raised a record $600,000.