California Science Center Receives Prestigious 2020 Gala Award

LOS ANGELES, May 6, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The California Science Center was the recipient of the 2020 Gala Award for Best Fundraising Event. Special events from throughout the world were honored at the Special Event 2020 which took place on March 12 at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Christina Sion, Vice President, Food & Event Services for the California Science Center Foundation, accepted the award on behalf of the Science Center and her creative team. The award is known as one of the most competitive in the special events industry, with entries in 21 categories received from seven different countries. Members of the Special Events magazine Advisory Board, made up of leaders in the event profession, review all entries to determine the nominees and winners.

The entry was the 21^st Discovery Ball, the Science Center's annual fundraising gala. More than just a sit-down dinner, the Discovery Ball is known for being an immersive event that draws its theme each year from a new exhibition that is about to open. Dogs! A Science Tail, a special exhibition curated by the California Science Center, was the theme. For cocktails, the team created a playful "puppy love" setting, followed by an elegant seated dinner in a "London park" setting filled with fireflies, weeping willows and pastel English roses. After dinner, guests enjoyed an electric nightclub environment imagined as an oversized dog house, with upholstered hot-pink fun-fur walls and dog-themed desserts.

"This year's win was especially significant," stated Sion. "Because this was 'our' exhibit, we were able to use the relationships made through the exhibit development process, such as the ones developed with the service animal organizations, to provide many more event activities than we've provided to gala guests in the past."

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Paula Wagner
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SOURCE California Science Center Foundation