Le Bal Révolution – the French Cultural Center’s major fundraising gala – will storm the Liberty Hotel on Saturday, May 12, from 6:30 to 11 p.m.
Le Bal Committee members (left to right): Barbara Bouquegneau, executive director of the French Cultural Center; Deb Hanley, co-chair; Martha Volpe, co-chair; and Suki de Bragança, honorary chair
This year’s Co-Chairs Deb Hanley, Karen Rotenberg, and Martha Volpe, along with Honorary Co-Chair Suki de Bragança, and the French Cultural Center’s Executive Director Barbara Bouquegneau, will preside over an evening of cocktails, dinner, dancing, and a silent auction.
Evoking the feel of the Bastille fortress of 1789, this year’s French Revolution-themed gala will be set at the former Charles Street Jail. Behind the bars and bricks of the hotel guests will enjoy cocktails on the fourth-floor parapet and explore four, themed rooms: the Hall of Mirrors, the Hall of Plenty or Louis XVI’s Games Room, the Bastille and the Serment du Jeu de Paume (Tennis Court Oath). In addition to an open bar, dinner, and music by Jesse Kaminsky, the gala’s silent auction offers notable items including private shed tickets for a James Taylor concert at Tanglewood; rare wines of the noted 2014 Domaine Leflaive Bâtard-Montrachet; tickets to a performance by the Paul Taylor Dance Company in New York; a private tour of the Museum of Fina Arts, Boston; weekend getaways to ski and sea private homes; and more.
Since the late 1970s, Le Bal has been an annual fundraising event bringing together francophiles and francophones. Its senior and junior committees are comprised of both long-term supporters, new friends and some of Boston’s foremost young philanthropists. Proceeds from the event will go towards the Mosaïque Cultural Fund, which supports the French Cultural Center’s diverse and year-round programs including art exhibits, author lectures and conferences, panel discussions, concerts and family events.
The French Cultural Center boasts the first French library in New England and the second largest private French library in the country. The recent visit of President Macron underscores our long-term relationship with America’s first and oldest friends, the people of France.
To purchase tickets or for more information, visit frenchculturalcenter.org or contact Amanda McGuire, events manager, at [email protected] or 617-912-0400.
Le Bal Committee members (left to right): Barbara Bouquegneau, executive director of the French Cultural Center; Deb Hanley, co-chair; Martha Volpe, co-chair; and Suki de Bragança, honorary chair