Event Solutions magazine

January, 2011

“Seven years ago, it was just Maria, me and a small staff sitting in a room wondering what direction this all could take,” said Carl Bendix, president of JupiterPx/Ambrosia. The “Maria” was Maria Shriver, and the event in question was The Women’s Conference, which Bendix has produced since Shriver became first lady of California.

The direction it would take was straight to the top with an extended program, and a stellar lineup of speakers from First Lady Michelle Obama to an encore appearance by Oprah.

Shriver inherited a one-day event, which was originally called the California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women. Created in 1985 by Governor George Deukmejian as a non-partisan forum to support female business owners, it was a sleepy little happening for several hundred.

Today, it is one of the largest forums for women in the nation and is known as The Women’s Conference. Located at the 160,000-square-foot Long Beach Convention Center, the conference has expanded to three days and has added several annual health and financial programs for women. The main day attracts 14,000 people and sells out within hours. The other events—a Health and Wellness Day, and A Night at the Village bring in another 5,000 people each. Millions more people from around the world now take part in the event via live streaming video.

While his live stage and production company, JupiterPx, handles the overall concept, design and logistics, Bendix and his sister company, Ambrosia, produce the hospitality-related events. This year that included a restaging of the play Love, Loss and What I Wore for a star-studded audience of 1,000, a speaker reception and the Minerva Awards, which honor women who “serve on the front lines of humanity.”

To coordinate all facets of this logistically complex event, Bendix works for about eight months of the year with a team of veteran producers experienced in TV production, politics and large-scale production. Throughout his history with the event, his team of co-producers has remained the same, including Conference Executive Director Erin Mulcahy Stein, Karen Skelton from Dewey Square Group and Alexandra Gleysteen.

“We’ve worked side-by-side every year with Maria to interpret her vision,” Bendix says. “Each year we’ve implemented higher and higher production values, and expanded national and international involvement.” And even with that greater world view, the conference has retained the ability to be intimate. It’s part of what makes this event sell out each year within hours. The other part, of course, is Shriver herself, who has attracted speakers such as Tony Blair, Oprah Winfrey, the Dalai Lama, Warren Buffett, Condoleeza Rice and Madeleine Albright.

Throughout the years, the stage design for The Main Event has been dominated by large video screens above and beside the stage, creating a dramatic focal point within the large space, called The Arena. For this year’s conference, Bendix again brought in MegaVision Arts to produce graphic and digital elements that supported the program in a variety of ways. Behind the scenes, Touring Video provided an HD production truck and cameras from which a director called the show.

For the main show, the Arena was set with round tables on floor level for 3,500 attendees who paid a premium price for the seating. The other 10,500 attendees were seated in the next two tiers of seating for the morning sessions. At lunch time, attendees feasted on gourmet box lunches with a menu designed by Nancy Silverton of La Brea Bakery.

At the end of the lunch session, attendees either visited the interactive tradeshow floor (The Village) or participated in breakouts. While this was happening, the Arena floor was changed from rounds to theater-style seating for the Minerva Awards, which were followed by a concert by singer/songwriter Sarah McLachlan.

It’s not clear what will happen with the Women’s Conference in 2011 or whether Shriver, Bendix and team will be part of it with a new governor in office. But one thing is clear: the seven years of teamwork between Shriver and Bendix, and between Bendix and his team came into alignment with talent, hard work and innovation to make this conference the most dynamic, influential and memorable event possible.

By Liese Gardner, Mecca Communications

The main stage during the main event

The conference was the setting of the final debate between California gubernatorial candidates. The main stage was transformed into a difference look for this event.

Sara McLachlan headlined the Minerva Awards.

With change coming to the California governor’s office after next week’s election, this year’s Women’s Conference was the last in its current incarnation for hosts Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger. It was also the conference’s largest showing, with more than 140 top speakers and participants, including Michelle Obama, Jill Biden, Oprah Winfrey, and many more, who drew a sold-out crowd to the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center. In response to the high demand—tickets sold out in one hour, beating last year’s record of two—organizers grew the event to three full days, with an additional health- and wellness-focused day on Monday, and Shriver’s March on Alzheimer’s and Broadway-style show for 900 on Sunday, increasing attendee capacity by 7,000, bringing the total conference attendance to more than 30,000.

Conference executive director Erin Mulcahy Stein worked with executive producers Alexandra Gleysteen, Karen Skelton at Dewey Square, and Carl Bendix at Ambrosia; Bendix handled the overall production and coordination, and has worked on events for the Schwarzenegger-Shriver family for more than 25 years. “The size and scope and scale [is appropriate to mark the] last year of the administration,” he said. “Everything has grown in size, stature, and production enormously.” The conference was in existence 17 years before the current gubernatorial administration, and Shriver hinted (to much applause) that she is considering continuing to host a women’s conference in some capacity.

Obama’s presence at the morning session necessitated a strong Secret Service presence throughout the venue and surrounding areas. This meant guests were encouraged to arrive significantly before the 8 a.m. scheduled start time to navigate the security and crowds. With many guests arriving before 6:30 a.m., producers added a 45-minute preshow to entertain them.

Other security measures for the first lady’s arrival included a sweep on Monday afternoon. “The security sweep was minor in its impact to our install or operation,” said Jason Wanderer, whose Precision Event Group worked on an interactive consumer experience for Flip. “We had to leave the building from 2 to 3:30 p.m. while the entire venue was searched by bomb-sniffing dogs. From an event production standpoint, we were well informed by organizers in writing, and the process was painless.”

Bendix said, “When you’re dealing with the president or first lady, Secret Service is much more extreme [than with other political attendees]. But it went very smoothly.” (It turned out what drew the most coverage on the evening news was a lunchtime panel with Matt Lauer, Schwarzenegger, Jerry Brown, and Meg Whitman. The candidates’ equivocation about pulling their nasty advertisements drew considerable booing and spirited audience participation.)

While most of the speaker action took place on a draped, color-changing main stage in the arena, the expo floor in the adjacent convention center hosted booths from sponsors and other exhibitors. Show-floor manicures, plus a yoga and meditation sanctuary beneath a Raj tent added feminine touches. Nancy Silverton of the La Brea Bakery designed a box-lunch menu, intended to be healthy and served in eco-friendly packaging, which the venue’s caterer produced for 14,000. “No detail is too big or too small,” Bendix said, “from the centerpieces to the green room food to the satellite truck and all of our content.”

Since production began in January, Bendix said the success of the massive production staff of about 800, exclusive of catering, required a clear separation and compartmentalization of roles within each event happening over the course of the programming. “It’s great teamwork and a lot of preproduction. We are great believers in ‘write it down,’ which is Maria’s motto.”

—Alesandra Dubin

To accommodate its larger crowd of 14,000, the California Women’s Conference in Long Beach added an exhibitor-driven night-before program known as Night at the Village and expanded the reach of its live Webcast programming.

How do you accommodate a record crowd of 14,000 women for a fast-growing, sold-out conference at the Long Beach Convention Center? For one thing, open access to the men’s bathrooms. But organizers behind Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and First Lady Maria Shriver’s annual Women’s Conference had plenty of bigger ideas than that for this year’s event, which drew the biggest crowd in its history with tickets selling out immediately after going on sale.

In addition to the full day of conference programming which included a varied list of more than 70 speakers, including hosts Schwarzenegger and Shriver, plus Warren Buffett, Condoleezza Rice, Madeleine Albright, Jennifer Lopez, and Gloria Steinem—organizers added an evening-before event called Night at the Village. On Tuesday night, attendees could browse the vendors on the exhibit floor and stay for book signings, entertainment, food, and a conversation with Rachael Ray. (The show floor was also open throughout the day of the conference.) In addition, the conference extended the outreach for its extensive live Webcasting offerings, with the goal to reach 1 million additional viewers in the U.S. and internationally online.

California First Lady Maria Shriver gave interviews to the press in a dedicated area outside the venue. Photo: BizBash

With so many moving parts including a web of greenrooms, makeup and dressing areas, and a holding area for the Secret Service not visible to ordinary attendees the conference used four executive producers. Conference executive director Erin Mulcahy Stein worked with Alexandra Gleysteen (for the TV production element), Julia Paige (for the Night at the Village), Karen Skelton at Dewey Square (for speaker coordination), and Carl Bendix at Ambrosia, who handled the overall production and coordination, and who has worked on events for the Schwarzenegger-Shriver family for 25 years. The Women’s Conference is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization led by Shriver.

“This year there was a much higher level of production,” said Bendix. “We expanded the exhibit hall enormously with theatrical lighting and video.”

About 200 exhibitors filled the floor, which was open during the conference day as well as the night before for the new Night at the Village program.
Photo: BizBash

Stein added, “We went international with the speakers in years past, we were really at the California level, and now our message is global. A few years ago, we said we were trying to break through the walls of the convention center, and we think we’ve delivered on the promise to continue our work beyond this [building and] this day.”

Among the conference’s other production feats was a luncheon session in which CNN anchor Campell Brown moderated a discussion between Secretary of State Rice and PepsiCo chairman and C.E.O. Indra Nooyi, which packed the arena; 3,500 guests sat at a sea of round tables on the venue floor for boxed lunches with menus designed by the La Brea Bakery’s Nancy Silverton, and thousands of others filled the arena seats above.

The Minerva Awards named for the Roman goddess of wisdom on the California state seal closed the evening, with Shriver presenting, remarks from Bono, and a performance by Bonnie Raitt.

Alesandra Dubin

This Article can be found HERE

Governor Schwarzenegger’s Remarks at the Opening Ceremony Webcast for the XXVI Border Governors Conference

GOVERNOR SCHWARZENEGGER:  Well, thank you very much, thank you. It’s great to be here and actually be back at Universal Studios. And what is so exciting about it is not just that we have this great conference here, but that I actually started my movie career right here at Universal Studios. It was Universal Studios. (Applause) That’s right. It was Universal Studios that started the Conan the Barbarian movie and Conan the Destroyer and all the comedies like Twins and Kindergarten Cop.

And then they built this great ride, T2-3D, which is the most successful ride around here. And I had the chance to take all the governors on this ride yesterday. They had a white face afterwards, so it was really fun to take them through that. So this is why it is so great to be here today.

And, of course, there are a lot of people that I want to thank. First of all I want to say thank you very much to my wife, Maria Shriver, for being such a great partner and putting the spotlight on a very important like human trafficking today. Thank you very much. A big hand to her. (Applause)

I also want to say thank you very much to the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and to the Inner-City Games, Hollenbeck Youth Center and to the After School All Stars and the St. Genevieve School. (Applause)

We want to thank all of you for showing such a great interest in coming here today and listening to all of this.

Now, as President Reagan said when he hosted the Mexican President Padilla at the White House in 1981, he said, “God made Mexico and the United States neighbors.” But he also said, “It’s our duty and the duty of generations yet to come to make sure that we remain friends.”

Now, it is hard to imagine any organization doing more to live up to that challenge than this one. So, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the official kickoff of this year’s Border Governors Conference. (Applause)

And I want to thank the governors who are here with us today from both sides of the border. You are doing fantastic work to keep our relationship strong and our friendship beneficial to all of us, so let’s give them a big hand for the great work that they are doing. (Applause)

And I also want to thank the staffs for all their hard work in making this conference possible. And I also want to thank my own staff for their hard work, especially Carl Bendix and Will Fox and Dan Dunmoyer. Let’s give them a big hand for the great work that they have been doing. (Applause)

And also a big thank you to the people here at Universal Studios. There were hundreds of people that worked on this conference for a month now. Let’s give them also a big hand for their great work. (Applause)

And let me also welcome the members of President Bush’s Cabinet and President Calderon’s, who honor us here with their presence. Thank you very much for joining us. A big hand to them also. (Applause)

And of course I want to thank General Electric, our corporate partner. Since the theme of our conference is Building Green Economies it is hard to imagine a better partner than GE because they are a leader in the green revolution. So let’s give them also a big hand. (Applause)

California is honored to host this conference and I am honored to be your chairman. Together we have accomplished a great deal over this past year. The Mexican border states have joined our Western Climate Initiative, for instance, to help fight global warming. We are working with the federal governments to tackle the problem of millions of abandoned scrap tires that pose a public health and environmental risk and we have begun discussions on managing water resources during drought conditions. You see, these are important breakthroughs and they build on our history of friendship and accomplishment.

Our organization has helped support and expand the North American Development Bank that funds environmental infrastructure projects along the border and we have effectively promoted economic development in the region as well as enhanced border security. And we helped create Border 2012. This is a 10-year program sanctioned by our federal governments that uses our states and US Native American tribes to improve the air and water quality, reduce hazardous waste and trash and address environmental health issues such as farm workers’ exposure to pesticides.

Now, our work is complicated, it’s never-ending and it requires constant coordination and collaboration. But this organization has shown time and time again that it is ready to rise to any challenge. Now, we all know that borders are important. They honor and they protect the sovereignty and the security of individual states and nations. But when it comes to the real ties that unite our people, no border or line on a map can divide us, because there is no divide to the air that we all breathe, or the clean water that we all depend on. There is no divide when it comes to the healthy environment and to the respect for the planet that we all share and there is no divide between our common desire to make the border region an economic powerhouse that will improve the lives of all its residents. We are friends and partners, united by our shared geography, our common interests and our history and we can thrive only by working together.

California has hosted this conference twice before and the way they are rotated California will not be hosting it again for another nine years. So you can imagine, I’m so happy that it is our turn while I was still governor. Let me tell you, I am so happy. (Applause)

Now, this is the fifth Border Governors Conference that I have had the privilege of attending since I became governor. And since I became chairman last year, I wanted to get as much work done as possible and start with the work as early as possible. So I invited the governors of the US and the Mexican states to come to Washington D.C. with me in February, where we had direct access to President Bush and Secretaries Chertoff, Gutierrez, Paulson and Kempthorne. And we had a number of productive meetings with them to discuss national priorities for our border region, priorities such as water management, improving infrastructure at the border for more efficient crossings and cracking down on illegal drugs and weapons trafficking.

A short time later we did the same thing and we met in Mexico City with our Border Governors and with President Calderon and his Cabinet Secretaries and we were able to move our agenda forward. And here we are today, continuing with this very important mission.

But you know something? For all the great work that been done and all the effort that we are putting in, some people still think of the border only in negative terms. Isn’t that interesting? Every time we turn on the TV or we pick up a newspaper we are hit with stories about illegal immigrants and the problems that they create. We see it all the time.

But I also want to people to know about the positive stories. I want them to know about all the great things that are happening and how Mexico, for instance, is California’s number one trading partner with $20 billion a year in exports to Mexico. And our tourism is booming because Mexican visitors are coming to California and spending $1.6 billion just in 2006 alone. I want people to know those stories.

But we see endless stories about the weapons and the drugs and human trafficking. But I want people to know about the tremendous economic development also taking place in the border region. They should know that our 10 US and Mexican Border States have so much economic muscle that if they were one nation they would be the world’s third largest economy. That’s what I want them to know.

And we hear stories about the crime along the border and how our governments are sometimes in conflict. But I want the people to know about our strong ties and the good working relationship between our law enforcement authorities and the Mexican authorities. And at this conference, for example, we have been working on an agreement to crack down on illegal weapons smuggled from America to Mexican drug dealers and to curtail the flow of guns once and for all.

And people should also know about our deep friendship and the respect that exists between us, like last month, for instance — here is a perfect example of what I’m talking about. When we had these huge fires and then we were overwhelmed trying to fight all of those fires — 2,000 fires at one time — at that very same time president Calderon was flying with his plane to Japan for the G8 Summit. And as he was flying over California he saw all the fires and all the smoke covering California. And he picked up the phone on his plane and he called me at 2:00 o’clock in the morning to ask whether he could help. Think about that — if he could help. He offered us airplanes, helicopters, manpower, engines, anything we needed. It really touched me. He didn’t reach out of us because of any treaty or any formal agreement. No, he reached out to us because he saw a friend in need. (Applause)

And he knows that we will do the same for Mexico, as we did in the recent flooding in Tabasco. You see, this is what makes conferences like this so important. They allow us to nurture our friendship and work together on so many issues that are important to all of us.

Now, after this conference I will pass the chairman’s torch to Governor Gonzales of Nueva Leon. And let me tell you something. He is a great leader and he is a man of action. I love that. Give him a big hand. (Applause)

And I tell you, I’m looking forward to attending his conference and many more conferences like this, because I know that we will continue to define the border not as a dividing line but as a line that unites us as we work together to create a vibrant economy, a healthy environment and policies that lift all of our people.

So, muchas gracias, mis amigos. Thank you very much. Viva California, viva the United States and viva Mexico. And now let’s get on with a great conference and bring our governors out here. Come on forward. Thank you very much. Thank you.

This article can be found HERE

Phillip Matier, Andrew Ross

Quite a makeover for newly sworn House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, as her national image morphed from leader of the San Francisco liberal elite to Italian Catholic mom from Baltimore.

There was her photo-op return to the Little Italy neighborhood where she grew up as Nancy D’Alesandro, the mayor’s daughter. There was the visit to St. Leo the Great Catholic Church, where they still recite Mass in Italian several times a year.

“It’s clear Republicans are reeling today based on her outreach to Italian Catholics who, as we know, have deserted the Democratic Party in the Midwest in droves,” said San Francisco power attorney Joe Cotchett, who was among those attending the Pelosi swearing in.

While the marathon events in the nation’s capital might have resembled a coronation, those most familiar with how Washington works said Pelosi’s time in the spotlight amounted to well-calculated politics that could help her move her agenda in her first 100 days.

“A lot of people don’t know much about her, so this is a chance to fill in her profile and biography so she doesn’t just become the San Francisco liberal,” said San Francisco consultant Chris Lehane, a veteran of the Clinton-Gore White House. “This is the one time when the press will be focusing on it.”

And it may be working.

According to the results of a Rasmussen Reports national phone survey of 800 likely voters, released Friday, Pelosi’s approval rating has jumped to 43 percent — up 19 points from November.

On the other hand, the same poll also found 39 percent of those surveyed still give Pelosi the thumbs-down.

Showing off: In politics as in movies, staging is all-important to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger — and his inaugural was no exception.

Pelosi’s new image as Italian Catholic mom — more than a ‘San Francisco liberal.’ Chronicle Illustration.

Produced by Schwarzenegger family friend Carl Bendix, who has done the Academy Awards Governors Ball and other Hollywood events, and emceed by former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown, the Friday affair was Hollywood through and through — including a last-minute prop to help the gimpy governor.

There were two rehearsals Thursday night, and another the morning of the show. Arnold, however, still recuperating from his busted leg, showed up only for the main event. He was hoisted up to the stage by a backstage elevator for the disabled.

The biggest challenge for the producers was the swearing in itself, as Arnold didn’t want to take the oath on crutches.

Their solution: A waist-high pillar draped with a cloth was placed in the middle of the stage, with the Bible on top. Schwarzenegger was able to press down on the Bible with enough force to steady himself. Wife Maria Shriver was there as well, steadying him from the other side.

And how strong was the pillar?

“Strong enough to have kept the whole building upright,” Brown said.

Rough start, but as Hoover Institution research fellow Bill Whalen notes, second terms haven’t always been the best for California’s governors.

“Pete Wilson lost his voice, his bid for the Republican presidential nomination and much of his momentum in the first year of his second term,” Whalen said.

“Within the first year of his second term, Gray Davis lost his momentum and then his head in the recall.”

Conroy’s wild ride: From her early days in West of Twin Peaks politics until her “resignation” last week from the $185,000-a-year homeland security job created just for her, Annemarie Conroy was the ultimate San Francisco City Hall survivor — and she had some pretty stiff competition on the island.

A lawyer by trade, Conroy went big time when her godfather, former Police Chief and Mayor Frank Jordan, pulled the “triple play” that created an opening for her on the Board of Supervisors, by moving Assessor Richard Hongisto to the police chief’s job and Supervisor Doris Ward to the assessor’s post.

Unfortunately, none of the moves was a long-lasting success. Within 45 days of his appointment, Hongisto got himself canned for having police round up copies of a weekly newspaper with an unflattering photo montage of the chief on the cover holding a strategically placed baton.

Ward lasted longer as assessor, until questions about her not showing up for work, a growing backlog of uncollected taxes and an FBI investigation into allegations that she was using public money to help with her re-election eventually led to her loss at the polls. (The FBI eventually cleared her.)

And Republican Conroy’s tenure on the Board of Supervisors ended, thanks to a Democratic landslide.

Unlike Hongisto and Ward, however, Conroy dusted herself off and got back in the game.

Using her insider skills and connections, she landed a job as an adviser for the 49ers right after they had won public money for a stadium project. When that deal started heading south, Mayor Willie Brown — looking to shore up his westside support — named her to oversee the city’s newest prime property, the former naval base at Treasure Island.

Conroy spent most of her time overseeing the booking of public events, getting the Navy housing ready to rent out, fighting the proposed Bay Bridge plan and keeping an eye on Brown’s former girlfriend and fundraiser Wendy Linka, an erratic character who eventually went out on stress disability brought on one night when a team of Navy commandos got lost in a training exercise and attacked her house on the island.

Not long after taking office, Mayor Gavin Newsom moved Conroy over to a $185,000-a-year job at the Office of Emergency Services, which she might still hold had not Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans — and suddenly made everyone interested about whether she could handle the job. The supervisors concluded she couldn’t.

“She’d still be there if the fight were left to her,” Brown said last week.

“But they don’t fight,” the ex-mayor said of the Newsom administration.

“And she got nailed.”

Bad meal: A 35-year regular at Original Joe’s restaurant in San Francisco’s Tenderloin collapsed as he was dining on a steak with a couple of female friends over the holidays.

A waiter administered the Heimlich maneuver. When that didn’t work, a woman attending a Christmas party at the restaurant and a maintenance worker both gave him CPR.

“We really thought he was dead,” said manager John Duggan Jr. Paramedics and firefighters arrived and cleared the steak from the man’s throat before taking him away on a stretcher.

Oddly enough, the two elderly women who were there with the choking diner never stopped eating through the entire ordeal.

And two days later, the recovered diner was back, ordering another steak.

For the second straight year, Kinetic Lighting was commissioned to illuminate the California Governor and First Lady’s Conference on Women and Families, held on Thursday, Oct. 27 in Long Beach, California.

The 19th-annual event – hosted by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his wife Maria Shriver at the Long Beach Convention Center – brought together women of all generations and backgrounds to share practical ideas for

success in their careers, while juggling increasingly complex and diverse life demands. The theme of the event was “Women as Architects of Change: Lessons on Leadership, Activism and Family.”

A host of celebrities spoke at the event, including Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Barbara Walters, Tom Brokaw and Billie Jean King. Mary J. Blige concluded the event with a performance in front of the nearly 11,000 attendees.

Kinetic provided rigging and lighting for the event. Additionally, the company used Finelite® projectors in the exhibit hall to showcase the logos of the event’s sponsors. Kinetic’s Kent Hayworth served as technical director for the event.

With the conference airing live by ABC Television, Kinetic needed to provide broadcast-quality lighting that could accommodate multiple stage layouts – ranging from podium to concert – as well as illumination for multiple breakout stages and backstage press areas. Striking a balance between what was suitable for the audience and what looked good on TV was a challenge for Kinetic lighting designer David Jacobi and ABC lighting director Robert Murdock.

“The main stage scenery was lit entirely with Color Kinetic’s ColorBlast 12 fixtures. They worked beautifully, providing intense color saturation, instant color shifts and amazing brightness,” Jacobi explained. “[Martin] MAC 2000 fixtures were used to tone the set, and for the concert performance.” The fixtures were controlled from an iPC console, programmed by Rob Fritz.

Carl Bendix of Ambrosia Productions, was Kinetic’s client. Bendix lauded the company’s innovative approach for satisfying both the broadcasters and conference attendees with its lighting choices. “The lighting was fabulous,” concluded Bendix.

16-Nov-2005 13:38:31 EST, PRIMEDIA Business

This Article can be found HERE

Carl Bendix and David Corwin

“Though leaves are many, the root is one”—William Butler Yeats

They didn’t just cater an event,

They created an event.

A summer in Los Angeles has the ability to change a person’s life. A lucky few get “discovered.” Most others discover themselves and talents they nev er knew existed.  When college friends Carl Bendix and David Corwin took a road trip from Ithaca, New York to Los Angeles one summer in the seventies, they happened upon a career path very different from what they had expected.  Bendix envisioned a career as a landscape architect, while Corwin wanted to be a film maker. Fate, However, would lead them down a different road.  Their destination: to become one of the most influential catering companies on the West Coast.

Like many LA newcomers, the two worked as waiters upon arrival, eventually landing jobs at Moveable Feast, one of the few off-premise caterers in Los Angeles at the time.  After a few years of catering events, including some early film premieres, things began to click. Plans of filmmaking and landscaping were put on hold and in 1978, Bendix and Corwin started Ambrosia Catering.

From the start, Ambrosia was different.  The duo’s artistic background engendered a unique sensibility, giving them an edge over other caterers.  They didn’t just cater an event, they created an event; all decor, including lighting and floral, was done in house.  “In the early days, there were no special event lighting companies,” Corwin says. “And all the rental companies had were track lights. So, I would go to film rental companies and get equipment from them.”

Connections in Hollywood led them into producing film premieres, for which Ambrosia would often incorporate actual film premiers, for which Ambrosia would often incorporated actual film props.  In 1998, Ambrosia became the first off-premise caterer to produce—from food to décor—the Academy Awards Board of Governors Ball, which for years had been the domain of the Beverly Hilton.  In 1995, they topped themselves by bringing in celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck to design the menu for the Governors Ball, a tradition that continues to this day.

While their events were high-profile, Bendix and Corwin remained down to earth—in some cases, literally.  Strong proponents of the environment, they were among the first caterers to take an environment-friendly approach to events.  “We wanted to integrate environmental and social awareness into the event industry,” Bendix says.  To that end, they began incorporating organic produce and sustainable agricultural products into their menus, started a recycling and food donation program, and began donating a percentage of the company’s profits to environmental causes. In 1989, Bendix founded a nonprofit organization called Earth Celebrations 2000, which sponsored inner city programs.

Two years ago, Ambrosia closed out its catering division to focus on its forte—production of large events that push the envelope of design and technology.  “We’ve always played,” Corwin says.  “We’ve done hydroponic buffets, video menus, unusual projections.”  The latter—projected images—has been of particular interest to Corwin.  For the 1996 Board of Governors Ball, he designed an over head scrim, onto which photographed, images and lasers were projected, creating a canopy of kinetic color.

“Life is so much a matter of faith and destiny,” Bendix says. “You find yourself with a new request that leads you to a new adventure.”  For Bendix and Corwin, the adventure, it seems, is never-ending,”

Celebrity Chef Wolfgang Puck teamed up with Ambrosia Productions to add Spago to the Academy Awards Board of Governors Ball.

BY SUSAN TERPENING

Edible Oscars: Gold-dusted, white chocolate versions of the original topped individual coffee crunch cakes for dessert.

Carl Bendix and David Corwin, co-owners of Santa Monica, California-based Ambrosia Productions, had a clever idea for the 67th Annual Academy Awards Board of Governors Ball in Los Angeles—hire chef Wolfgang Puck to do the catering and then recreate the chic, orange-walled celebrity-soaked back room of L.A’s Famous SPago restaurant. Since this was, after all, a post-Academy Awards party, the concept seemed an ideal theme.

Hiring Puck to design the menu was “a stoke of genius on our part.” Says Corwin. Attaching the celebrated chef was easy. Ambrosia had worked with Puck in the past. “We had a proven track record with Puck from other events we had produced.”

Though the Spago theme seemed a natural, the Academy had the last word.  “The Academy never reveals what the theme [of the show] will be until the very last minute,” says Corwin.  But when it finally spoke, the word was “comedy.” So, orange in honor of Oscar, became Gold.  And the Shrine Exposition Hall, in honor of Academy, became a shrine to Hollywood’s finest and funniest comedians.

But the Spago concept wasn’t lost yet.

With Chef Puck at the culinary helm of an event it’s nearly impossible not to see, feel, taste and smell the influence of Hollywood’s most celebrated restaurant. Known for his signature dishes ( he practically invented the now ubiquitous gourmet pizza and baby field greens salad) and gregarious personality, Puck’s presence at an event is as potent as one of his duck sausage pizzas. The Shrine Exposition Hall might look like a tribute to Hollywood’s comedic legacy, but it would like hollywood’s favorite hangout.

SETTING IT WITH ART

The most obvious reflection of the comedy theme took the form of painted spandex panels that were swagged across the 40-foot ceiling. With the use of fabric dye, a spray gun and the help of several assistants, Los Angeles-based artists Silvia Jahnsans painted 36 larger-than-life, portrait-quality likenesses of comedians ranging from Lucille Ball to Peter Sellers onto 15-by-90 foot Lycra panels.  The pioneer of spandex painting, Jahnsans finished the panels in three weeks.

“Alan Bergman [chair of the event] wanted the panels to have impressionistic feel, which Silvia achieved with a spray gun,” says Bendix, who had seen Jahnsans create similar panels for the wedding of actor Geena Davis and director Renny Harlin, an event Ambrosia produced. “Yet, when  you look at the faces, they’re perfect portraits.  She says its like channeling experience.  She feels the people inside her and paints them onto the fabric. And everything is a one-take.  She’s Amazing. I compare her to Michelangelo.”

Indeed, the placement of the panels created a Sistine Chapel effect in the Shrine Exposition Hall.  Many celebrity heads turned upward upon entering the room, which is exactly the effect both Corwin and Bendix desired.  “I believe in extensive treatment of the overhead plan,” says Bendix. “At the 7-foot level, there were table lights, then came the painted panels, then the chandeliers.  The result was a layered, firelight glow.”

Art wasn’t limited to the overhead space.  The dance floor was also hand-painted. Los Angeles-based artist Gail Taylor created colorful abstractions that swirled and glowed under the golden light.  “With the food, the flowers and the custom art installation, this really was a couture event,” says Bendix. “There’s never been anything like it.”

LIGHTING THE STARS

Lighting played a crucial role in designing the space. When it came to the overall room lighting, Bendix and Corwin had a definite look in mind. Says Bendix “I thought, ‘What melts people the most?’ Candlelight.”  However , due to fire marshal codes, the use of candles was prohibited. To simulate the look and feel of candlelight, Bendix and Corwin installed flicker bulbs in paper cone table lamps to illuminate the tables much as candles would. Similar paper cones also lighted with flicker bulbs dangled from geometrical. Spago-esque chandliers crafted of foamboard and painted gold.

Ambrosia hired Hollywood, California-based Angstrom Stage Lighting to co-engineer the ambient lighting. In several instances, lighting camouflaged certain aspects of the room that the designers couldn’t change. For example, an “ugly mezzanine,” as Corwin calls it, was hidden behind sheets of sheer fabric back lighted by banks of colored lights. And unsightly columns were fitted with white spandex sleeves and lighted from inside.

The golden glow extended onto the tables and chairs, both of which were covered in gold crushed velvet. Orange and peach-hued garden roses imported from France made up the centerpieces.  White china rimmed with gold and gold flatware completed the tabletops. The amber-toned lighting, if not a subtle allusion to Spago’s back room, was a courteous gesture toward the honored guests. “We chose bright oranges because everyone arrives [at these events] dressed in black, and orange light complements dark clothing,” says Bendix. “When they [the guests] entered the room, it was like walking onto a set.  They responded, they came to life.

“He was our star, we were the producers,” says Carl Bendix, center, and David Corwin,right, of chef Wolfgang Puck, left.

THE LUXURY OF TIME

Though it would seem that Midas had his fingers firmly affixed to Ambrosia’s budget, Bendix and Corwin did not have unlimited spending power.  What they did have was a generous amount of lead time.  “The advantage we had was that we had a longer lead time then usual for the installation,” says Bendix. “We had 10 days, which meant the committee could view it in stages. We had two days ust to install the pained panels, whereas we usually have 48 hours to do everything.

“When you’re doing a signature, couture event, try to have the client pay for a few extra days on the installation end,” Bendix advises.  “When you have a long lead time, it makes a difference.” When money is tight, Bendix also suggests investing the majority of it in lighting design. “When you have a limited budget, light is the best way to accomplish the best effect,” he says. “Light is one of the vital components in design.  But when its used correctly, it moves past its function and becomes art.”

IN PRODUCTION

Producing an event of this magnitude, however, presented some logistical challenges. Due to the size of some of the sets and props used in the awards ceremony, many of them, including a helicopter, were stored in the Exposition Hall. “An hour and a half before the party started, we had to shoot [photos] around the helicopter,” says Corwin. “We were moving big set pieces in and out of the hall.”

Even Chef Puck had to make concessions. “The Kitchen was set up in the bottom floor of the parking garage,” Corwin continues. “It was very cold down here. We had to bring in heaters to keep people warm.”

Regardless of the commissary’s cool clime, Puck, along with a staff of 500 hired by Ambrosia, prepared and served an award-wining dinner that included Chinois Lamb Chops with Cilantro-Mint Vinaigrette and Roasted Salmon with Potato Puree and Tomato Fondue. The Oscar statue appeared in two of Puck’s creations—an Oscar-shaped smoked salmon appetizer and a gold-dusted, white chocolate statuette that topped a coffee crunch cake.

BASKING IN THE AFTERGLOW

Through claiming he does no measure an event’s success by how long people stay, rather “by the pulse of the evening.” Bendix admits that the typical on-the-move, post-Oscar crowd lingered longer than anticipated. “The Academy considered this event to be the most successful ever because people stayed long than usual,” he says. Hmmm… Could it be they were reminded of a particular back room in a certain L.A. restaurant?