The private residence of contemporary artist Michele Oka Doner and her husband Frederick Doner swarmed with members and friends of the Library Fellows of the Whitney Museum of American Art for the “End of Year Celebration.” With cocktails in hand, guests perused throughout the home of Mr. and Mrs. Doner, admiring shelves stocked with books on art, philosophy, and nature, as well as numerous well-worn years of the National Geographic.

The de Young Museum swarmed with 350 international luminaries, exhibition sponsors, museum trustees, and honored guests, as they arrived to celebrate the black tie Director’s Dinner on May 18. Those in attendance enjoyed cocktails in the museum’s Wilsey Court, which was decorated with over-sized flower arrangements of Van Gogh sunflowers, all as they tuned into the sounds of the French-styled Baguette Quartet. Afterward, they visited the Birth of Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Musee d’Orsay special exhibition held in the Herbst exhibition galleries.

Brick walls, dark colors, and dim lights created the perfect atmosphere for the exclusive 2010 Standing Ovations Event, which took place at The Old Mint in San Francisco. Guests poured into the National Historic Landmark as they indulged in cocktails, a seated dinner, a thrilling awards ceremony, and a foot tapping performance by a live band.

Decked out in nesting tables by designer Monique Breaux and fragrant floral arrangements by Mark Rose, the apartment of Marcia and Richard Mishaan filled with friends and family as they honored Harold S. Koplewicz, MD, Brooke Garber Neidich, and the establishment of The Child Study Center. The evening’s cocktail reception also celebrated the new green residences developed by Greystone Property Development.

In honor of the Asian Art Museum’s Shanghai Celebration, a crowd consisting of representatives from various Shanghai Celebration partners gathered to enjoy a cocktail party in the home of Gorretti and Lawrence Lui.

Oakland School for the Arts held their annual fundraising gala at the Getty residence in San Francisco with special guest Robert Downey Jr. Attorney General Jerry Brown founded the school, combining pre-professional training in the arts discipline with a college preparatory curriculum. It is also tuition free, while still providing students with world-class education and instruction that they may not normally have access to.

Guests at this year’s X PRIZE Foundation cheered, applauded, and watched in disbelief as they were treated to an evening filled with the best in entertainment and innovation. International leaders, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, and celebrities all gathered at the Lucasfilm’s Letterman Digital Arts Center in San Francisco for the foundation’s event, “A Radical Benefit for Humanity: Making the Impossible Possible, One Prize at a Time.”

Founded in 1949, the Drama Desk has brought together critics and writers in hopes of continuously developing theater in New York. Since 1955, the organization also established their awards show and is the only organization to recognize achievements in theater that includes competition between Broadway, Off Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway.

Cool cat in Coconut Grove, Carl Kruse, hosted a fundraiser for Sobe Arts this past Saturday at his hip house called “Kruseville.” Hipsters packed the joint all in the name of charity. Approximately, $20,000 was raised for a good arts cause.