October 21, 2019
6:23 PM
On October 21st, we gathered friends to honor Alysia Reiner and Team New York Aquatics, as we celebrated some major project milestones and made a big splash with New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson presenting!
Alysia Reiner has helped us build our organization from the ground up, she was even at our first press conference at Kickstarter! Alysia advocates for women’s rights and climate change initiatives and has addressed audiences at The White House and The United Nations. You probably know her from playing the badass Natalie “Fig” Figueroa on Netflix’s Orange is the New Black; or Kiki Rains on HBO’s The Deuce, but we know her as a friend of the earth and an amazing cheerleader of + POOL.
Team New York Aquatics (TNYA) has provided an inclusive aquatics community for pool swimmers, open water swimmers, water polo players, divers, and synchronized swimmers of nearly every age group, ability, and aspiration. They’re all about inclusion and we love learning from them. It was a big year for them, as TNYA hosted the 2019 International Gay and Lesbian Aquatics (IGLA) championships, uniting LGBTQIA+ aquatic athletes from around the world to compete and celebrate in New York during NYC Pride 2019, World Pride 2019, and the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Stonewall Uprising. Which we think is pretty rad!
It was pretty incredible when Speaker Corey Johnson, pledged to support the project in his speech. “We are the greatest city in the world because we are the city that will have the first + POOL in the world, that will then spread to other cities across the world,” said Speaker Johnson, at the Gala.
There was a flashy synchronized swim piece by TNYA in the iconic pool at the center of the Philip Johnson-designed restaurant; and a silent rap performance by Shirt, that addressed the importance of clean water. Youth Climate Activist Liv Charles Basche, gave a rousing speech advocating for a cleaner planet and more visionary ideas like + POOL. A live auction by former Sotheby’s auctioneer Priyanka Mathew included a helicopter ride with famed architectural photographer Iwan Baan, famous for his aerial photo the Sandy Blackout, a Chef’s Tasting at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s The Fulton, and a Styling and Swim Look by Cynthia Rowley. Actress and honoree Alysia Reiner encouraged additional support for + POOL’s free learn-to-swim program for low-income youth by dancing in the restaurant pool! An afterparty hosted by Arup and Heineken saw more performances by Shirt and DJ sets by Office Hours, the dj collaborative of our very own ED, Archie Lee Coates IV!
We raised more money than ever, which was a good thing because now that the City seems ready, we need more money than we ever needed before! But most importantly we celebrated our advances with our friends, and our very real next step of submitting our proposal to build + POOL at Pier 35.
Huge thanks to all our friends for celebrating!
Backflipper
Miguel McKelvey, WeWork
High Divers
Claire Weisz & Andrea Woodner
Handel Architects
Joshua David & Stephen Hirsh
Marc Kushner + Christopher Barley
Low Diver
Andrew Essex
David Droga
Howard Hughes Corporation
JLL
Sciame Construction
Suzanne Lerner
STUDIOS Architecture
Presented with
BFA
PurpleSound
Your Green Room
Night Swim Co-hosted by
Arup
Heineken
Bluefish Sponsors @ the Gala
Carl Persak
Claire Weisz
Gary Handel
Jenny Uchida
Jill Simon
John David
Justin Huebener
Sean Kleier
Raffle & Auction supporters
Amy Yang
Breanna Urquhart
Darius G. Grant
Dionne Cochrane
George Fontas
Jack Freedman
Kate Oppenheim
Michelle R
Miguel McKelvey
Mimi Raygorodetsky
Nancy Choi
Oana Stanescu
Warrie Price
Swimmers
Ace Ehrlich
Adam Klein
Andrea Reiner
Ann L. Buttenwieser
Ayumi Sugiyama
Bernstein
Capalino + Company
Carrie Shapiro
Chris Barron
Clarisa Diaz
Darius G. Grant
David Weinraub
Edison Properties
Elissa Levy + Adam Ames
Erick Fletes
Food New York
George Fontas, Fontas Advisors
Gilbane Building Company
Greenpoint Landing
Hermine + David Heller
Herrick, Feinstein LLP
HR&A Advisors
Jaklitsch / Gardner Architects
Jason Weinberg
Jeffrey Katz
Jennifer Allan Soros + Jonathan Soros
Jeremy Kaplan
John + Regina Scully
John David
Jolie Hunt
Jon Oringer
Karen Wong
Kate Sindig-Daly
Katrina Dornig
Kim + Jonathan Kushner
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
KT Elghanayan Fund
L&L Holding Company, LLC
Langan Engineering
Lauri London Freedman + Douglas Freedman
LeFrak
Lee Ping Kwan
Linnea Roberts
Lisa David + Ernie Berger
Marley B. Lewis
Matthew Lieber
Matt Spangler
May and Samuel Rudin Family Foundation, Inc.
Meryl + Joey Levin
Michael Bierut
Michael Chambers
Mina Mikek
Nicole Perry + Andrew Armenante
PLASTARC
PLAYLAB, INC.
Ravi Suria
Raul Esquer Lopez
Regina Myer
Robert Hammond
Rubenstein Partners
Sarah Walker
Scott Kaufman
Shane Dunlea
Sharon Chang
Sharon Davis
Shelley Fox Aarons + Philip Aarons
Steven Harper, MN Architects
Stu Loeser & Co
Suleman Lunat + Lyndsay DeVore
Sylvain Labs
Tara Thomas
The Durst Organization
Timothy Allen
Wendy Keys
Yoswein New York
We’ll engrave your name (or any message up to 80 characters) on a + POOL tile and send you a mockup to display and show off to your friends.
Would you like to add a name or message to the walls and deck of + POOL?