BBC Russian

By Kristen Tauer on September 23, 2020

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The Planned Parenthood of Greater New York ChoiceWorks gala fund-raiser looked a lot different than last fall — and at less than two hours long, was much shorter — but still managed to draw strong support. “Showing up” for a cause just takes a slightly different form during a pandemic.

The virtual kickoff event on Monday night, which honored Two Palms Founders David and Evelyn Lasry, included a live text-based chat as a video reel played alongside. While the experience wasn’t exactly interactive — it was hosted on a webinar platform and there was no live video stream of participants, nor a list of who of the 545 RSVPs was watching — there were still plenty of celebrity cameos. Alan Cumming, Sophia Bush, Alysia Reiner, Kristen Bell, Gretchen Mol, Elizabeth Banks, Claire Danes and Amy Sherald recorded short video messages to lend their support, and Mol and Danes also modeled a T-shirt designed by Narciso Rodriguez and Cindy Sherman benefiting PPGNY, available for purchase online. The evening concluded with a DJ set by Questlove.

The evening also marked the launch of the ChoiceWorks art auction, hosted by Sotheby’s through Oct. 5. The auction includes work donated by artists including Cecily Brown, Judy Chicago, Dan Colen and Nate Lowman, Carroll Dunham, Jasper Johns, Rashid Johnson, Jeff Koons, Barbara Kruger, Sol Lewitt, Marilyn Minter, Raymond Pettibon, Richard Prince, Ed Ruscha, Dana Schutz, Laurie Simmons and others.

To date, the event has raised more than $200,000.