On Saturday, April 5, set amid a rain-filled evening, the Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts dazzled as more than 400 guests arrived for Tabriz, the museum’s signature black-tie fundraising event. Co-chaired by Mary Olive and John Stephens, the night was inspired by AMFA’s blockbuster exhibition “Rivera’s Paris,” adopting a theme of Parisian joie de vivre blended with the vibrant spirit of Mexican culture.
Guests were welcomed by the sounds of Grammy Award-winning band La Santa Cecilia during a cocktail hour in the atrium decorated with pink dahlias, mums and baby’s breath. While guests sipped champagne, white-coated servers passed miniature hors d’oeuvres of
coconut ceviche, truffled shrimp tacos and red snapper escabeche on silver trays.
Following a performance by Ballet Arkansas inspired by Diego Rivera’s Cubist masterpiece “Dos Mujeres,” guests were seated in the Cultural Living Room and Amerine/Calhoun Glass Box for a lavish four-course dinner. Tables were adorned with alternating blue and green floral linens and accented with burgundy embroidered napkins. A variety of fluted glass vases were arranged with mono bouquets of anemones, peonies, ranunculus, hellebores, hyacinth and dahlias.