Eager to celebrate Donald Trump’s presidency? There’s opportunity to do it up big, with sponsorship of one of the inaugural balls.
Presidents and their wives traditionally attend only the official balls sponsored by the Presidential Inaugural Committee. But that hasn’t stopped various groups from holding unofficial events, often sponsored by businesses and corporations with interests before the federal government.
The Creative Coalition, the entertainment industry's advocacy group, is offering interested parties the “opportunity” to sponsor its gala Jan. 20 at the Harman Center for the Arts. A $350,000 sponsorship lands the sponsor 24 tickets to a pre-ball dinner and 66 VIP tickets. The VIP tickets include a cocktail reception, dinner and “seats at a private concert.” Other sponsorships include a $100,000 “platinum package” with 50 VIP tickets.
The Creative Coalition’s 2013 inaugural ball for President Barack Obama included a performance by the Goo Goo Dolls. Sponsors then included the American Gas Association, the Nuclear Energy Association, Duke Energy, eBay and various labor unions, the Sunlight Foundation reported at the time. It noted that all had paid from $10,000 to $100,000 to get their name on a poster board at the entrance. The top level sponsors got 50 VIP tickets to spread around.
Various state societies are also holding inaugural balls, with lower sponsorship rates: for $30,000 “presidential sponsors” can snag 20 tickets to the South Carolina State Society’s ball to be held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery. For that contribution, the company’s name will be “projected above (the) dance floor,” and will appear in the program, at the entrance to the event, on the society’s website and in the press release about the ball.
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