Inside Creative Time’s 2026 Gala at the Russian Tea Room
The annual gathering raised over $700,000 for public art with a bear-themed takeover of the Russian Tea Room
As guests entered the Bear Lounge at the Russian Tea Room for cocktails at the Creative Time gala last Tuesday night, the room had been transformed into a fever dream of its own branding. There was a 15-foot sculptural bear aquarium, a tree of Fabergé-inspired Venetian glass eggs, and performers decked in fake polar bear masks, fur gloves, and tuxedos circling the room with cymbals, eventually crashing them to herd everyone for dinner. The iconic cultural hotspot, founded in 1926 by exiled members of the Russian Imperial Ballet and frequented by artists, intellectuals, and celebrities, is now the setting for the nonprofit’s “new chapter.” By the night’s end, over $700,000 had been raised to support Creative Time’s mission to commission ambitious public art across New York and beyond, with Nordstrom signing on as gala partner for the first time.
Cocktails came courtesy of Casa Dragones tequila, paired with caviar, plus a non-alcoholic elixir called Love Conquers All from the evening’s creative director, Waris Ahluwalia’s House of Waris Botanicals. Upstairs in the Hall of Mirrors, place settings doubled down on opulence overload: mirrored placemats, brass everything, candles by the dozen, deep-red amaranth, carnations, and anemones piled high. Dinner continued to channel its setting as borscht and beef stroganoff were served—Russian Tea Room classics.
Mid-meal, Board Chair Jon Neidich and Executive Director Jean Cooney introduced the evening’s three honorees: Michelle Coffey, Molly Gochman, and Guadalupe Maravilla. “We have a 50-year legacy to carry forward, a Creative Time family to keep close, and artists’s dream projects to pursue,” Cooney told the crowd, before teasing a major upcoming public commission with Maravilla.
After dinner, the After Hours party, co-chaired by Miles Greenberg, Neil Hamamoto, and Ilana Savdie, magnified the maximalist merriment. A bear-shaped Creative Time x Nordstrom ice luge poured Ukrainian vodka shots, sliders were served, live fish floated, and another round of polar bear performers entered. DJs Leigh Lezark of The Misshapes and Jean d’Armes kept the duplex of dance floors running until late. On the way out, guests collected special Nordstrom gifts, Nordstrom x Creative Time “caviar tins” filled with chocolate pearls, and temporary tattoos in the shape of the Russia-Ukraine border, taken from honoree Molly Gochman’s artwork UKR|RUS.
Among the more than 450 guests were Tunji Adeniyi-Jones, Anthony Akinbola, Chloë Bass, Brandon Blackwood, Jes Fan, Charles Gaines, Wes Gordon, Paul Arnhold, Daniella Kallmeyer, Shantell Martin, Anne Pasternak, Gabrielle Richardson, Duke Riley, Rachel Rossin, Rachel Scott, Chiffon Thomas, Kara Walker, Chloe Wise, Kate Young, and Henry Zankov.
Scroll below to see more images from the evening.
