LONG ISLAND, NY – On Saturday, August 1st, 2015, the Southampton Hospital Foundation’s Board of Directors held its 57th Annual Summer Party, themed Fantasia. The gala took place from 6:30pm to 11pm. Guests and supporters arrived wearing black and white. The party was chaired by Jean Remmel FitzSimmons, with the support of Honorary Chair Howard Lorber and Underwriting Chair Jean Shafiroff.

Contributors dined and danced under the air-conditioned tents at the corner of Wickapogue and Old Town Road in Southampton. The festive evening emceed by Chuck Scarborough will benefit Southampton Hospital’s Jenny and John Paulson Emergency Department, which is the sole provider of emergency care on the South Fork and throughout the East End and all of the Hamptons treating more than 25,000 people.

Underwriting Chair Jean Shafiroff and Humanitarian Sara Herbert Galloway at the 57th Annual Southampton Hospital Summer Party on Saturday, August 1st, 2015.

The tents were completely transformed by the imagination and creativity of Tony Urrutia. Attendees also enjoyed an elegant catered dinner by Robbins Wolfe Eventeurs and music by the Alex Donner Orchestra. In addition, guests on hand had access to an array of fabulous silent auction items, and a raffle featuring exciting exiting prizes.

Cognac Wellerlane interviews Actress Cassandra Seidenfeld, Chair Jean RemmelFitzSimmons, Sara Herbert Galloway and Socialite Joy Marks at the 57 Annual Southampton Hospital Summer Party to benefit the Southampton Hospital.

I was happy to talk to Event Chair Jean Remmel FitzSimmons.

Mayor Paul F. Rickenbach Jr., of East Hampton and Cognac Wellerlane at the 57th Annual Southampton Hospital Summer Party on Saturday, August 1st, 2015.

Welcome back darlings, I am Cognac Wellerlane and I am here with the Event Chair Jean Remmel FitzSimmons. What a pleasure to talk to you. Tell my audience how long you have been associated with the Southampton Hospital?

Jean: This is my 30th year.

Now this is a huge honor for you to be the Chair for this particular event especially this year.

Jean: It’s fun for me to do it. I have done it before but I think this is my finale. So it’s fun to go out this way.

I can’t believe it’s your finale, there maybe will be ten more times you will do it. Tell my audience why the Southampton Hospital is so vital to the community.

Jean: It’s totally important if anything happen out here. It is our community hospital. You know a lot of people say they would go back to New York but they won’t if they have a heart attack or an accident. They need this hospital and it’s a good one. I mean that truly!

I believe you. I know it is and that is why I am here to bring awareness and make people know that this is a truly wonderful hospital and we need all the contributions and donations we can get.

Jean: Absolutely! Thank you for saying that.

Tell my audience where we can go to support, participate, contribute and donate what is the website?

Jean: www.southamptonhospital.org and you can always send a check anytime.

The Jean Remmel FitzSimmons Society was created to honor and recognize friends who include the Hospital in their estate plans. Jean Remmel FitzSimmons is a distinguished member of the Southampton Hospital family, an esteemed trustee whose name has come to be synonymous with the institution’s annual fund raising appeal and Summer Party.

Before dinner I spoke to Honorary Chair Howard Lorber.

It’s a pleasure to meet you and what a thrill for you to be the Honorary Chair for tonight’s event.

Howard: Thank you. It’s my honor to be here. We are very excited. It’s a very exciting time for the Southampton Hospital because of our merger with Stony Brook.

Yes, tell my audience about that.

Howard: Well, we are working on approvals. There are a lot of approvals when you are putting hospitals together but we are going to be an affiliate of Stony Brook and we are going to build a new hospital on the campus of Stony Brook which formerly was Southampton Hospital. It should be Southampton College so we are very excited about that.

Will there be something added because of the coalition?

Howard: Sure, Stony Brook is a teaching hospital. It opens lots opportunities for us. We are going to have a brand new modern hospital with everything that is needed for communities like Southampton and the East End. After all we really are the only hospital on the East End

I know and that is why It is so vital for us all to support this hospital. Don’t you agree?

Howard: One hundred percent. I mean the Southampton Hospital Emergency room is one of the best in the country but also we have full time residents that need to be taken care of on the East End and we are doing it now and I think we will be able to do an even better job with the new hospital.

Businessman and investor Howard Lormer amd Cognac 57th Annual Southampton Hospital Summer Party on Saturday, August 1st, 2015.

Howard Lorber is is an American businessman and investor. He is the President and CEO of Vector Group Ltd., a holding company listed on the New York Stock Exchange. He is also the Chairman of Douglas Elliman, a subsidiary of Vector Group, which is the largest residential real estate brokerage in the New York metropolitan area. He is also chairman of Nathan’s Famous (a fast food chain in the New York area). In May 2010, he became a member of the Board of Directors at Borders Group Inc. He is also associated with New Valley Corporation (formerly Western Union), Hallman & Lorber Associates (an actuarial firm), Aegis Capital Corporation (a broker-dealer), United Capital Corporation (real estate), and Ladenburg Thalmann Financial Services.

Cognac Wellerlane interviews Honorary Chair Howard Lorber and East Hampton Mayor Paul F. Ruckenbach, Jr. at the 57th Annual Southampton Hospital Summer Party to benefit Southampton Hospital.

Since its establishment in 1909, Southampton Hospital has remained faithful to the vision of its founders in providing the very best in medical care to the Eastern Long Island community. An affiliate of Stony Brook Medicine and a member of the East End Health Alliance, a group of three Long Island hospitals on the North and South Forks, the Hospital offers a full range of inpatient and outpatient services and is staffed by more than 280 physicians, dentists, and allied health professionals representing 48 medical specialties. The Hospital is accredited by the Joint Commission, an agency that rates the quality of care provided by some 20,000 healthcare facilities across the United States.

For more information please visit http://www.southamptonhospital.org

LONG ISLAND, NY – Supporters enjoyed the sunset with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres in Sag Harbor this weekend, July 25,2015, at the Sunset on the Harbor event at the the Bridgewater Yacht Club. The sold out fundraiser benefited the LGBT Network, a non-profit organization serving Long Island’s LGBT community since 1993. Proceeds from the event will support the LGBT Network’s Hamptons LGBT Center in Sag Harbor that provides services and a safe space for LGBT youth, adults, older adults, and LGBT-headed families of the East End throughout the year.

During the event I sat down and interviewed President and Founder David Kilmnick.

President and Founder of the LGBT Network David Kilmnick and Cognac Wellerlane.

David Kilmnick, PhD, MSW has more than twenty three years of experience working on behalf of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. His mission is to end homophobia and transphobia, provide a home and a safe space for the community and advocate for equality under the law.

David founded Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth (LIGALY) in 1993 and has led the organization through growing and developing substantially in its 21-year history including the purchase of the first LGBT community center on Long Island. The most significant growth was in 2005 when David established The LGBT Network (The Network) to expand services for Long Island’s LGBT community throughout the lifespan. The Network included two other new organizations – the Long Island LGBT Community Center (The Center) for adults and families, and Services and Advocacy for LGBT Elders – Long Island (SAGE-LI) for seniors so that LGBT Long Islanders of all ages have access to needed programs and services.

Below is our interview:

Welcome back darlings, I am Cognac Wellerlane and I am here with the President and Chief Executive Officer Mr. David Kilmnick.

David: Yes, thank you so much for coming today.

It’s my pleasure. It’s such a wonderful event. It’s wonderful that you opened this facility right here in Sag Harbor. That must have been a huge undertaking. Can you tell my audience about the new facility that you just opened up.

David: Sure, the LGBT Network is an association of several different non-profit organizations, LIGALY, The Long Island Center, SAGE-U, Long Island for our elders and we just expanded into Queens. We have LGBT Queens Center now too. Servicing Long Island’s LGBT community means that we have to have more than on center to make our services accessible. A couple of years ago there was a sixteen year old in East Hampton, David Hernandez Barros…

Oh, I heard about that.

David: It was tragic. He didn’t have any support. He didn’t have anywhere to go so he took his own life. We said we can’t wait one more day to open a center here on the East End so that there isn’t one more kid that feels like they have to take their life. So the center is the beacon of hope for so many kids, for their parents, for their families for LGBT people, for straight people….it’s really a hub of activity for the East End LGBT community. We have all different kinds of services. We have a drop-in center for people to drop-in. We do cultural activities, art activities, we do counseling, we do HIV testing….we are out in the community the schools and we do some anti-bullying work. We are really all over the East End making sure that our community feels safe no matter where they are at.

Tell my audience how you became involved.

David: I am actually the founder of the organization.

So you decided to create this organization, How wonderful! How long has it been in existence?

David: Twenty-three years. I started the organization when I was a student at Stonybrook University.

You were a baby!

David: I know, I know, now I am going to be middle aged. Well I am middle aged, ha..ha..ha. I am going to be SAGE Long Island age soon. I started the organization when I was a student at Stonybrook doing my masters project when I was studying for my masters in social work and we went out into Long Island schools to talk about what it is like to grow up LGBT and what happened at the end of these workshops….we would have a couple of students when the worship was over they would shuffle their papers, would hit stuff on the floor so that everyone else would leave class and they would come up to the gay speaker…it was always the same question no matter where it was, “Is there a place that I can go” and there wasn’t back in 1993.

That’s why you decided to start this organization.

David: Yes! These kids, our youths should have a safe place. Everyone should have a safe place. We should definitely have a haven where they can just come and be kids and enjoy themselves and learn about everything they need to learn in life and learn that they can be anything in life too!

It is interesting, I go to so many organizations like this. I just went to LIVE OUT LOUD. That was in East Hampton. Tell my audience why your organization is unique. What is different about it?

David: Our organization, the LGBT Network with all of our organizations, Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth, Long Island LGBT Community Center, SAGE and Queens LGBT Community Center serves a region of over six million people from the midtown tunnel to Montauk.

That’s a lot of people.

David: It is a lot of people. We have four community centers. Most organizations and all of our LGBT organizations are absolutely wonderful and doing God’s work but our organization is a little bit different in the fact that we can’t just have one center and expect people to come to where ever we are. We have to make our services accessible. A lot of what we do here in our center is making sure that we are out and visible in the community whether its schools, whether its the workplace, whether its churches or synagogues…we are out there doing our work to try and make every space a LGBT friendly space.

You doing a fantastic job! you are doing a spectacular job! I want you to tell my audience where we can go to find out more information. What is the website?

David: Sure, they can go to www.lgbtnetwork.org; You can also find us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and all over social media as well.

Chief Operating Officer Robert Vitelli and Cognac Wellerlane pose for a photo-op.

The LGBT Network is an association of non-profit organizations working to serve the LGBT community of Long Island and Queens throughout the lifespan: Long Island Gay and Lesbian Youth (LIGALY), The Long Island LGBT Community Center (The Center), Services and Advocacy for LGBT Elders – Long Island (SAGE-LI), and the Queens LGBT Community Center (Q Center).

LIGALY is the original organization of The Network as it was established in 1993 and is nationally known for its work with LGBT youth in the areas of education, advocacy, youth leadership and development and support. The Center and SAGE-LI along with the Network was founded in 2005 to unite these non-profits to help more LGBT people across the lifespan and create a cost efficient way of serving the Long Island LGBT Community.

With shared administrative staff between all organizations, this structure eliminates duplication of administrative and executive staff thereby allowing each organization of The Network to share resources. This unique model reduces overhead costs and expenses and as a result more than 80 cents of every dollar raised are channeled directly into critical programs and services for Long Islanders of all ages and walks of life.

Cognac interviews President and Founder David Kilmnick of the LGBT Network, Committee Member Tim Hennessey and Chief Operating Officer Robert Vitelli at The Sunset on The Harbor Cocktail Reception to benefit lgbtnetwork.org in Sag Harbor

Together, each organization works within The Network to end homophobia and transphobia, to provide a home and safe space for the LGBT community and to advocate for equality.

Since 2012, The Network also produces the annual Pride Parade and PrideFest celebration every June and Living Out magazine each month. Both Pride and Living Out build community and celebrate their identities while also providing visibility to their movement

For more information please visit http://lgbtnetwork.org

LONG ISLAND, NY – Arthamptons, the original fine art fair of the Hamptons took place over the Fourth of July weekend from July 2-5, 2015.

The Hamptons Expo Group has emerged as one of the fastest growing fine art fair organizers in America. Their “boutique” shows feature prominent galleries offering the finest in post-war and contemporary art. Headquartered in Southampton, New York, the Hamptons Expo Group created and produces ArtAspen, ArtHamptons, the Houston Fine Art Fair and the Palm Springs Art Fair.

Art enthusiasts and Black Card Holders were welcome to a glamorous opening night party to be the first to view and acquire important works of art. Guests enjoyed delectable hor d’oeuvres by Cheffe Colette at The Inn Spot on the Bay, complimentary open wine bars sponsored by Sequoia Grove.

Purchase of the opening night ticket benefits Guild Hall + Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation. Generously Hosted by Maria and Kenneth Fishel.

During the opening night party I spoke to President and Founder Rick Friedman.

Arthamptons Founder and President Rick Friedman and First Lady of Arthampton Cindy Lou Wakefield.

Hello darlings, welcome back. I am Cognac Wellerlane and we are here at Arthamptons and I am here with the founder of Arthampton, Mr. Rick Friedman, and this is going to be a very very exciting weekend. Tell my audience when it starts.

Rick: Cognac it’s the eighth year we have been doing this. We are here at 899 Scutter Hole Road The fourth of July weekend, July 2, 3, 4 and 5. We expect thousands and thousands of people here. We have seventy galleries from fourteen countries. The average gallery traveled 2,700 miles to come here.

Oh my God! These paintings from all over the world.

Rick: Every corner of the world. There are four hundred artists represented here, from China and everywhere!

Is there an estimated value of all these paintings? Is it like millions of dollars?

Rick: Yes, it is about forty million dollars.

Forty million dollars! Wow! Forty smackaroos!

Rick: It’s hard to sell them all but we are going to do the best we can. We expect to sell millions of dollars of art this weekend.

Tell my audience some of the artists that are premiering their art.

Rick: We have some really big names, you know like the Andy Warhol’s and Alex Katz. We have some up and coming artists, there are 400 hundred artists here.

I can’t wait! Tell my audience where we can go to find out more information. What is the website?

Rick: Sure, http://www.arthamptons.com, Scuttle Hole Rd. and Lumber Lane in Bridgehampton.

Your gorgeous!

Rick: Thanks.

Rick Friedman went on to reveal “The fair will again offer fair-goers a curated and dazzling selection of important post-war and contemporary art in all media. We expect to showcase over 1,000 significant works of art by some 300 respected artists. Galleries from the East End will be joined by prominent dealers from 10+ countries. We will offer valuable must have treasures for every budget.” The fair will present a wide selection of artists to choose from – ranging from hot up-and-comers, to mid-career, to the major well-known masters.”

Rick Friedman is one of America’s most successful media entrepreneurs during the past two decades. During the 90’s Mr. Friedman pioneered advanced software technology through his many magazines, journals, books, expos and conferences. Founding SIGS Publications in his basement with just a thousand dollars, it grew to become one of the fastest growing businesses in the nation in the mid-late 90’s, with offices in the UK, Germany, France and Australia. SIGS became a thought-leader company for some 200,000 programmers in over 100 countries. After successfully selling SIGS in 1999, Mr. Friedman focused his attention on a new emerging technology, digital video and visual effects. Soon his NY and LA based Digital Video Shows became “the” industry event and he was able to acquire in 2003, Hollywood’s venerable filmmaker trade show, ShowBiz Expo (formerly owned by Variety ) Over 20,000 filmmakers and 250 sponsors – including Avid, Apple, Panavision, Panasonic, Sony, Canon and Kodak – supported his shows in NY, LA, and Chicago.

Mr Friedman, is a colorful entrepreneur whose earlier diverse range of ventures includes creating the 80’s syndicated TV show ” Dance Fever ” (original MC), producing and directing 80+ theatrical shows, musical concerts, and cabaret shows.. and also owning the USA Women’s Volleyball Team in 1985.

Over the past 5 years, Rick Friedman has become a serious collector of 20th Century American art, with an emphasis in Abstract Expressionism. Having acquired over 125 museum-level paintings during this period, he frequently loans his artworks to exhibitions and museum shows and has been featured in American Art Collector Magazine. With his current foray into the art fair business, Rick matches his passion for art, his many contacts in the art world and his experience as one of the nation’s most successful event producers. Rick has a dynamic ability to create successful dynamic marketplaces for buyers and sellers.

His entrepreneurial achievements led CNN to create a segment on his life and he is a member of the World Presidents Organization.

During my interview with Artist William Quiqley he conveyed why he loves Arthamptons so much, “Well, I love Rick and Cindy Lou Wakefield. They are amazing people and brought a lot of attention to the art world for the artists that they show and represent. First class, Arthamptons is amazing.”

William Quigley graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art in Pennsylvania in 1984. He also studied abroad at the Tyler School of Art in Italy for one year before enrolling at the University of Pennsylvania in 1984 to study Political Science. In 1985 he entered Columbia University Graduate School of Fine Arts in New York City for his MFA and opened for Andy Warhol at the McNeil Gallery for the Images of a Child’s World exhibition.

Qugley has traveled the world creating beautiful Art. The move to New York 1999 sparked an incredibly productive period working with a few different band’s such as Pete Francis, Dispatch, and Piano genius Paul Tillotson, creating albums, stages, and developed a company with Francis in 2000 called “Skrapper”. A T-shirt company using Quigleys Boxer paintings and quirky sayings on their products, t-shirts, stages, and albums. Scrapper Records was formed by Pete Francis using the original logo designed by web designer Jeremy Miller from a Quigley portrait of Marvin Hart.

Quigley’s work is collected by over 600 people worldwide, including influential figures as President Bill Clinton, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to athletes like Shaquille Oneal and Michael Jordan, Eminem, Woody Allen and Kevin Spacey.

During the evening I interviewed many artist including world renowned Artist Kevin Berlin.

Tell my audience what you think of Arthamptons this year,

Kevin: First of all I would like to introduce you to Elsa who came all the way to Arthamptons. I have been six months in Florence, Italy painting “Nutella.” “Nutella” is something that was invented just after the ward, 2nd World War and it is a chocolaty hazelnut spread that makes people happy. I don’t mean that cliche happy. I like to paint things that get people excited.

Internationally renowned artist Kevin Berlin’s works are found in the collections of Kim Basinger, Luciano Pavarotti, David Letterman, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Dudley and Lisa Anderson, Quincy Jones, Buzz Aldrin, Henry Buhl, and General Motors Corp. Berlin, a Yale University Alumnus, studied at the Slade School of Fine Art and has appeared in The New York Times Magazine, Shanghai Daily, The Miami Herald, USA Today, MTV, Tokyo Television, BBC Radio and over 40 television stations across the United States. Berlin was honored by President Reagan at The White House as a Young Arts Presidential Scholar in 1983. Kevin Berlin’s recent major solo exhibitions include shows in Shanghai, Kiev, Chicago, and New York City.

Arthamptons 2015, Debra Rothberg, Artist George Schulman and Cognac Wellerlane.

Two other fabulous artists that I conversed with were Giancarlo Impiglia and Long Island Artist George Schulman.

Giancarlo Impiglia packs a mighty wallop of Art historical references in his lively compositions. He stands on the shoulders of the Italian futurists, recalls the flourishes of Art Nouveau, celebrates the curving geometry of Art Deco and integrates the concept of Cubism.

Giancarlo Impiglia showcased his “Energy of Bodies in Motion” at Counterpoint Contemporary Fine Art Booth at Arthamptons. Wildly colorful kinetic, exuberant and at times visually tense, Master Huntington, Long Island Artist George Schulman stands apart from other artists. His art work pans over 30 years of creativity. George showed his work at the Lawrence Booth at Arthamptons and you can see more of his work at the Lawrence Art Gallery in East Hampton.

For more information about Arthamptons please visit http://www.arthamptons.com