FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Springfield, MO. (September 25, 2018) – The Annual 99 Times Party, a Museum signature fundraising event benefiting the Collection Preservation & Conservation Fund returns on Saturday, September 29, 2018. Began in 2014 with six initial sponsors, this year’s event will be the largest to date with 50 sponsors and 32 local artists, illustrators, and designers contributing creative works to the party.
Sixteen local stylists and artists will transform the Museum into a fantastical fairground of interactive art installations inspired by classic American circus acts and attractions to raise funds to restore works in the Museum's collection by Strafford, Missouri native and important Regionalist painter, Ben Messick. Messick earned his fame in Los Angeles as an early sketch artist for Disney and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and as a painter of urban American street scenes. His circus drawings, paintings, and lithographs - particularly his clown studies - became his trademark work. The Museum owns 55 works by Messick, gifts of the artist and his wife - artist Velma Hay - in 1980.
Guests of 99x: Cirque Americana will enjoy food, drink, and live music from Randall Shreve, as well as sideshows performed by The Blacklist Variety Show. Also on display, sixteen circus posters by local illustrators, or illustrators with local ties, based on the living art installations. Reproductions of these posters will be available for sale and will also benefit the Collection Preservation & Conservation Fund.
Stylists include: Rachel Barks, Andie Bottrell, Madeline Brice, Nicole Chilton, Deitra Magazine, the Greens, Marianne Jones and Caleb Bunselmeyer, Heather Kane, Colby Kern, Danielle Million, Emily Robb, David Samples, Sharon Taylor Jackie Warren, Jennifer Vaughn, and Paige Whitcomb. Illustrators include: Atomica Press, Marcus Aton, Brittany Bilyeu, Brittany Bethurem, Judge Bockman, Katherine Botts Whitaker, Richelle Davidson, Jordan Dykstra, Wesley Hamilton, Kendra Miller, Eugenia Peters, Wilson Tharp, Megan Wagler, and Daniel Zender.
Returning this year is a VIP Sponsor Hour sponsored by O’Reilly Hospitality Management with beverages and signature cocktail courtesy of Macadoodles.
Guests are encouraged to dress in creative cocktail attire keeping with the theme. Part of the fun of the event is being photographed inside the immersive art tableaux. Guests also receive a commemorative Look Book that immortalizes the 32 ephemeral creations, on display for one night only. 99x: Cirque Americana is generously presented by Hagan, Tucker, Schmitt & Gintz LLC CPAs + Advisors.
Want to go?
When: Saturday, September 29, 2018
Cost: VIP Sponsor Hour 6-7 PM, begins at $100; General Admission 7-9 PM, $35 in advance (Advance ticket sales end Saturday, 12 PM), $45 at the door
Where: Springfield Art Museum, located at 1111 East Brookside Drive
Call 417-837-5700 or visit www.sgfmuseum.org for tickets
Event intended for guests 21+
###
The Springfield Art Museum is Springfield, Missouri’s oldest cultural institution, founded in 1928. A department of the City of Springfield, we are dedicated to enhancing the education and documenting the cultural heritage of the people of southwest Missouri through the collection, preservation, and exhibition of art objects. For more information, please visit www.sgfmuseum.org. For more information, please contact Joshua Best, Development and Marketing Coordinator, (417) 874-2859 or jbest@springfieldmo.gov
