Saving Venice Gets a Major Houston Boost With a Series of Worldwide Parties Beginning at Rice’s Cohen House

Alas, the pandemic has quashed plans for this spring’s lucrative Save Venice gala, Un Ballo in Maschera, which is typically held annually in New York City where millions of dollars are raised to preserve La Serenissima’s endangered artworks. In its place for 2021, in honor of the 50th anniversary of the international organization, 50 events are planned around the world, as in 50X50. And they begin in Houston.

Young Friends of Save Venice is hosting a dreamy cocktail fundraiser at Cohen House (circa 1927) on the Rice University campus on Friday, June 4, and is inviting all interested parties, aged 40 and under, to join the masked festivities. Yes, we are all weary of our COVID masks but who can resist the glamour of cocktail attire and a Venetian mask, or perhaps a Mardi Gras face covering that will suffice.

The “Masks & Martinis” evening beckons.

The event is being chaired by Houston native Skylar Pinchal, a member of the Young Friends steering committee, a position that requires a certain dedication and voting approval by the board. The dedicated preservationist and Venice devotee has been a regular at the Ballo in Maschera since 2018 and wishes to bring even a touch of that glamour to Houston. Expect Cohen House to be appropriately decked out for the evening.

Single tickets are $200. Couple tickets are priced at $350. Reservations are available here.

“While the pandemic prevents us from gathering as we would wish, we will celebrate separately, but jointly in spirit, united by the belief that preserving the art and beauty of Venice is both an urgent need and a gift to future generations,” reads a Save Venice foundation statement emailed to PaperCity. “Proceeds will support Save Venice’s mission to preserve the artistic heritage of Venice, and will help fortify our financial foundation as we look to the next 50 years.”

Since 1971, Save Venice has funded the conservation of more than 550 projects comprising more than 1,000 individual artworks.

To mark the anniversary milestone, with the support of numerous donors and foundations, Save Venice is funding the conservation of more than 2,400 square feet of Byzantine apse mosaics and walls in the basilica of Santa Maria Assunta on the island of Torcello, the oldest structure in the Venetian lagoon, and conservation of the 16th-century Italian Synagogue in the Ghetto of Venice, a site steeped in rich history.