NEWS RELEASE
Oakland Museum of California
www.museumca.org

10TH & OAK STREETS
OAKLAND, CA  94607

For additional information:
Elizabeth Whipple
510/637-0177, M-F, MEDIA ONLY
PUBLIC CALLS: 510/238-2200
ewhipple@museumca.org

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
3 March2008

GOLDEN GALA 2008
Birth of the Cool exhibition sets theme for elegant ’50s evening

Golden Gala 2008 cochairs (L to R) Suzanne Redfield, Lori Bouch, and Kim Hebert. Photo Rue Flaherty.

The Oakland Museum of California hosts its biennial Golden Gala, a benefit for its public education programs, on Saturday, May 17, 2008. This year’s event—Golden Gala 2008: Birth of the Cool—takes its inspiration from the Birth of the Cool: California Art, Design, and Culture at Midcentury exhibition, which opens that weekend.

The exhibition will feature hard-edge abstract paintings, jazz and design of the 1950s. Golden Gala 2008 will feature Beat Generation motifs and photographs, with décor inspired by modernist paintings. Iconic poet and City Lights Books publisher Lawrence Ferlinghetti is the honorary chair

The museum’s gardens and terraces will create the backdrop for the evening. Cool ’50s dress is suggested, black tie optional. “We’re thinking black clothes and berets—beatnik style,” said Gala cochair Dale Block. “We want to honor what was happening in the Bay Area—the cool scene in North Beach, the poetry, the painting, the jazz.”

The Gala begins at 6:30 p.m. with a mai-tai and martini reception, jazz, and hors d’oeuvres. The 650 guests will dine—dinner by Paul Canales of Oliveto and dessert by Mary Canales of ICI—in a tented pavilion, from 8 to 10 p.m. A live auction follows. Partyers can hang out in the coffee gallery for after-dinner drinks and specialty coffees, or dance to the band Wall Street until midnight.

The pavilion and décor, with bright colors and bold graphics, are by Robert Fountain and Flying Colors. Pieces from Design Within Reach continue the ’50s sensibility.

For more information or an invitation to Golden Gala 2008, please contact Camille Guimaraes at 510/238-7425 or cguimaraes@museumca.org.

* * *

Golden Gala 2008 is sponsored by Wachovia. Cochairs are Dale and Stephen Block, Lori and Allen Bouch, Robin and Rich Edwards, Kim and Brad Hebert, and Suzanne and Rob Redfield. The event raises significant funding for the Oakland Museum of California’s award-winning education programs, which benefit public schools throughout Northern California.

The museum, 1000 Oak @ 10th Street, Oakland, is one block from the Lake Merritt BART. Complimentary valet parking provided for Golden Gala guests.

* * *