Foundation Events

Celebrity Salons

News in the Digital Age
Sunday, April 6th, 5:00 PM
Hosts: Becky & Art Samberg
Guest: L. Gordon crovitz
Is newspaper delivery a thing of the past?  Will we all get our news online?  Where are we headed in the digital age?  L. Gordon Crovitz, former publisher of The Wall Street Journal and Executive Vice President of Dow Jones, has spent the last twenty years looking to the future.  Just to name a few of his inroads, Crovitz helped found Factiva, doubled electronic and online publishing revenues and oversaw all web properties as well as television, video and audio.  Join Crovitz at your hosts' Ossining estate to hear if your newspaper is going to become extinct.

Big Bird Goes Global
Sunday, April 13^th, 5:00 pm
HOsts: Mary lou & ira alpert
guest: Gary E. Knell
Ground-breaking productions in South Africa, India, Northern Ireland and Egypt have taken Miss Piggy and Kermit around the world thanks to Sesame Street’s President and CEO Gary Knell.  With a background in Asia as well as serving as Vice President and General Counsel for Channel 13, Knell has a global vision for all children to reach their maximum potential.   Tune in to see how Sesame Street is working to change our world over cocktails at your hosts' Yorktown Heights art-filled home and private gallery.

Future of Journalism
Wednesday, April 23^rd, 6:00 pm
Hosts: Florence & Warren Sinsheimer
Guest: Nicholas Lemann
As Dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, Nicholas Lemann has an insider’s view of the future role of journalism.  Lemann is a former editor and writer for The Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly and The New Yorker.  He has published five books, including Redemption: The Last Battle of the Civil War, The Big Test (which helped reform the SAT) and The Promised Land: The Great Black Migration and How It Changed America.  Don’t be late for Lemann’s class on the future of journalism at your hosts’ Colonial home in Scarsdale.

Postwar to Present
Sunday, April 27^th, 5:00 PM
Hosts: Betty & Stuart Cotton
Guest: Greg Behrman
Can we help save Iraq? Scholar Greg Behrman will address this question as the author of The Most Noble Adventure: The Marshall Plan and the Time When America Helped Save Europe.   He recently visited Iraq to look into postwar solutions as a consultant to the State Department. Behrman is also a Fellow at the JFK School of Government at Harvard and author of The Invisible People: How the U.S. Slept Through the Global AIDS Pandemic.  Enjoy cocktails in your hosts’ Scarsdale home as Behrman takes us from our past to our present foreign policy challenges.   

Kitchen Confidential
Sunday, May 4^th, 5:00 PM
Hosts: Abigail & Robert Kirsch
Guest: Abigail Kirsch
“Everyone should be lucky enough to have an event-or go to one-run by Abigail Kirsch”, states the 2008 Zagat survey.  If you want to be one of the lucky ones, sign up now!  Abigail and Robert Kirsch invite you for dinner in their charming Pound Ridge home where you will have an insider’s look at the famed Kirsch kitchen, taste a memorable menu paired with premium wines and all will be seasoned with the Kirsch’s intimate tales of building a food dynasty.  It will be an extraordinary evening. Seating is limited. 

China’s Challenges
Thursday, May 15^th, 6:00 PM
Hosts: Lisa & Jason Shaplen
Guest: Dr. Elizabeth C. Economy
As we enter the 21st century, China is on page one with the upcoming Beijing Olympics.  No one is better equipped to discuss U.S.-China relations than Dr. Elizabeth Economy, Senior Fellow and Director of Asia Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations.  Economy authored the best-selling book, The River Runs Black: The Environmental Challenge to China's Future.  Bring your notepads as Dr. Economy enlightens us on China's environmental challenges, the Olympics and global climate change at your hosts' charming lakeside cottage in Croton-on-Hudson.

20/20
Saturday, May 17^th, 6:00 PM
Hosts: Marcella & Richard Dresdale
Guest: John Stossel
Considered one of television’s most provocative reporters, John Stossel has tackled just about every issue facing America today.  As co-anchor of ABC’s 20/20 he hasn’t missed a beat.  Specials such as The Trouble with Lawyers, Greed, Hype and The Mystery of Happiness have earned him 19 Emmy Awards.  Don’t change the channel as this highly acclaimed news correspondent gives us his special on “Freedom and its Enemies” over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in your hosts’ 1894 Tudor home in Bronxville.

Grammarphobia
Sunday, May 18^th, 5:00 PM
Hosts: Ann & George Thom
Guest: Patricia T. O’Conner
Former New York Times writer and editor, Patricia T. O’Conner, has become everyone’s favorite word maven. Her first book Woe Is I has been called “possibly the most popular book on grammar ever published”.   If you’ve missed O’Conner’s monthly appearances on public radio’s “The Leonard Lopate Show”, you will have the opportunity to quiz her about the myths, misconceptions and mysteries of our English language.  Enjoy cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at your hosts’ home and garden in Pound Ridge.

Climate Change
Thursday, May 22^nd, 6:00 PM
Host:  Kathryn Davis
Guest: Dr. Robert C. Orr
Join the General Assembly as it convenes in your host's Tarrytown home with Dr. Robert C. Orr, Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Planning and Policy Coordination for the United Nations. Topping the UN's 2008 agenda is focusing political pressure on keeping global warming at the public forefront.  Orr, who develops the Secretary's signature policy initiatives and runs the cabinet-style Policy Committee, will explain the UN's new global negotiation on climate change over cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in your host's home overlooking the Hudson.    

Rebuilding “The Big Easy”
Thursday, June 5^th, 6:00 PM
Host: David Swope
Guest: Dr. Scott S. Cowen
Katrina hit and everything changed.  Tulane University, the largest employer in New Orleans, was damaged with substantial dollar losses as well as having to disperse students and faculty.  But under the vision and guidance of Tulane’s President, Dr. Scott Cowen, the University weathered the storm and Mayor Ray Nagin appointed Dr. Cowen to the city’s “Bring New Orleans Back Commission”.  Be educated about why it’s not easy to rebuild “The Big Easy” over hors d’oeuvres and cocktails in your host’s Ossining home overlooking the Hudson.

Out of Iraq
Date: To Be determined
Hosts: Mary Lynn & Fred Putney
Guest: Dexter Filkins
The New York Times Baghdad bureau was home to correspondent Dexter Filkins for three years.  Previous stints include covering the war in Afghanistan and acting as the Times bureau chief in Istanbul.  For his coverage, Filkins has received a George Polk Award, two Overseas Press Club Awards and was a finalist in 2002 for the Pulitzer Prize.  Filkins continues to report for The New York Times while finishing his book on his Iraqi experiences.  Join Filkins for a press conference over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at your hosts’ historic Beechwood estate in Scarborough.

 All events are $125 per person, except Kitchen Confidential, which is $300 per person. 

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