Planned Parenthood of New York City will host their eighth annual benefit Tuesday night

By Rebecca Harris

Young professionals and feminists from across the city are sure to come out to the West Side next Tuesday for an evening of cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, live music, circus acts and a few naughty surprises.

Planned Parenthood of New York City will host its eighth annual Summer, Sex and Spirits Benefit this Tuesday night at Hudson Terrace, a luxurious bar and lounge in Hell’s Kitchen overlooking the Hudson River. The main event will begin at 8 p.m., following a VIP reception at 7 p.m.

This year’s sexy benefit will be circus themed, with tricks by Lady Circus including aerial acts and stilt walking. DJ Tanner and DJ Louis XIX will take the stage, along with musical performers such as This Ambitious Orchestra. Erotic balloon artist Mistress B will also work the crowd throughout the night, mingling with guests and crafting naughty balloon masterpieces.

In addition to entertainment, the 21-and-over celebration will feature an open bar all night, light refreshments, a raffle and a silent auction fundraiser. Prizes include designer fashion items, restaurant and hotel certificates and “experiences”—ranging from a group cupcake-making class to a 24-carat gold-plated vibrator valued at more than $13,000.

The benefit is organized by PPNYC’s Action Fund Activist Council, a volunteer branch of Planned Parenthood. All proceeds raised at the benefit will go towards health care services, legislative advocacy and education programs across the five boroughs.

Last year’s event drew about 300 attendees and raised more than $23,000, according to Stephanie Demmons, community organizer for PPNYC. Tickets can be purchased online at PPNYC’s website. General admission tickets are $40 in advance and $50 at the door; VIP passes go for $80.

Every summer, a string of events hit the city that provide, depending on your perspective, either a fun-filled, leisurely day of shopping, eating and entertainment or a hellish, traffic-jamming, noise-making, government-sanctioned takeover of public places. To many, they are just street fairs. Some love them, many enjoy them, and some scratch their heads with wonder at how such things are allowed so often.

There are different types of street fairs permitted by the city: multi-block and single-block. (Block parties, which require only the closing of one block and don’t involve the sale of any goods or services, are categorized separately but must get similar city approvals.) The multi-block events are the big ones that take place on the avenues and span anywhere from a couple blocks up to, on the Upper West Side, 15 blocks. They’re all run for the benefit of nonprofit organizations, from churches to schools to charity groups, and they all have to go through an approval process that lets the community board and local residents weigh in first.

“The street fairs on side streets tend to be to benefit an organization, and one of the requirements, not surprisingly, is that the organization is actually on the street,” said Mark Diller, chair of Community Board 7. “You usually hear a bit of grumbling about parking and amplified sound because people’s homes are right there.”

Diller said that overall, the board doesn’t hear too many complaints about street fairs; some people don’t like them when they happen right in front of their building, but the city doesn’t usually allow the same side street to be closed more than once a year.

While the approval process on the Upper West Side is relatively calm and uncontroversial, Upper East Side community board members have recently been grappling with resident complaints about the sheer number of street fairs and whether ones specifically held for private institutions, like a street closure for a private school’s graduation celebration, should be approved at all.

At Community Board 8’s March meeting, several board members spoke out against specific street closures for relatively small events, based on how the sponsoring organization behaved in the community and how it ran its event. Some opposed allowing Marymount Manhattan College to have a four-hour block party, but supported churches and other schools hosting similar events. One church event drew support from some who pointed out that the church is committed to social service in the community and vitriol from others who called their event “horrible” and “outrageous.” The board disapproved a block party hosted by Lenox Hill Hospital because it’s a private event and not open to the public, as well as two applications from the Central Park Precinct Community Council for two separate block parties because they normally have their meetings on the West Side.

“Let them have their street fairs in Board 7 where they chose to have their meetings,” said David Rosenstein, a sentiment echoed by many members. The board is considering amending their criteria for street fair and block party applications to address the differences between public and private events, as well as tightening the requirements for community involvement.

On the West Side, City Council Member Gale Brewer said that she hears from some people who are vehemently opposed to fairs taking over their streets, but that she also has a unique viewpoint gained by attending every major fair in her district and seeing firsthand how residents interact with the events. She brings a table, sets it up with pamphlets on city and local issues, and spends the day chatting with people who come by. “It’s a lot of work, but I’ve never missed one,” Brewer said.

While some residents have complained that the street fairs cater to visitors at their expense, turning their streets into tourist attractions, Brewer said that the proof is in the depleted stacks of flyers at the end of the day.

“Tourists are not interested in tenant information; I can see that it’s local people,” she said.

The biggest complaints tend to be over traffic—streets are rerouted and curbside parking becomes even tighter than usual when several avenue blocks are closed—and the fear that street vendors are siphoning business from the brick-and-mortar stores that sit just behind the temporary booths. Recently, however, some of the major street fair production companies—like Mort and Ray Productions, which puts on many of the Upper West Side’s major festivals—have been making efforts to accommodate merchants by offering them prime spaces outside of their own stores at discounted rates and agreeing not to place a vendor selling dresses outside of a women’s clothing boutique or a cupcake truck outside of a bakery.

“We take great care to make sure that no one is selling a similar product to merchants,” said Andrew Albert, executive director of the West Manhattan Chamber of Commerce, which produces the Amsterdam Avenue and Columbus Avenue festivals. “We’ve got a very sophisticated computer program that we paid a lot of money for that ensures that doesn’t happen. We also walk the avenue and speak to the merchants and tell them about the fairs.”

He said he’s heard from some small business owners who were delighted to find that street fair foot traffic morphed into regular customers.

“There’s Gazala’s at 78th Street, a Middle Eastern place,” Albert said. “After people sampled their food at the fair, people came back for months afterward. It’s a great way to promote the business.”

Albert stressed that the Chamber of Commerce picks up the entire tab, on top of a fee it pays to the city, to keep the streets clean and safe during and after their events, which is a requirement of all street fairs.

“Everyone thinks there’s tremendous money in it, but there’s really a lot of expenses too,” Albert said. “We hire the Doe Fund to help clean the street afterward; we actually leave the street cleaner than when we found it.” They also employ extra security to supplement the police officers the city sends out, and charge each vendor a sanitation deposit that they only get back if they leave their space spotless.

“People really do vote with their feet,” Albert said. “It’s a day when the street is free of traffic and people are just free to walk and schmooze with our neighbors.”

Upper West Side’s 2012 Street Fairs

24th Annual Broadway Spring Festival, May 6, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Broadway between West 93rd and 96th streets

On a Wing: Family Festival, May 19, 12 – 3 p.m., Belvedere Castle, Central Park; Mid-park about 79th Street

Ninth Avenue International Food Festival, May 19-20, 11 a.m. – 5 p.m., 9th Avenue between West 42nd and 57th streets

Amsterdam Avenue Festival, May 20, 12 – 5 p.m., Amsterdam Avenue between West 77th and 90th streets

25th Annual Livable West Side Festival, May 27, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Broadway between West 82nd and 86th streets

35th Annual Plantathon and Crafts Fair, June 10, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Broadway between West 73rd and 82nd streets

Summer on the Hudson: 10th Annual West Side County Fair, Sept. 9, 1–6 p.m., West 71st Street Basketball Courts

19th Annual Upper Broadway Autumn Festival, Sept. 15, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Broadway between West 110th and 116th streets

Columbus Avenue Festival, Sept. 23, 12 – 5 p.m., Columbus Avenue between West 66th and 86th streets

24th Annual Upper Broadway Harvest Festival, Sept. 30, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Broadway between West 103rd and 106th streets

20th Annual Upper Broadway Fall Festival, Oct. 6, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Broadway between West 110th and 116th streets

21st Annual Broadway Fall Festival, Oct. 14, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m., Broadway between West 86th Street and 90th streets

Hand crafted cards from Beau Ideal Editions—just one of the many items available at MARTE on 3rd.

In the coming weeks, MARTE will be hosted by select Manhattan public schools that will also receive funds raised by sales. MARTE on 3rd will help P.S. 63 get much-needed air-conditioning units. Other schools will get funding for arts programs and after-school activities. At each participating school, the Parents Association will team up with Community Flea, a division of this paper’s parent company, Manhattan Media, to run the markets from summer through the holiday season, enabling the schools to use part of their space for students to sell their own goods.
So shop till you drop—there’s no buyer’s remorse, since MARTE is a fundraiser for the host school!

June 5 & 6, P.S. 63 William McKinley School, 121 E. 3rd St. (betw. 1st Ave. & Ave. A), www.themarte.com; 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Free.

Artists in the Kitchen—Hell’s Kitchen Artist in Studio Tours (HK: ArtiST) offers self-guided tours featuring artists and performers in places like their homes, studios, galleries and theaters. Participating artists include those with well-established careers as well as those who are just emerging in the art world. Through May 23. Visit www.artistsinthekitchen.com for details. Hell’s Kitchen, between West 34th and 59th streets west of Eighth Avenue, Free.

Spring Ballet—Ballet Academy East’s student company presents its pre-professional division in renowned works of ballet, such as Sans Souci, Cinderella’s Ball and Un Petit Meneut. The performance is part of the “Family Time” series. The Gerald W. Lynch Theater at John Jay College, 899 10th Ave., 212-237-8005; 7 p.m., $35 to $55.

Musical Readings—Top emerging composers selected by the American Composers Orchestra have their works read. These seven composers are the winners of the 19th annual Underwood New Music Readings. After the readings, one of the composers will receive a $15,000 commission to write a new work to be performed by the American Composers Orchestra. Miller Theatre at Columbia University, 116th Street and Broadway, 212-977-8495; 10 a.m., Free.

Young Talent—Hear six young string quartets who have received coaching from members of The Juilliard String Quartet. The best performances by the young quartets are featured at two concerts at the end of the week-long seminar. Juilliard’s Paul Hall, 155 W. 65th St., 212-769-7406; 3:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m., Free.

Comic Drama—Paul Osborn’s Morning’s at Seven is a 1939 comic drama depicting the amusingly dramatic lives of four sisters and the husbands of three of them. Their lives grow complicated when Homer, one of the sister’s sons, bring his girlfriend Myrtle home to meet his family. The West End Theatre, Church of St. Paul and St. Andrew, 263 W. 86th St., 212-868-4444; 7:30 p.m., $10 to $18.

Saturday, May 22

Block Party—The 100th Street Block Association holds its annual Block Fair, featuring food, music and flea market treasures. All proceeds go toward the preservation of the street’s trees and flowers. West 100th Street between West End Avenue and Riverside Drive, 212-663-0812; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Free.

Benefit—The University Glee Club of New York City presents a concert to benefit the Holy Trinity Neighborhood Center and its weekly Neighborhood Supper. The club, an all-male singing group founded in 1894, performs a variety of selections, ranging from traditional college songs to Broadway musicals. The Church of the Holy Trinity, 316 E. 88th St., 212-289-4100; 7:30 p.m., $25.

Classical Gems—The Chamber Orchestra of New York presents its spring concert, “Italian Heartstrings.” The program features the U.S. premieres of Respighi’s Aria for Strings and Suite for Strings. The orchestra also performs Scarlatti’s Il Giardino di Rose, Di Vittorio’s Preludio and Fantasia from Sinfonia No. 1 and Puccini’s Crisantemi. The orchestra performs little-known gems of classical music. The Church of St. Jean Baptiste, 184 E. 76th St., 866-468-7619; 8 p.m., $20 to $30.

Sunday, May 23

New Dance, New Music—Join music director Faycal Karouj, composer Thierry Esciach and choreographer Benjamin Millepied as they discuss their new collaboration, Why am I not where you are. The program also features excerpts from the piece. The Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave., 212-423-3500; 7:30 p.m., $10 to $30.

Monday, May 24

Turkish Filmmakers—Enjoy one of three days of Turkish films, organized by The Turkish Foundation of Cinema and Audiovisual Culture. The first day of the event includes The Breath, a war drama about a group of soldiers guarding a military post near the Iraqi border of Turkey. Films scheduled for the other two days include Romantic Comedy, Jolly Life, A Place Called Esrefpasa and The Girl with the Red Scarf. Village East Cinemas, 189 Second Ave., 212-529-6799; 8:30 p.m., Free with reservation.

Brahms on Monday—A concert features Johannes Brahms’ Liebeslieder and Neue Liebeslieder, Op 52 and 65, for a four-part vocal ensemble and four-hands piano. The concert is part of a series of concerts on the fourth Monday of every month, featuring members of the Holy Trinity Bach Choir, with Andrew Alexrod and Charity Wicks on piano. Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Central Park West and West 65th Street; 6:30 p.m., $10 to $15.

Tuesday, May 25

Dance Till You Drop—Celebrate 75 years of dance at the 92nd Street Y with dancing and DJ-ing by Andrea Miller/Gallim Dance, DJ Matty Matt, Nicholas Leichter Dance, Bill Young and Dixie Fun Lee. The event includes cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, dance performances and the opportunity for guests to dance to catchy disco music, complete with a disco ball. Costumes are encouraged. The 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, 1395 Lexington Ave., 212-415-5500; 8 p.m. to 2 a.m., $10 to $25.

Green Fashion—The Museum at FIT presents“Eco-Fashion: Going Green,” featuring the work of designers who use, produce and promote environmentally friendly products. The exhibition emphasizes how each stage of fashion production has environmental consequences. Runs through Nov. 13. The Museum at FIT, Seventh Avenue and West 27th Street, 212-217-4530; noon to 8 p.m., Free.

Wednesday, May 26

Word for Word Author—Gretchen Rubin shares tips from her yearlong experiment, The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. This event is part of the “Word for Word Author” reading series, featuring discussions with bestselling authors and signings of their books. The Bryant Park Reading Room, 42nd Street side of Bryant Park; 12:30 p.m., Free.

Thursday, May 27

Resurrect the Dead—Relive the era of the Grateful Dead at The New-York Historical Society, when fans and experts share stories about the band and its relationship with the city. Discussion moderator Gary Lambert is co-host of “Tales from the Golden Road,” a weekly talk show on the Grateful Dead Channel (Sirius 32 and XM 57), and editor of the Grateful Dead Almanac. Other panelists include Pete Fornatale, Carol Brightman and Lenny Kaye. The event is part of an exhibit about the band, on view until July 4. The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, 212-873-3400; 6:30 p.m., $20.

Young Artists—Students from the Manhattan School of Music, the Juilliard School, the Mannes College New School for Music and the Lucy Moses School for Music perform a program of lesser-known music. Selections include folk songs, classical pieces and Yiddish theater songs. The YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, 15 W. 16th St., 213-246-6080; 5:30 p.m., $10.

World Premieres—“Face the Music,” the Kaufman Center’s teen music ensemble, performs Nico Muhly’s Honest Music and How About Now, while SIGNAL, a large New York ensemble, performs the world premiere of Muhly’s Stabat Mater and the U.S. premiere of Sir Harrison Birtwistle’s The Corridor. Muhly is slated to appear at the event. The Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Center, 129 W. 67th St., 212-501-3303; 7:30 p.m., $25 to $30.

East Side Talent—The Carter Burden Center for the Aging presents Sally Weiss’s solo show, Sculpture and Assemblage. The exhibit features sculptures, mixed media, carvings and drawings. “I became an artist to make myself happy, and my art allows me to express this joy,” says Weiss, an East Sider. “My art allows me to feel worthwhile, and I am thrilled to exhibit at this fascinating gallery for older artists who have so much to give.” Runs until June 26. Gallery 307, 307 Seventh Ave., 212-879-7400; 6 to 8 p.m., Free.