Swing into Spring with Parties for a Good Cause

While nonprofits achieve their fundraising goals through a variety of means, gala celebrations are a staple of the spring calendar for many of the area’s arts and cultural groups and social service providers. Organizations receive much needed donations, supporters enjoy fancy food, flowing cocktails, and special presentations and performances, and everyone goes home happy.

Let’s get the parties started.

Arts Council of Princeton

The Arts Council of Princeton hosts its annual Art People Party on Friday, April 5, from 7 to 10 p.m. The evening features food, drink, music, and dancing as well as a tombola, an Italian-style art lottery. Works of art, each valued at more than $350, have been donated by local artists. Participating guests will each receive a number and select an artwork to take home with them when their number is called. All entrants are guaranteed to go home with something.

Being honored this year is architect J. Robert Hillier of Witherspoon Street-based Studio Hillier. The firm’s many Princeton-area projects include work on private homes as well as faculty housing at the Institute for Advanced Study, an addition to the Lawrenceville School’s Kirby Math and Science Center, and renovations at the Princeton Marriott and YWCA Princeton. Signed copies of “Hillier: Selected Works,” a recently published monograph of projects undertaken by the husband-and-wife team of J. Robert and Barbara A. Hillier during the last 25 years, are for sale as part of registration for the party for $50.

Proceeds from the event benefit the Arts Council’s Anne Reeves Artist in Residence Program and other outreach initiatives. Tickets are $150, with sponsorship opportunities starting at $500. Tombola entries are $350 each.

Arts Council of Princeton, 102 Witherspoon Street, Princeton. 609-924-8777. www.artscouncilofprinceton.org.

Passage Theatre Company

Trenton’s Passage Theatre holds its annual gala at the Trenton Country Club on Saturday, April 6, at 6 p.m.

The evening starts with cocktails and a silent auction, followed by an awards presentation and live entertainment during dinner. Silent auction winners will be announced before the evening concludes at 9 p.m.

This year’s honorees include Maria Richardson, Patron of the Arts Excellence Award; Phillip McConnell, Outstanding Emerging Artisan Award; and Wise Intelligent & Culture Freedom, The Poor Righteous Teachers.

Richardson is the City of Trenton director of recreation, natural resources and culture and the acting director of health and human services. A statement from Passage lauds her as “a good friend to the theater, to the arts community in Trenton, and to Trenton youth and families. For over three decades of service, Maria has been a tireless advocate in municipal government, the private sector, and academia.”

Passage materials explain that McConnell is a “multidisciplinary visual artist, filmmaker, writer, and spoken word artist,” with a focus on Glitch Art, “the aesthetic of digital errors, created by corrupting the data of pictures … Phillip ultimately wants people to see that thinking abstract or discussing emotions within art should be a normal thing for a black creative and that fellow black creatives shouldn’t have to always discuss trauma within their work.”

Wise Intelligent and Culture Freedom of the Poor Righteous Teachers, a hip hop group originally from Trenton, have been center stage at Passage this season with their music serving as the backdrop for the world premiere of “Ghetto Gods in Divineland” earlier this year.

“Apart from launching his own record label — Intelligent Muzik Group (2007) — for nearly 25 years, Wise Intelligent has leveraged his business sense and recognition as a Hip-Hop pioneer into social entrepreneurship, activism, youth advocacy, and the development of educational and entrepreneurship programs that train and inspire from the unique vantage point of Hip Hop culture,” Passage materials state.

A Trenton native, “Culture Freedom, along with his wife, were youth ministry leaders for 15 years and he also was a mentor for the Armed & Ready Program for young men ages 7-17 in Antioch, TN. Culture Freedom has experience publicly speaking to various groups,” including at-risk students involved in organizations from Trenton to California.

Passage Theater, Trenton’s only community theater, has a stated mission to create and produce “socially relevant plays and arts programming that deeply resonate with and reflect our community. Through professional productions, educational programs, and community engagement, we present diverse voices that inspire audiences and invigorate the art of live theater,” per its website. Proceeds from the gala support its continued programming.

The Trenton Country Club is located at 201 Sullivan Way in West Trenton. Tickets are $125. Registration is available online or in person at the box office on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Call ahead at 609-392-0766.

Passage Theater, Mill Hill Playhouse, 205 East Front Street, Trenton. www.passagetheatre.org/2024gala.

American Repertory Ballet

American Repertory Ballet celebrates its 70th anniversary with a Platinum Jubilee Gala on Saturday, April 20, at 6:30 p.m. at Jasna Polana in Princeton.

Reporter Dan Aubrey explained the journey that led to the nonprofit dance company’s founding in a 2013 article marking the 50th anniversary of “Nutcracker” productions at McCarter Theater:

“One dreamer was Audree Estey, the Canadian-born founder and director of Princeton Ballet Society that, after a few name variations, became the professional American Repertory Ballet (which maintains the Princeton Ballet School).

“After a typical nomadic dance experience — studying in Winnipeg, performing with a Hollywood dance company, touring the vaudeville circuit, and dancing for Fox Films — Audree Phipps married Lawrenceville School English teacher Wendell ‘Bud’ Estey and moved to the Princeton area in 1933.

“Here she began providing classes at the Lawrenceville School and seemingly any place she could use, including the garage of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer. She also continued her study, including in the early 1950s with prominent choreographer Antony Tudor at Jacob’s Pillow in Massachusetts. It was then that she began to dream of creating her Princeton company.”

Princeton Ballet School was founded in 1954 to offer dance classes; American Repertory Ballet, the professional dance company, was established in 1963 as the Princeton Ballet Society.

The black tie-optional celebration features dinner and remarks by current ARB trustees Nancy S. MacMillan, Penelope Lattimer, and Susan Croll in honor of the evening’s honorees, the chairs of ARB’s board from 1954 to the present. The festivities also include live music, dancing, and a silent auction.

Jasna Polana is located at 4519 Province Line Road, Princeton. Individual tickets are $300. Sponsorship opportunities range from $2,000 to $20,000.

American Repertory Ballet, 301 North Harrison Street, Princeton. www.arballet.org.

HomeFront

Lawrence-based nonprofit HomeFront’s Women’s Initiative holds a celebratory Spring Luncheon that spotlights the goals and impact of HomeFront’s children’s programming as experienced by and expressed through the voices of the families it serves on Sunday, April 21, from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The event includes coffee, cocktails, and mocktails followed by a buffet brunch. Tickets include access to view the sculpture grounds. All proceeds benefit HomeFront’s Joy, Hopes & Dreams educational and cultural enrichment programming.

The mission of HomeFront’s Women’s Initiative, as stated on its website, is “to mobilize a group of 1,000 caring and committed women of all ages who will lend their expertise and support to help alleviate family homelessness in our community. The Women’s Initiative works in concert with HomeFront’s rich array of programs and services. Through these efforts, we strengthen our community, making it a better place to live, work and raise a family.”

Grounds For Sculpture is located at 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton. Tickets cost $75 per person or $750 for a table of 10. To register or for more information, call 609-989-9417, extension 107, or email PaulaA@HomeFrontNJ.org.

HomeFront, 1880 Princeton Avenue, Lawrenceville. 609-989-9417. www.homefrontnj.org.

Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve

Sometimes the party venue provides itself. Bowman Hill Wildflower Preserve hosts its Happy Trails: Spring Blooms Tour and Al Fresco Dining Fundraiser on Saturday, April 27, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at the preserve in New Hope, Pennsylvania.

The evening starts with an after-hours guided trail walk led by interpretive naturalists from the preserve with a focus on spring ephemerals. These native plants that bloom in early spring but quickly return to dormancy will be in peak bloom.

Guests are invited to enjoy a cocktail or mocktail on the trail. A seated dinner catered by Max Hansen and served in the meadow follows the guided walk.

Tickets cost $1,250 per person. Make reservations by April 1 by contacting Sarah Norris, director of donor and partner relations, at norris@bhwp.org.

Proceeds from the event benefit the preserve, a 134-acre space dedicated to Pennsylvania’s native plants. The preserve — which, according to its website, is the only accredited botanical museum in the country dedicated to native plants — is home to more than 700 of Pennsylvania’s 2,000 native plant species.

Bowman’s Hill Wildflower Preserve, 1635 River Road, New Hope, Pennsylvania. 215-862-2924. www.bhwp.org.

United Way of Greater Mercer County

The United Way of Greater Mercer County (UWGMC) board of directors hosts its fourth annual United in Impact Awards on Tuesday, April 30, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. at Grounds For Sculpture in Hamilton.

The annual event celebrates community champions who demonstrate leadership, passion, and a commitment to a thriving and equitable community in their everyday life.

This year’s community champions are:

Patrick L. Ryan, president and CEO of First Bank, Live United Corporate Award; Ida Jackson Woods, assistant vice president and chief diversity officer for ETS, Advocate Award; Denise Mariani, civil trial attorney at Stark & Stark, Community Quarterback Award; and Edward W. Bullock, president of the board of trustees for The Trenton Literacy Movement, Eugene Marsh Community Impact Award.

Brenda Ross-Dulan, founder and managing principal of the Ross-Dulan Group, serves as the event’s mistress of ceremony.

Proceeds from the event directly provide food, rental assistance, health insurance access, tax preparation services, children’s books, school supplies and other resources to help individuals and families get ahead. There are more than 60,000 families in Mercer County struggling to make ends meet.

Grounds For Sculpture is located at 80 Sculptors Way, Hamilton. Tickets are $150, and sponsorship opportunities are available.

More information: uwgmc.org/unitedimpactawards.

Isles

Trenton-based nonprofit Isles hosts its spring celebration on Saturday, May 4, at 6 p.m. at the Social Profit Center at Mill One in Hamilton.

The event features locally sourced springtime cuisine, fun cocktails, and music at the historic mill that Isles renovated into a community hub for nonprofits, social impact offices, and artists as well as its own headquarters.

Being honored at the event are U.S. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman, a Democrat representing the 12 Congressional District, and Stacy Denton, director of TRiO Upward Bound at Mercer County Community College, a year-round program for high school students from low income families in which neither parent holds a bachelor’s degree to pursuing post-secondary education.

Proceeds from the event benefit Isles, the 43-year-old community development and environmental organization with a mission to foster “self-reliant families and healthy, sustainable communities,” according to its website.

Mill One is located at 1 North Johnston Avenue in Hamilton. Tickets for the event are $125. A commemorative Isles tote bag is available for an additional $50. The bags were created by Inspired Threads, a Hamilton-based nonprofit that employs people with disabilities to create eco-friendly, upcycled products from discarded fabric scraps.

More information: www.isles.org.

The Jewish Center of Princeton

The Jewish Center celebrates 75 years — its diamond jubilee — on Saturday, May 4, with a cruise-themed gala.

The event titled “Sail the Chai Seas!” will turn The Jewish Center’s Nassau Street campus into a cruise ship along with two excursion destinations. Guests will be welcomed to the event along the “gangplank,” purchase duty free goods from promenade shop vendors in the lobby, enjoy cocktails in the Lido Bar and Lounge, gamble the night away in the Atlantic Deck casino and Sky Deck sports bar, enjoy a delicious buffet dinner and dancing to the tunes of DJ TY in the grand ballroom, lounge in the Empress Deck piano/karaoke bar, be entertained by Mentalist Ben Seidman, and take excursions to both Paris and the Islands. The cruise will set sail at 7:30 p.m.

Princeton’s first Jewish congregation emerged in the mid-1920s, and a growing Jewish population led to the formal creation of the Jewish Center in 1949. In 1958 the congregation moved to its current Nassau Street space, which underwent additional expansions in 1983 and 1990.

Tickets for the event are $175 per person, with raffle tickets available for an additional $100. Sponsorship packages, which include multiple event tickets as well as recognition in print, online, and with a carved brick in the Jewish Center’s courtyard, range from $540 to $75,000. For more information about sponsorship opportunities, contact executive director Joel Berger at jberger@thejewishcenter.org.

Jewish Center of Princeton, 435 Nassau Street, Princeton. 609-921-0100. thejewishcenter.org/diamond-jubilee.

Housing Initiatives of Princeton

Housing Initiatives of Princeton holds its spring garden party and fundraiser on Sunday, May 5, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Princeton home of Tibbie and Greg Samios. The event includes light fare, drinks, and a presentation by John N. Robinson III.

Robinson is associate faculty in American studies and assistant professor of sociology at Princeton University. He studies the racial underpinnings of money and markets, with emphasis on housing and credit policies. Robinson’s current book project explores the ongoing rise of the affordable housing industry in the U.S. and its intersections with racial and economic inequality.

The event benefits the nonprofit founded in 2001 to assist local individuals and families experiencing housing insecurity build toward a sustainable future via stable housing, better employment, and a network of support services.

HIP provides services including transitional housing and temporary rental assistance and engages in advocacy efforts to raise awareness of insufficient housing options and challenges facing the working poor.

Individual tickets are $90. Sponsorship opportunities range from $150 to $1,000.

More information: www.housinginitiativesofprinceton.org.

Capital Harmony Works

Capital Harmony Works, the Trenton-based nonprofit that encompasses the Trenton Children’s Chorus, Trenton Music Makers, and Music for the Very Young, holds its “One Voice Many Sounds” gala on Tuesday, May 7, at 5:30 p.m. at Cooper’s Riverview, adjacent to the Trenton Thunder ballpark in Trenton.

The evening of music and mingling is hosted by Bradd Marquis, a Trenton-born singer, songwriter, and producer who has released several albums of his own music and last year toured a tribute show to influential soul musician Sam Cooke. The evening starts with cocktails and appetizers, followed by dinner and live entertainment from the Trenton Children’s Chorus and Trenton Music Makers.

Proceeds from the gala benefit the organization’s decades-long history of providing free music education to children and families in Trenton. The Trenton Children’s Chorus, founded in 1989, is a nationally recognized group that has performed at the White House and the United Nations. In addition to choral music education, the program provides instruction in drumming and keyboard, music theory, and assistance with school work, standardized tests, and college admissions.

The Trenton Music Makers, part of the El Sistema program, teaches the values of leadership and teamwork through instruction in violin, viola, cello and bass instruments as well as musicianship and composition.

Music for the Very Young is a program that incorporates music education into pre-K classrooms in Trenton.

Cooper’s Riverview is located at 50 Riverview Plaza, Trenton. Tickets for the gala start at $150 per person. Sponsorships are available at levels ranging from $1,000 to $25,000.

Capital Harmony Works, The Social Profit Center at Mill One, 1 North Johnston Avenue, Suite A209, Trenton. 609-394-8700. capitalharmony.works.

McCarter Theatre Center

The biggest party of the year at Princeton’s McCarter Theater is its annual gala, taking place Saturday, May 11, at the theater and under the stars.

The centerpiece of the evening is a cabaret performance by Tony Award-winning Broadway star Laura Benanti. Prior to the show, guests enjoy a cocktail reception and three-course dinner featuring top-shelf wines. Drinks and dancing follow the performance.

Benanti first rose to fame as a teenager playing the role of Maria in Broadway’s “The Sound of Music” and has starred in 10 subsequent shows, including a Tony Award-winning performance in “Gypsy.” Her recent film roles include Sony Pictures’ “No Hard Feelings” and Netflix’s “Worth,” and she can also be seen in Max’s “The Gilded Age” and Hulu’s “Life & Beth.” Most recently, she created, wrote, and starred in “Nobody Cares,” an original musical comedy show for Audible.

Proceeds from the gala benefit the nonprofit theater’s programming, arts education initiatives, and community engagement activities. Tickets start at $300, which excludes dinner service. Individual tickets including dinner range from $600 to $2,000.

McCarter Theater, 91 University Place, Princeton. 609-258-2787. www.mccarter.org.

Morven Museum & Garden

Morven Museum & Garden’s annual Morven in May spring garden party takes on special significance this year as it also launches anniversary celebrations for Morven’s 20th year as a museum. The party is happening rain or shine on Friday, May 17, from 7 to 9 p.m. on the museum grounds.

Peonies will be in full bloom for the party, which also includes food, drinks, music, and the chance to see the special exhibit “Morven Revealed,” showcasing rarely exhibited objects and photographs of the mansion and its notable residents through the years.

Morven was built by Declaration of Independence signer Richard Stockton in the 1750s on property granted to his family by William Penn in 1701. After a fire, it was rebuilt and named Morven in 1758. Four subsequent generations of Stocktons lived in the home before it was leased to General Robert Wood Johnson in 1928. From 1945 to 1981 it was home to five governors as New Jersey’s first governor’s mansion. The property was restored and reopened as a museum and garden in 2004.

Proceeds from the garden party support the continued upkeep of the property and the museum’s exhibitions. In addition to celebrating its 20th anniversary, Morven is also preparing for special programming in honor of the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026.

Tickets for the garden party range from $250 to $20,000.

Morven Museum & Garden, 55 Stockton Street, Princeton. 609-924-8144. www.morven.org.