Casita Maria Gala Cocktail Kickoff
Get your bachata together. Jackie Weld Drake, longtime chair of Casita Maria Center for Arts & Education hosted a cocktail party to kickoff the upcoming Fiesta! Gala. Jackie opened her Upper Eastside home to celebrate on the evening of September 13th in Manhattan.
Fiesta! Gala will be held at the landmark The Plaza Hotel on October 10th. New York City’s first and oldest Latino-serving charity, Casita Maria is a safe and welcoming community space, enriching and uplifting youth and families toward success through shared cultural, art, and educational experiences and programs.
What began in public school teachers, the Sullivan sister’s Harlem tenement apartment is now a state-of-the-art facility encompassing performance spaces, exhibition gallery, dance, and music studios, and more on its Simpson Street campus of Hunts Point.
The anchor of the South Bronx community for 89 years, Casita Maria showcases the beauty, life, and creativity that is embedded in every block.
As waiters passed trays of wine and hors douerves of sushi, empanadas, salmon with creme fraiche on cucumber rounds, and mini tacos, the committee members George Corton, Darlyn Portes, and Sissi Fleitas circulated among the very lively crowd as well as Casita Board Members Martha Bograd, Michéle Gerber Klein, Alberto Mariaca, Ben Rodriguez-Cubenas, and Jean Shafiroff.
The intimate party was energized with conversations on everybody’s summer vacations; trips to Greece, the horse farm in Dutchess County, Europe, and the Hamptons in other words, the summer is over and gala season has begun.
The party was a huge turnout with everyone talking and standing moving room to room including Estrellita Brodsky, Susan Cheever, Anencia Dixon, Lee Fryd, Susan Gutfreund, Ann Nitze, Marc Rosen, Victor Roquette, Daisy Soros, and Barbara Tober, joined by Casita Maria Executive Director Felix Urrutia and Artistic Director Gail Heidel.
Fiesta Casita Maria’s 89th anniversary Fiesta! Gala will honor Grammy winning producer Nelson Albareda, Dr. Ramon Tallaj, the founder of SOMOS network, and Ambassador David and Jennifer Fischer at The Plaza Hotel on October 10th.
Fiesta! 2023 will be a very elegant black tie affair that ends with a blowout of hot dancing to live Latin music. Vamos!
PHOTOS BY ANNIE WATT AGENCY/JOHN SANDERSON
