Tracy Morgan, Kerry Washington and Sunny Hostin were all front and center at the Bronx Children’s Museum Gala at Tribeca Rooftop this week which raised a staggering $520,000.
“Dream Big” was the motto of a Bronx Children’s Museum program that introduces the borough’s kids to music, art and a world of possibilities. “Put your mind to it” and you can accomplish anything, they’re told.
The Museum board dreamed big and presented a rollicking evening of celebrity-studded fun for 350 guests including BCM board member and Bronx-born Sunny Hostin, co-host of ABC’s The View, as emcee of this first-ever gala.
Actor, comedian and Bronxite Tracy Morgan was a passionate auctioneer, dispensing a unique series of items which included: a visit to the set of Scandal in Los Angeles that twice sold to lucky bidders for $11,000 each, a meet-and-greet at Jennifer Lopez’s “All I Have” show in Las Vegas that sold for $10,000, premium tickets for four to top-rated Broadway shows including Hamilton, Present Laughter, and Kinky Boots that sold for $4,000, and a ride in a fully-restored WWII plane owned by honoree Rafael Collado which sold for $6,500 to Swizz Beatz.
Morgan was joined on stage by Board Member Richard Stein who helped raise an additional $16,000 through the Fund-A-Need auction.
The event which helps to fund access to the arts, music, dance, environmental studies, and STEAM-based exhibits and programs for the 250,000+ children of the Bronx, honored Richard Abrons and Bronx natives Kerry Washington and Rafael Collado on their outstanding generosity and commitment to the Bronx and the completion of Bronx Children’s Museum’s building and the continuation of existing programming throughout the borough.
“What this Museum has the possibility to do,” honoree Kerry Washington told the crowd, “is to say to our children of the Bronx, we matter, your own community matters, this place that you call home matters and because of that, possibilities are endless and you can go anywhere and be excited about who you are today and who you will be tomorrow.”
Guests were treated to an extraordinary performance from a trio led by renowned Bronx-born educator and jazz pianist and composer, Dr. Valerie Capers as well as one by fellow Bronx native, Swizz Beatz.
“Being from the Bronx, and being an advocate for the borough, I am excited to see the completion of what is set to be a legacy. This Museum allows the children of the Bronx to express themselves through a different medium,” said Swizz Beatz.
Pictured:
Morgan, Washington, Hostin