Save Venice: Un Ballo in Maschera

April 29, 2027 · New York City; venue to be announced.

The work behind the masks

Save Venice funds conservation of the city’s artistic heritage. Un Ballo in Maschera is one of its principal fundraising occasions, alongside its gatherings in Venice.

The 2027 evening

Thursday, April 29, 2027, in New York City. A specific venue, ticket prices and a 2027 program have not been established here. Members receive advance event notice and priority registration; this is not a guarantee of admission.

Registering interest

The organizer invites readers to register interest for further information. Members receive priority; registering interest is not a ticket or confirmed admission. The announced dress is black tie with a mask.

Born of the 1966 flood

Save Venice was established in response to the devastating Venice floods of November 1966 and became an independent charity in 1971, having begun as the Venice Committee of the International Fund for Monuments. Its founders were John McAndrew (1904–78), Betty Bartlett McAndrew (1906–86) and Sydney J. Freedberg (1914–97). Today it describes itself as the leading American nonprofit dedicated to preserving the artistic heritage of Venice, and it has funded the conservation of more than 2,000 individual artworks.

Headquartered in New York City, with an office in Venice and chapters in Boston and California, the organization also founded the Rosand Library & Study Center in Venice in 2015. Its featured scholarship projects include The Assunta Explored and Tintoretto’s Crucifixion Explored.

From Young Friends to the masked ball

Un Ballo in Maschera grew from the Young Friends of Save Venice, first formed in the early 1990s, who sponsored specific restoration projects and developed the annual New York ball. The committee was re-established in 2018 and has since hosted events in several cities; in 2024 it partnered with the Camalotte Foundation to sponsor the restoration of a ceiling fresco in the Room of the Four Doors at the Palazzo Ducale. Young Friends, supporters aged 39 and under, still close the ball with their own after-party.

Celestial Serenissima, the 2026 ball

The 2026 edition, Celestial Serenissima, took place on Friday, April 17, 2026, at The Plaza Hotel and raised more than $1.3 million for the preservation of Venice’s historic art and architecture, with more than 450 guests. Bronson Van Wyck and his team at Van Wyck & Van Wyck designed a theme inspired by the night sky above Venice, with an animated ceiling of constellations and Byzantine-inspired zodiac motifs. An aerialist performed on a spinning moon above the dance floor, astrologer Lisa Stardust offered tarot readings during cocktails, and DJ Olivier Meiji was joined by saxophonist Nick Biello.

Oscar de la Renta, Graff and Tilt Beauty sponsored the evening, and the co-chairs included Eliza and Alex Bolen, Ivy Getty, Dayssi and Paul Kanavos, Frederik Paulsen and Bronson Van Wyck. The Best Masks ceremony, judged by Racquel Chevremont, awarded prizes for the Most Creative, Most En Thème and Most Venetian masks. Board president Charles Tolbert and board vice president Alberto Nardi, president of the Fondazione Save Venice board, addressed guests. The 2025 ball was themed The Banquet of Cleopatra. The 2027 theme and chairs will be announced by Save Venice.

The Banquet of Cleopatra, the 2025 ball

The 2026 ball followed a 2025 edition that set a Tiepolo scene. The Banquet of Cleopatra, held Friday, April 25, 2025 at The Plaza, drew more than 400 guests and raised more than $1.2 million, according to Save Venice's report, with tabletops of fruit, crystals and obelisks and a reproduction of Giambattista Tiepolo's painting of Cleopatra and Mark Antony conceived by co-chair Bronson Van Wyck. Board member Dayssi Kanavos chaired, and the co-chairs included Eliza and Alex Bolen, Eugenia Bruni, Giulia Caltagirone, Ivy Getty, Shari and Ed Glazer, Leticia and Miky Grendene, Alan and Caroline Howard, Celia Kritharioti, Lauren Kulchinsky Levison, Jenna Lyons, Ashley and Jeff McDermott, Mary Kathryn Navab, Michael Del Nin and Sean Krebs, Alexandra O'Neill and Lauren and Andrés Santo Domingo. Oscar de la Renta, fashion sponsor since 2017, was joined by jewelry sponsor Pasquale Bruni, hospitality partner Casa Tua, debut beauty sponsor Tilt Beauty, founded by junior chair Aerin Glazer, and corporate supporters Bottega Veneta and Tishman Speyer. Jenna Lyons judged the masks, awarding Yu-Chi Lyra Kuo and Devin Finzer, Mona Patel and Bonnie Comley, and guests included Tiffany Haddish, Nicky Hilton, Padma Lakshmi, Maya Moore, Liz Gillies, Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia; 80 Young Friends joined DJ Olivier Meiji for the after-party.

At Celestial Serenissima in 2026 the roster broadened to Cassie Arison and Niv Alexander, Marc Hruschka, Frederik Paulsen and Ivy Getty among the co-chairs, Prada as corporate supporter, and junior chairs Naomi Einhorn, Aerin Glazer, Alexander and Danielle Hankin, Daniel Howard, Natalia, Nicholas and Sophia Kanavos, Audrey and Serena McDermott and Porter Stracke; curator and collector Racquel Chevremont judged the masks, with prizes to Patricia Zajacova, Bach Mai and Lisa Sher-Chambers, and Kate Mara, Billy Corgan and Chloe Mendel Corgan were among the guests, the organization's recap records.

Frederick Ilchman, Charles Tolbert and the board

Save Venice is chaired by Frederick Ilchman, with Charles Tolbert as president, Alberto Nardi, Lauren Santo Domingo, Tina Walls and Martha Stires Wright as vice presidents, Jeffrey Bolton as treasurer and Tia F. Chapman as secretary; Amy S. Gross is executive director and Christopher Apostle project director. Nardi also presides over the Fondazione Save Venice board in Italy, where the organization keeps its office at Palazzo Contarini Polignac on the Dorsoduro. The board of directors includes Mollie Ruprecht Acquavella, Anthony G. Capuano, C.D. Dickerson III, Adelina Wong Ettelson, Dayssi Olarte de Kanavos, Mary Kathryn Navab, Alexandra Lind Rose, Xavier F. Salomon, Bara Tisch, Lizzie da Trindade-Asher and Fred Wilson, alongside scholars Patricia Fortini Brown, Tracy E. Cooper and Sarah Blake McHam. Volunteer chapters in Boston, chaired by Susan Angelastro with Italian consul general Arnaldo Minuti as honorary chair, and in California, formed in 2000 under Terry Stanfill, hold their own benefits, and supporter groups meet in Chicago, Denver and Texas.

The Young Friends who close the ball are led by a steering committee under president Michele Levbarg-Klein Rayden and vice president Morgan Pino, with Casey Kohlberg as chair emerita. Young Friend memberships at $250 and $1,000 a year carry, among other benefits, advance purchase of membership-priced tickets to Un Ballo in Maschera events and, at the Fellow level, a membership card admitting two to the Accademia, the Frari, the Scuola Grande di San Rocco and the MuVe museums in Venice, the organization's Young Friends page explains.