16th Annual HRC Cleveland Gala Dinner & Auction

Date:

Saturday, March 28, 2009 - 6:00pm

Location:

InterContinental Hotel & Conference Center

2009 HRC Cleveland Gala Dinner and Auction

16th Annual HRC Cleveland Gala Dinner & Auction

Saturday, March 28, 2009

InterContinental Hotel & Conference Center

9801 Carnegie Ave, Cleveland, OH 44106

Tickets on sale now!

Ticket prices are $175.00 (general), $225.00 (VIP), and $85.00 (student). Federal Club members ticket price is $75.00.

Get your tickets at BoxOfficeTickets.com!

If you would like to be a sponsor, volunteer, or to donate to the auction, please e-mail info@hrccleveland.org or call 1-800-790-2538.

Featuring Beth Grant - Star of “Sordid Lives”

Beth Grant is one of Hollywood’s most recognizable faces, starring in over seventy feature films. Recent films include the Coen Brothers Academy Award winning Best Picture, “No Country for Old Men”, the Academy Award nominated “Little Miss Sunshine”, “Factory Girl”, starring Sienna Miller, and Clint Eastwood’s “Flags of Our Fathers”. She received Screen Actors Guild Best Ensemble Awards for “No Country For Old Men” and “Little Miss Sunshine”.

March 6th Grant will be seen in “All About Steve” with Sandra Bullock (with whom she also worked on “Speed” and “A Time To Kill”) and later this year in “Extract” with Jason Bateman, and in “Crazy Heart” with Jeff Bridges and Robert Duvall. Other select motion picture credits include ““Southland Tales”, directed by Richard Kelly (for whom Grant created Sparkle Motion Coach “Kitty Farmer” in his cult hit “Donnie Darko”); as well as “Rain Man”, “Rock Star”, “The Rookie”, “Matchstick Men” “Child’s Play II” “City Slickers”, “To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar”.

Grant is now starring in a TV series for the Logo channel, “Sordid Lives” recreating her popular character “Sissy Hickey” from the movie by Del Shores. On television, Grant recently appeared on “The Office”, “Pushing Daisies”, “My Name is Earl“, and “Six Feet Under”, with recurring or regular roles on “Jericho”, “Malcolm in the Middle”, “King of the Hill”, “Yes, Dear”, “Everwood”, “Coach”, “Delta”, and “Wonderfalls”. She has guest starred in hundreds of hit television series such as “Friends”, “The X Files”, “Angel”, and “CSI”.

Grant’s theatre credits include over thirty plays from Los Angeles to New York including two productions at The Ahmanson, William Inge’s “Picnic”, with Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tennessee Williams “Summer and Smoke” with Christopher Reeve, both under the direction of Circle Rep’s Marshall Mason. She was a recipient of The Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award, The L.A. Stage Alliance Ovation Award and The Backstage West Garland Award for her leading role in Del Shores’ “The Trials and Tribulations of a Trailer Trash Housewife”.

Grant is married to fellow character actor Michael Chieffo. They live in Los Angeles and have one gorgeous sixteen year old daughter, the six foot tall, dynamic, self-described “Musical Theatre Geek,” with a natural four-octave range, Mary Chieffo.

Also featuring the North Coast Men's Chorus, Verb Ballet, and the Safmod Performance Ensemble!

Leadership Awards

The 2009 Human Rights Campaign Cleveland Leadership Awards will be presented during the dinner to CWRU President Barbara Snyder and CWRU Deputy Provost and Vice President for Academic Programs Lynn Singer

Barbara Snyder became president of Case Western Reserve University July 1, 2007. In her first year the university eliminated a $20 million deficit, experienced record-level fundraising, and completed its first strategic plan in nearly 20 years.

Snyder began her academic career at CWRU in 1983 as a professor in the School of Law, then spent nearly two decades at The Ohio State University, including four years as provost. She earned her bachelor’s degree in sociology from OSU, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Chicago.

CWRU Deputy Provost and Vice President for Academic Programs Lynn Sunger Dr. Lynn Singer serves as the university’s Deputy Provost and Vice President for Academic Programs. Dr. Singer has directed federally funded research projects that represent $25 million of funding to the university. Dr. Singer is a double alumna of Case Western Reserve University, receiving an M.A. and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology in 1978 and 1979, respectively. Previously she had earned a bachelor’s degree from Duquesne University and M.Ed. from the University of Pittsburgh.

Dr. Singer oversees undergraduate, graduate and post doctoral academic affairs, the Flora Stone Mather Center for Women and faculty development programs. She created the university-wide LGBT Task Force in 2004.

Equality Awards

The 2009 Human Rights Campaign Cleveland Equality Awards will be presented during the dinner to Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and The Very Rev. Tracey Lind

The Very Reverand Tracey Lind The Very Reverend Tracey Lind is an Episcopal priest and city planner whose ministry includes work for environmental justice, interfaith relations, sustainable urban planning, arts and culture, and the diversity of the Episcopal Church. She is also the author of Interrupted by God: Glimpses from the Edge, published in 2004 by The Pilgrim Press.

Tracey Lind is Dean of Trinity Episcopal Cathedral, a growing city congregation that serves the community with worship, arts and music, peace and justice ministries, and education and spirituality programs. Trinity Cathedral is part of Trinity Commons, an award-winning, environmentally-sustainable campus developed under Dean Lind’s leadership. Trinity Commons also includes the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio and three retail stores that offer fair trade and spirituality products. As Dean of Trinity, Lind speaks, teaches and preaches around the country, including at the Chautauqua Institution, the Episcopal College Conference, the National Trust for Historic Preservation and a variety of churches, conferences, seminaries and theological schools.

From 1989-2000, Tracey Lind was Rector of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Paterson, New Jersey. In Paterson she led the effort to revitalize a large multi-cultural urban congregation and establish the St. Paul’s Community Development Corporation. Prior to entering seminary, Lind worked in nonprofit management and community development. She continues that work as a board member of many nonprofit organizations including the Episcopal Church Publishing Company, Ten Thousand Villages of Cleveland, Hospice and Palliative Care Partners of Ohio, Music and Performing Arts at Trinity, The Quadrangle, and the ACLU Cleveland Chapter. She is also the Convener of We Believe Ohio – Greater Cleveland. Dean Lind was a member of the Leadership Cleveland Class of 2003, and in 2007, she was named a Woman of Achievement by the Cleveland YWCA.

A native of Columbus, Ohio, Lind is an alumna of the Columbus School for Girls. She holds a bachelor’s degree in urban studies from the Honors College at the University of Toledo, a master of community planning from the University of Cincinnati, and a master of divinity from Union Theological Seminary in New York. She has also held the seminary’s prestigious Maxwell Fellowship and received the Diocese of Newark’s Canterbury Scholar Award.

Lind is also an emerging photographer who has exhibited photographs in New York/New Jersey-area juried shows and in individual exhibits at the Chautauqua Institution, New Communities in Newark, Cleveland State University, the Gallery at Trinity Commons, and cathedrals around the country.

To learn more about Trinity Cathedral and its ministries and to read a selection of sermons by Dean Lind, please visit www.trinitycleveland.org.

Silent and Live Auction

We are planning both a silent auction and an exciting live auction
again this year, including a Cleveland Cavs package, an Indians
package, Wolstein Center tickets, a Billy Joel and Elton John package,
and a stay at a vacation home in Fort Lauderdale!

Two more of the great items that will be up for bid are:

A guitar signed by Melissa Etheridge!

Melissa Ehteridge signing guitar.
Photo: Janet Macoska