Allied Arts

Last night we gathered with our ARTini planning committee to celebrate the most successful ARTini ever!

I’m so pumped, excited and thrilled to announce that the 2010 ARTini event raised nearly $24,000 for Allied Arts. Holy cow!

We can’t thank the planning committee enough for all of their hard work. A huge shout out to our fearless leaders – ARTini co-chairs Misty Garrett and Darren Holland.

And thanks to the following committee members:
• Brooke Benson
• Melinda Brewer
• Trevor Bruner
• Leslie Campbell
• Joshua Fahrenbruck
• Bailey Gordon
• Adrienne Husted
• Leslie Kerns
• Amanda Kirkpatrick
• Mary Margaret Knight
• Lindsay McIntyre
• Casi Peters
• J.W. Peters
• Tyler Smith
• Lesley St. John
• Lindsey Vanhooser
• Zack Zuhdi

Also, thank you to the 10 fabulous restaurants that participated: 1492: New World Latin Cuisine, Deep Fork Grill, Iguana Mexican Grill, Paseo Grill, Picasso Cafe, Prohibition Room, Rococo Restaurant and Fine Wine, Trattoria Il Centro and Western Concepts Restaurant Group.

And of course, thank you to the artists who showcased their masterpieces at our art auction.

Check out ARTini photos on our Flickr page or on Facebook. And thanks to Traction Marketing for their amazing design work and for hosting us at their amazing office last night.

Way to go Allied Arts Young Patrons! www.alliedartsokc.com/young_patrons

Whew! We had one heck of a night Saturday night. ARTIni was AMAZING! Hundreds of guests enjoyed martinis from 10 different restaurants, more than 30 pieces of art and dancing withThe Groove Merchants.

Props to the restaurants for their amazing spirit. We saw everything from “Back to the Future” themed martinis (full of pop rocks, I might add!) to Roman-inspired cocktails. But, Deep Fork’s Alice in Wonderland martinis stole the show, winning both the Best ARTini and People’s Choice awards.

Congrats to Deep Fork Grill and thank you to all of the restaurants, artists, raffle donors and guests who participated and attended ARTini this year.

We’ll post photos soon and announce a total raised ASAP!



Kudos to Deep Fork Grill!

For added fun, this year's ARTini raffle - appropriately dubbed "Raffletini" - features 11 AMAZING prizes and packages that you could win.

We wanted to highlight one prize in particular - John Hardy pink topaz earrings donated by Samuel Gordon. Get this, these earrings are worth $2,000!

Raffletini tickets are $5 each (or 5 for $20), meaning you could win these gorgeous earrings for as little as $5! Best to buy many tickets though, to help up your chances. :)

Below is a picture of the earrings. As usual, this one was taken with my iPhone so it certainly does not do them justice. Can you believe how big those stones are?!



Come see these gorgeous earrings for yourself tomorrow night at ARTini. Thank you to Samual Gordon Jewelers for this amazing donation and to the other businesses who donated prizes. We appreciate you so much!

Check out www.AlliedArtini.com for ARTini details. 

By now, you should have a clue that ARTini is all about the martinis, but did you know that the restaurants are vying for one of 2 ARTini awards?

Your vote decides which martini wins “People’s Choice” award, while celebrity judges choose the “Best ARTini.”

This year’s celebrity judges are:
• Margaret Croom – Nosey Parker Guidebook Author
• Scott Mitchell – “Your Vote Counts” TV Show Host
• Angie Mock – Fox 25 Morning Show Anchor
• “Big Willy” Shakespeare – Oklahoma Shakespeare in the Park
• Scott Hines – “In Your Corner” TV Reporter

Come to ARTini and cast your vote! There will be 11 amazing martinis to choose from! Get more information/buy tickets at www.AlliedArtini.com

I have to admit that one of the things I am most excited about ARTini is the silent art auction. We have been laboring away to collect amazing pieces of art – nearly 30 different paintings, sculpture, photography and mixed media works of art.

I guarantee that there will be something to suit everyone’s taste. That’s what is so fun about this auction – it is very eclectic!

Another fun aspect of the auction is that it is affordable. All starting bids are around $200 or less and some of the art is worth $800-1200!

Below are just a few pictures of the art up for auction. Please excuse the quality – my iPhone camera could never capture how beautiful these actually are! 

Get more information/buy tickets at www.AlliedArtini.com.



This is an amazing purple/blue bowl made out of hand-blown glass. Blue Sage Studios (Andrew Boatman) created this amazing work of art!



Sue Hale painted this buffalo. Beware - I LOVE this painting so we may get into a bidding war.

 

My friend Sean Jackson painted this piece on a piece of hardboard. It has such cool dimension - everyone at the office loves it!

ARTini is OKC’s largest martini tasting, but you won’t be sipping on plain ole cocktails. Rather, 11 restaurants are creating original martini recipes to serve to YOU! Each martini will be unique and you’ll be able to vote for your favorite to win the People’s Choice award.

This year’s participating restaurants are TOP NOTCH. We’re talking the best of the best of OKC restaurants:

• Picasso Café
• ROCOCO Restaurant and Fine Wine
• Bin 73
• Trattoria Il Centro
• Prohibition Room
• Paseo Grill
• Iguana Mexican Grill
• Deep Fork
• 1492 New World Latin Cuisine
• Western Concepts Restaurant Group
• Museum Café

And to make the event that much cooler, each of the above restaurants will serve an appetizer along with their martini.

Did we mention the event is all-you-can-eat/drink? Within your limits of course! Get more information/buy tickets at www.AlliedArtini.com.

We’re dedicating this week on the blog to ARTini. Don’t worry, you’ll get your usual favorites – Ticket Thursday and Final Word Friday – but you’ll also get an extra helping of ARTini know-how.

ARTini is less than 2 weeks away and we can’t wait! Held on Saturday, May 15th from 7-11 pm, ARTini is the premier arts fundraiser for young professionals. ARTini mixes Oklahoma’s largest martini tasting with live entertainment and a silent art auction.

Each day we’ll report on a different aspect of ARTini – from the participating restaurants to the live music to the artwork in the auction. And you’ll always have the chance to buy ARTini tickets at www.AlliedArtini.com. All ARTini proceeds benefit Allied Arts and the 20 arts organizations it supports.

Who went to ARTini last year? Leave a comment with your favorite part of the party!

Last night, Allied Arts hosted more than 75 young professionals at Dr. Ed Shadid’s home in the Founders Tower.

During the “Happy Hour at the Tower” event, guests enjoyed live music by pianist David Hillis and received a preview of some of the artwork to be featured at the ARTini art auction.

In between mingling and enjoying the penthouse views, the young professionals also learned about Allied Arts’ Young Patrons group from current members. 

Below are a few photos from the event, but check out others on our Flickr page. If you’d like more information about Young Patrons, please visit: www.alliedartsokc.com/young_patrons.



Casi and J.W. Peters (Casi and J.W. are Young Patrons co-chairs with Zack Zuhdi)



Adrienne Ahpeatone, Misty Garrett and Darren Holland (Misty and Darren are co-chairing ARTini and Adrienne is on the ARTini committee)



Josh Parsons, Chris Browner and Derek Sparks (thanks for coming guys!)



Mary Margaret Knight and Tiffany McGowen (Mary Margaret is one of our campaign volunteer superstars and we LOVED that she brought Tiffany to the event!)

For all of you arts fans age 40 and under, there is a GREAT way to show your support for the arts in OKC. Join the Young Patrons - Allied Arts young professionals group. Member benefits include monthly arts activities, invitations to Circle Club events and two tickets to ARTini.

Interested? Come to our recruiting event on Tuesday, April 27th. Details are below! Remember to RSVP to rsvp@alliedartsokc.com.