Official presenting sponsor of the Red CarpetAudemars Piguet encore performance at the Tony Awards
Audemars Piguet for the second year is proud to act as the presenting sponsor of the 64th Annual Tony Awards Telecast Red Carpet at Radio City Music Hall. As part of a comprehensive partnership with The Tony Awards, Audemars Piguet has initiated a philanthropic effort through the brand's "The Time to Give Foundation" to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Following the highly successful "Time to Give" celebrity watch charity auction hosted last month, the program has raised $1.3m to date.
Audemars Piguet, considered one of the world's finest watch manufacturers, continues in the spirit of giving back with the Tony Awards Wall Clock Auction. Eight solid aluminum wall clocks will appear along the red carpet as the nominees make their entrance into Radio City Music Hall. The clocks were designed by the nominees for Best Musical and Best Musical Revival (shows include Finian's Rainbow, La Cage Aux Folles, A Little Night Music, Ragtime, American Idiot, FELA!, Memphis, and Million Dollar Quartet) to represent each one of this season's musicals. The clocks are being auctioned off to benefit Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, one of the nation's leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations.
All of the wall clocks can be viewed and bid on by the public at charitybuzz.com, the leading destination for online charity auctions May 14th through May 24th at www.charitybuzz.com/auctions/audemarspiguetclocks. Opening bids starting at $1,000. The public is also invited to view the entire wall clock collection at Audemars Piguet's New York City flagship boutique at 65 East 57th Street from June 14th through 24th.
Kelsey Grammer, nominated for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for La Cage Aux Folles, will wear an Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Offshore, the brand's iconic octagonal design as he presents and performs at the Tony Awards. Mr. Grammer also attended AP's "Time To Give" celebrity charity watch auction, where his autographed Jules Audemars Chronograph watch sold for $45,000.
Two additional clocks will also be up for auction. The "Green Clock" designed by members of the Broadway Green Alliance, which is an industry-wide initiative that educates, motivates, and inspires the theater community and its patrons to adopt environmentally friendlier practices in theatre production and everyday life. The Autographed Tony Awards® clock was designed to highlight the elegance of the award and has been signed by the 2010 nominees including: Denzel Washington, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Tony Awards host Sean Hayes, Christopher Fitzgerald, Bobby Steggart, Levi Kreiss, Viola Davis, Kelsey Grammer, Christopher Walker, Kate Baldwin, Barbara Cook, Montego Gilover, Katie Finneran, Bill T. Jones, Kevin Chamberlin, Linda Lavin, and Chad Kimball.
In addition to the Tony Awards, Audemars Piguet regularly collaborates with well-known personalities and is committed to far-reaching projects. Audemars Piguet has partnered with Quincy Jones and The Quincy Jones Foundation, President Bill Clinton and The Clinton Foundation, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Jay-Z's S. Carter Scholarship Fund, as well as Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's charity After-School All-Stars on Limited Edition timepieces. Through these alliances, a portion of the monies raised benefits these charitable organizations.