Miss Teen USA Stormi Bree Henley
Photo Credit JP Pullos of Patrick McMullen

The Young International Circle of El Museo del Barrio held their annual Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) Benefit in the newly renovated museum (El Museo officially re-opened on October 17, 2009). The Young International Circle is a fashionable, party loving group who know how to do-good-while-looking-good.

Altar
Photo Credit Wendy R. Williams

El Museo and the appended tent were filled with revelers who partied surrounded by Day of the Dead decor piled on altars - tropical fruit, antifazes (masquerade masks), beads, feathers, and other Carnaval inspired décor.

Tinsley Mortimer
Photo Credit JP Pullos of Patrick McMullen

Part of the evenings entertainment was created by the arrival of Tinsley Mortimer and her camera crew. The crew was filming Tinsley's new still-untitled-docu-soap for the CW, the home of Gossip Girl. The crowd divided into two groups - those who wanted to be filmed for the show and those who didn't - creating waves of movement across the floor to either talk to or avoid her point man with his "And who are you?" inquiries. So it was either "Yikes, I made up my face to be seen in the dark," or "Tinsley, darling, so wonderful to see you and just who are your nice friends with all these lights?"

Samba Dancers
Photo Credit JP Pullos of Patrick McMullen

The party also featured evening featured Samba dancers, a conga line, live drumming and a special musical performance by Jose Luis Pardo, lead singer of Amigos Invisibles.

Richard Turley, Liliana Domínguez, Christian Cota,
Yaz Hernandez and Chairman Gabriel Rivera Barraza
Photo Credit JP Pullos of Patrick McMullen

The crowd was invited to walk through the museum and view both El Museo's permanent collection and the traveling collection. The traveling collection titled Nexus New York: Latin/American Artists in the Modern Metropolis is a visual marvel that covers Latin American artists in New York during the period from the early 1900's up to World War II. It includes a must-see installation of a Mexican bed that is embellished with lace and penny candies. Diego Rivera's pencil drawing of the mural he installed in Rockefeller Center is also displayed. The Rivera Rockefeller mural was famously destroyed in 1932 after Rivera included an unauthorized image of Lenin. Also on display is Rivera's-then-wife Frida Kahlo's "The Suicide of Dorothy Hale,” which shows Hale both falling from a Central Park South window (the then Essex House) and her bloody-but-beautiful corpse sprawled on the pavement below. For some fascinating background information about the Hale painting, read the portion of my December 2007 theater column that covers Myra Bairstow's The Rise of Dorothy Hale.

Chairmen for the party included (be sure to scroll down for party pics): Coromoto Atencio; Michel Heredia; and Gabriel Rivera-Barraza. The Vice Chairmen were: Lara Alcantara Ana Maria Celis; Ivonne Cohen; Karla Farach; Javier Figueroa; Cristina Lagorio; and Alexandra Wilkins-Wilson.

Guests for the evening included: Tinsley Mortimer; Miss Universe Stefania Fernandez; Miss USA Kristen Dalton; Miss Teen USA Stormi Bree Henley; Claiborne Swanson; Just Blazed; Fashion Designer Christian Cota; Fashion Designer Carlos Campos; Model Liliana Domínguez; Karla Martinez; Raul Melgoza; Luisana Mendoza; Bibhu Mohapatra; Brian Reyes; Alexa Rodulfo; Whitney Wolfe; Michelle Harper; Yaz Hernandez; and more…

Sponsors for the evening were Anthony Todd, José Cuervo, and Stella Artois

For more information about El Museo, log onto: elmuseo.org.

Ann Frank, Andrew Curry, Manju Jasty Curry and Chairman Michel Heredia
Photo Credit Wendy R. Williams

Yaz Hernandez, El Museo Director Julian Zugazagoitia and Tinsley Mortimer
Photo Credit JP Pullos of Patrick McMullen