I had so much fun planning, consulting and designing the 2017 Gala for Raven Theatre company in Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood. (I'm also working with them this year for their 2018 Gala in April!) As a theater nerd growing up acting since the age of 10, I have a soft spot in my heart for theatre organizations. In 2017, Raven Theatre was going through a lot of changes so what better than to have the Gala at the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum in Chicago's gorgeous Lincoln Park neighborhood and make the theme of the event: Metamorphosis!
The Nature Museum is a wonderful venue to host an event. You can have cocktail hour amongst their exhibits, dinner on the terrace and meetings in their ballroom. It's a perfect space for any corporate or nonprofit organization because of it's full AV capabilities. I've even had the pleasure running the venue as a manager for several events so I know it in and out.
My absolute favorite part of the Nature Museum is their Butterfly Haven! They offer this interactive, gorgeous activity for anyone who holds an event here. Guests can walk into the haven and interact with the butterflies which creates a wonderful memory for all. I mean look how much fun our guests had!
One of the ways I incorporated the theme into the event was creating a unique fundraising activity for the guests! I designed a "Butterfly Tree" that was placed directy outside of the Haven. Whenever a guest walked out a volunteer said: "Buy a butterfly for Raven!" Each butterfly was designated towards an item that the theater really needed like office supplies, props, costume or even set pieces! We raised over $500 from this activity alone!
If you are looking to shake up your Gala look no further than fierce. We can help you come up with unique fundraising activities that your guests will love - helping you raise more funds for your very important organization! We will also help you plan your event helping you manage your very important budget, and finding you a venue and vendors that work within that budget. We will even be there the day of your event to run the show!