When Gen Art declared bankruptcy in May 2010, a number of filmmakers and designers, including Gen Art award winners, were also affected. To combat this, the Gen Art Foundation, a not-for-profit charity, will be holding a benefit on November 4, 2010, with all proceeds going to emerging filmmakers and designers who lost money when the for-profit side, Gen Art, became insolvent. The benefit will take place at Good Units at the Hudson Hotel at 356 West 58th Street in New York City, from 8-11pm. From the official press release:
On Thursday, November 4th, the Gen Art Foundation, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit charity, will host the Gen Art Resurrection Benefit at Good Units at the Hudson Hotel at 356 West 58th Street from 8-11pm. Gen Art was the leading arts and entertainment organization dedicated to showcasing the best emerging talent in film, fashion, music and art in major cities in the U.S. The event’s Honorary Host Committee is composed solely of Gen Art alumni and includes academy award nominees Edward Norton & Jeremy Renner, Kate Mara, Vena Cava’s Lisa Mayock & Sophie Buhai, Duckie Brown’s Steven Cox & Daniel Silver, Eva Amurri, Twinkle’s Wenlan Chia, Jason Ritter, Chrissie Miller of Sophomore, Paz de la Huerta, Whitney Port of Whitney Eve, Josh Radnor, Lisa Salzer of Lulu Frost, Krysten Ritter, Norman Reedus, Jordan Betten of Lost Art, and Rooney Mara. All proceeds from the Benefit will go to emerging filmmakers and designers who lost money when Gen Art (the for-profit production arm of the enterprise) became insolvent in May. DJ Reach, a longtime Gen Art supporter, will spin.
When Gen Art became insolvent, there was a group of filmmakers and designers who suffered monetary losses. These included award winners from April’s 15th Anniversary Gen Art Film Festival as well as some designers involved in Gen Art’s Shop events that were cancelled. Co-Founder and CEO Ian Gerard stated: “In these trying economic times, every dollar counts to an emerging artist. To know that our business troubles had a negative effect on a group of young talent was unacceptable to us. As an organization founded on the premise of benefiting and supporting such emerging talent, we want to do what we can to make it right and this Benefit will hopefully achieve that.”
Beneficiaries will include the Grand Jury Best Feature Winner from the 15th Anniversary of the Gen Art Film Festival, “Tanner Hall,” who was to be awarded $10,000 as a result of the vote. The film is directed by Francesca Gregorini & Tatiana von Furstenberg, and stars Host Committee member, Rooney Mara, who also took home the Festival’s Stargazer Award for “Best Performance by a New Talent.” Shortly after her involvement with the Festival, Mara landed a role in the blockbuster film “The Social Network” and will be starring opposite Daniel Craig in the upcoming “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.”
Gen Art is thrilled to see such continuing support of their mission coming directly from so many of their alumni. For this Benefit, Gen Art tapped a wide range of the talent who have come through its doors including many recent Honorees of its “7 Fresh Faces in Film” program which includes Host Committee members Kate Mara (to be seen in the upcoming Nov. 5th Danny Boyle release “127 Hours”), Jason Ritter (NBC’s “The Event”) and Paz de la Huerta (HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”) whose careers have taken off in such a short period of time since their being honored by Gen Art – all in 2008.
Due to the deep recession and faced with drastically decreased corporate sponsorship dollars, Gen Art closed in early May and entered chapter 7 bankruptcy. The company, which has been in talks with a variety of strategic acquisition purchasers over the past few months, believes that it will solidify such an acquisition later this Fall and that the brand will re-launch in some form later this year. For any parties interested in information on the sale of Gen Art’s Assets, please contact the bankruptcy trustee via Michelle Gershfeld; (914) 332-8000/ mgershfeld@kittaylaw.com.
All proceeds from the evening will be collected by the Gen Art Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity whose ongoing mission is to support and provide educational programming for emerging talent, which will distribute such proceeds to those talent directly monetarily affected by Gen Art’s closure. The Gen Art Foundation was created back in 1994, at the same time as the for-profit production arm of the company (Gen Art), and the two had worked in tandem up till Gen Art’s closure.
“It’s been very encouraging to all of us from Gen Art to receive such a positive response from so many of our alumni talent, supporters and corporate partners. Examples are that we have the good fortune of having our great public relations agency partner, 5WPR, our long-term liquor partner Absolut Vodka (who has worked with us since our first Benefit in 1994), and the venue Good Units stepping up and assisting us to make this event possible,” said Gen Art’s Ian Gerard.
The organization is grateful for the ongoing support by the alumni, which is evident by the talent backing this Benefit, along with those involved with last year’s I Heart Gen Art Benefit which was hosted by other influential alumni including Adrian Grenier, John Leguizamo, Zac Posen, William H. Macy, Adrien Brody and Rebecca Taylor.
Tickets for the Gen Art Resurrection Benefit start at $75. For more info on the event or to purchase tickets, visit: http://genartresurrectionbenefit.eventbrite.com.
Emerging photography and fashion designer talent will be showcased at the event (details to be announced.) The event will be for 800-1,000 Gen Art consumer supporters, artistic talent, as well as arts & entertainment industry members.
