BRATTLEBORO — The Brattleboro Museum & Art Center (BMAC) is holding its Fall Gala on Friday, Sept. 24, at 6 p.m., at Alyson's Orchard in Walpole, N.H.
All proceeds will support the museum's education programs and its work on behalf of emerging and underrepresented artists and curators.
Additionally, the event will honor BMAC chief curator and former director Mara Williams, who is retiring at the end of 2021 after more than 30 years of service to BMAC.
The event will include drinks, appetizers, and dessert; a silent and live auction of art, wine, and vacation getaways; and live music and dancing.
Tickets are $75 per person or $500 for a table of eight and may be purchased at brattleboromuseum.org or by calling 802-257-0124, ext. 101. All attendees must provide proof of vaccination.
In celebrating Williams, Lichtenfeld called her impact on the cultural life of Brattleboro and Vermont as a whole “staggering to consider.”
For those anticipating sentimental speechifying, however, Lichtenfeld is quick to note, “Mara will allow no such thing. She much prefers roasts to toasts.”
The Brattleboro-based caterer A Vermont Table will provide appetizers and desserts for the Gala. Wines have been specially selected by David Howell of Walpole, N.H., a former BMAC board member and co-author of The Winemaker's Dance: Exploring Terroir in the Napa Valley.
Howell has also procured a number of rare wines to be auctioned during the event. Several have attained cult status among wine connoisseurs, including a magnum of Screaming Eagle's 2018 “The Flight,” valued at $2,500.
The silent and live auctions will also include original artwork and fine crafts by Michael Abrams, Isabelle Abramson, Bruce Berg, Josh and Marta Bernbaum, Christie Herbert, Darren Honey, Julia Jensen, Wolf Kahn, Evie Lovett, Rachel Portesi, Renate Aller, and others, as well as vacation getaways, art and music lessons, tickets to sporting events, and more.
Online bidding is also available through Thursday, Sept. 23 at 9 p.m., with auction activity transferring to the live event the following evening.
For more information, visit brattleboromuseum.org.