More than 285 guests were at the Hotel at Auburn University & Dixon Conference Center Friday, Jan. 18 to celebrate the Jule Collins Smith Museum's 10th Anniversary.
"The museum opened officially to the public Oct. 3, 2003," said Charlotte Hendrix, the print and digital media producer for the museum. "Since it is 2013 we wanted to start the year with this 10th Anniversary Gala to honor the people that have helped establish the museum."
Four guests were being honored at the gala including Jule Collins Smith herself. Along with Smith was her husband Albert J. Smith Jr., Dwight L. Carlisle and Taylor D. Littleton.
Smith donated money to build the museum back in 2003 as an anniversary gift to his wife and his one wish in doing so was that it be named after his wife.
"It is really hard to describe the feeling of having a museum named after you, I don't know how to describe it," Smith said. "It is just so overwhelming."
The conference center lobby was filled by 6 p.m. with more than 100 museum members, Auburn alumni and staff all in black tie attire. In the corner of the lobby was a full bar with choices of drinks from Maker's Mark, to Grey Goose and an assortment of wines and champagne.
Top chefs from around the world were invited to cater the special event. Gregory Gourreau, Gerald Hirigoyen, Sylvain Portay and Laurent Manrique lent their special culinary talents.
The director of the hotel invited a close friend, Emmanuel Kemiji of Miura Vineyards and Clos Pissarra, to sample his fine wines.
"Tonight I am presenting three different wines from my two wineries, one in California and one in Spain," Kemij said.
Throughout the reception servers of the hotel floated around with trays of hors d'oeuvres.
Finally the guests began to take their seats around 7:15 p.m. The ball room scenery was fully transformed and decorated to meet the expectations of any fine designer.
Marilyn Laufer, JCSM director, and her team started planning the 10th Anniversary Gala approximately two years ago when they knew they wanted to do something to kick off the 10th year. The tickets for the event were $165. Most of the guests and members of the museum bought their tickets months prior to the event.
The money went toward the three-course meal. The extra donations that were also made to go toward the museum's exhibitions and programs.
"We offer all activities free to the students and it is all because of the generosity of the people like this in this room tonight," Laufer said.
Laufer went on to speak, introducing Mayor Bill Ham and Vice President for Academic Affairs Timothy Boosinger.
The night of honoring art and the accomplishments of the museum went on with a short video presentation.
"I think art is an important part of our lives that a lot of people forget about," said Mark Thornton, a museum member. "I like to encourage people to become involved with the museum."
After the dinner Auburn University President Jay Gogue brought the evening to an end with closing remarks.
The goal of the JCSM is to serve the university as well as Auburn's community. Compliments on the success of the night and also the museum flew in from all over.
"The museum is absolutely stunning and has done so well and this event just goes to show," said J'Anne Smith Rawson, daughter of Jule Collins Smith.
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