Transformations and Dramatic Statements

Philadelphia Mural Arts Wall Ball

May 12, 2010

The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program asked Eventions to Help with the annual fundraiser event, the Wall Ball. The Wall Ball was attended by over 350 people at the Loews Hotel in Philadelphia. The Mural Arts Program’s mission is to engage in art education and community public art collaborations, and to increase public access to art. Since the Mural Arts Program began, they have produced over 2,800 murals and educated over 20,000 under-served youth in neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia.

About two weeks before the event, The director of Special Events for Mural Arts called the office and said “I have this crazy idea. Can we hang one of our real murals up for the Wall Ball.” When we got down to the specifics of it, it was a monstrous project. The mural, currently in 30 different panels, was installed in the Galleria Mall in Philadelphia. The overall size of the mural was 30 foot tall by 120 foot long. That’s a BIG mural.

Here are some pictures of the mural as installed at the Galleria.

The murals are painted on a canvas type of material on multiple panels and then installed at the mural site like wall paper. This particular mural was painted by over 15 different artists at different times.

After some careful measurements of the Millennium Ballroom at the Loews, we figured out a way to make it happen. Now down to the logistics… there was a previous event booked in the ballroom until 3:00 PM that day and the wall ball began at 5:30 PM. Could we install the rigging and make it happen in such a short time? OF COURSE! Our lighting designers specified a lighting plan to make the mural POP. We also provided a dual screen projection system for their presentation in another ballroom and two separate sound systems for the event. But the main attraction was the mural.

CATEGORY: Behind the Scenes, Community, Innovations, Our Stage This Weekend, What We're Up To

Oscar Party with VOA and Channel 6

March 08, 2010

Eventions teamed up with the Volunteers of America, Channel 6 WPVI and the staff at the Loews Hotel to produce Philadelphia’s only officially sanctioned telecast of the Oscars. The Volunteers of America shelter homeless people and help them find permanent housing. They also help people struggling with behavioral health issues or development disabilities and they help ex-offenders re-enter their communities, reconcile with their families, and resume their working lives. This event is their major fundraiser for the year and turned to Eventions Productions to jazz up the presentation and make this year different.

We listened to the client’s goals of making the stage and production more of a “show” They were bored of the two screens and a podium they have been doing for years. We designed a stage set incorporating two HD (High Definition) video screens to allow us to take a direct HD feed from Channel 6 and display it in crystal clarity. We also suggested a stage set with multiple plasma monitors to display sponsor logos. We originally had the idea of getting two huge Oscar statues to flank the podium, but learned that the Oscar image is a copyrighted image and cannot be used without authority from the Oscars. ( I Wonder how many other “props and décor pieces” that are used in events are copyrighted and people don’t ever think about it) We then came up the idea of having these cool statues we have seen at events magically hold the plasmas. A quick call to a friend at a prop shop and some careful engineering and we had our “floating TVs,” a sexy lucite podium and some intelligent lighting and we had a great looking presentation for the client.

The client gave us the technical requirements for their entertainment. Little did we know they were female impersonators. Cher, Liza, Tina Turner and Prince put on an amazing show and got the crowd on their feet from the second they walked in the door.

VOA arranged for about 50 Papparazzi to greet the guests as they came off of the elevators onto the red carpet. A Channel 6 on-air personality interviewed people for broadcast back to the national ABC network feed.