The British Museum hosted its inaugural fundraising ball yesterday, a glitzy event that has been touted by many observers as London’s answer to New York’s Met Gala.
The museum, which boasts one of the largest permanent collections on the planet, said the ball aims to “celebrate London’s status as one of the world’s leading cultural capitals” and become a new fixture of its social calendar.
The theme, less ambitious than the Met’s elaborate fashion cues, is “pink” — inspired by the “colors and light of India,” as the museum’s exhibition, Ancient India: Living Traditions draws to a close.
Photo: Reuters
It will be chaired by arts patron Isha Ambani, daughter of Asia’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani, director of Reliance Industries.
The ball’s committee features veteran British supermodel Naomi Campbell, Italian fashion designer Miuccia Prada, Spanish designer Manolo Blahnik and Bollywood actress Sonam Kapoor.
Walpole CEO Helen Brocklebank, who is on the ball’s organizing committee, said London’s social calendar has “always lacked a big crescendo moment... until now.”
Describing the ball as “Met Gala ambition with UK uniqueness,” Brocklebank said that the event is “set to become London’s centerpiece.”
Highlighting the involvement of prominent writers, artists and architects, British Museum Director Nicholas Cullinan said the ball would stand apart from the Met Gala.
The London event would be “a celebration not only of this extraordinary institution and our shared humanity, but of our city and country,” he said.
The London ball would also be far cheaper than the Met Gala.
Tickets to the fundraiser were sold privately to about 800 people, costing ￡2,000 (US$2,685) per head, compared with the US$75,000 price tag for a Met Gala pass.
Attendees would enjoy a drinks reception and dinner seated amid the museum’s artifacts — including in the Duveen Gallery, which houses the disputed Parthenon Marbles — with a silent auction running through the evening.
On auction would be a portrait of the highest bidder’s pet by British artist Tracey Emin and access to Coco Chanel’s Paris apartment, Cullinan said.
The museum said the ball, which would coincide with the London Film Festival and Frieze Art Fair, would help raise “vital funds” for its international partnerships, including plans to host the 11th-century Bayeux Tapestry next year, on loan from France.
Like others in the UK, the British Museum has been hit by shrinking government subsidies over the past two decades, and is also likely eyeing new private funding streams for a massive redevelopment project.
It has also faced criticism from climate groups for a long-standing partnership with oil giant BP, after other institutions including the National Portrait Gallery in London cut ties.
“As the UK government continues to slash public funding for museums, the country’s cultural institutions are rushing to adopt US-style fundraising models, including galas and endowments,” museum reporter Jo Lawson-Tancred said.
Just this year, London’s National Gallery secured unprecedented private funding for its expansion following a fundraising campaign, while the Tate launched an endowment fund to secure its “long-term future.”
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