More than two thousand art, culture, and party lovers turned out on Saturday, Nov. 11, for a Bond-themed event – Artrageous 0019, Shaken Not Stirred – netting $90,000 for Nashville CARES.
“The feeling this year was just great. Extending the gallery tour hours and having the after party at City Hall, a new venue for us, worked to make this a great Artrageous – one of the best ever,” said Artrageous Inc. President Jon Glassmeyer. “I particularly want to thank everyone at Cheekwood, Radius 10, the galleries and over 100 volunteers for the work they did to reduce our expenses while delivering the high-quality event people expect.”
In addition to delivering exposure to some of Nashville’s best art venues, the 19th annual Artrageous benefited from a number of innovations that helped lower costs to increase the bottom line donation nearly 20 percent over the previous year. Since its inception Artrageous has grown into one of the city’s biggest and most popular annual charity events and has generated almost $2.6 million to support the work of Nashville CARES.
“I can’t imagine how Artrageous 19 could have been any better.” said Nashville CARES Board President Scott Smith. “On behalf of the CARES Board, staff, and especially our thousands of clients living with HIV and AIDS, I thank everyone involved with Artrageous this year for a hard job very well done.”
A number of Artrageous veteran art galleries were joined by several new participants for this year’s extended art-crawl. Another new twist was the 007-themed parties at each gallery with Russian docents mingling with guests at Avante’s “From Russia with Love” party and Brazilian Bosanova music setting the mood at Bennett to the Art House’ Saigon-inspired opening for John Hung Ha.
Participating galleries provided party-goers a tour of the city from art district in East Nashville to Green Hills, Sylvan Park, and the downtown Avenue of the Arts along Fifth at the Arcade. Gallery openings included The Art House, Avante Art Glass Gallery, Bennett Galleries, Dangenart Gallery, Finer Things Gallery, Garage Mahal, TAG, The Arts Company and LeQuire Gallery. Complimentary beverages at the galleries were provided by Absolut and Food was provided by many of Nashville's finest restaurants including Cabana, Eastland Cafe, Margot, Red, and Virago.
Chef Jason Brumm, owner of radius10 restaurant in the Gulch, provided another innovation, delectable art-like tapas for the Host Party and the Late Party. Served up on silver trays by white jacketed staff the food itself leant an air of Bond-style elegance to the events.
Following the gallery-crawl revelers gathered for the capstone event, the Late Party at City Hall in the Gulch. Nashville’s DJ Ron provided high-energy music featuring re-mixes of every Bond film theme song that kept partygoers dancing against the black and white tuxedo-inspired décor. After midnight the crowd moved over to Church Street where Tribe and Play kept the party going with free admission for everyone wearing Artrageous 0019 tickets and host passes.
“Though Artrageous and the Host Party themselves occupy just two evenings, what the committee chairs and other volunteers accomplished – raising funds to provide comprehensive and compassionate support for people with HIV and AIDS, and raising awareness of the value of prevention and education – has an impact all year long,” said CARES CEO Joseph Interrante.
The event was underwritten through the support of Comcast, Jack Case Wilson Title Associates, Absolut, Vanderbilt Medical Center, Highbrowfurniture.com, Encore Condominiums, Jive! A Digital Print Factory, adex!, Lamar Outdoor Advertising, Regal Entertainment Group, and SWP Omnimedia. Additional support was provided by media sponsors Out & About Newspaper, insideOut Nashville, The Scene, nFocus, AtHome Tennessee Magazine, Church Street Freedom Press, Lightning 100 and 107.5 the River.