Roxbury Arts Group: Community Creativity Goes Over the Top at RAG Gala

Community Creativity Goes Over the Top at RAG Gala

by Robert Brune

    Nearly two decades after its last presentation, the Roxbury Arts Group revived one of its most imaginative signature fundraisers Saturday evening with the return of Over the Top Tabletops. The sold-out gala supported RAG’s general operations and improvements to the Great Hall while demonstrating the strength of a community willing to sustain the arts in ways grants alone cannot.

    Once a highlight of the organization’s social calendar, the event invited artists and community members to transform 11 dinner tables into immersive works of functional art. Many longtime supporters fondly remembered the earlier gatherings, while a new generation of designers approached the concept for the first time. The result was an epically elegant evening that felt both nostalgic and entirely renewed.

   Event co-chairs Robin Factor and Joan Lawrence-Bauer led the revival with support from the entire RAG board. Factor credited her co-chair, saying, “Joan Lawrence-Bauer did a lot of heavy lifting to help make this event possible.”

    Lawrence-Bauer said the fundraiser was a signature RAG event between 2004 and 2012, although the program notes that its previous presentation was held in 2007. “Most of the people involved in making it happen at that time are long gone, so in many ways it was like starting over from scratch,” she explained. “But I had always been enamored of the event and saw a very enthusiastic board of directors, eager to get involved and do something big.”

     That enthusiasm translated into complete participation. “Every single member of the Roxbury Arts Group board of directors was involved,” Lawrence-Bauer said. “That 100% participation rate made the success possible. Eight of the 11 tables were actually designed by our board members and/or their friends and family.”

    Only Lawrence-Bauer and Peggy Bellar had previously experienced the event. Still, Lawrence-Bauer said the newcomers understood its spirit immediately. “All those other people knew what to do instinctively,” she said. “They clearly went over the top to make the event special.”

    Each tablescape told its own story. Guests moved from a playful Vintage Circus and a Victorian journey Around the World in 80 Days to the medieval enchantment of Unicorn in a Garden. Botanica brought the Catskills forest indoors, while Women Who Changed the World honored courage, imagination and resilience through symbolic place settings.

    Elsewhere, Floral Fantasy erupted in color, The Shape of Home explored the connection between shelter and the Catskills landscape, and The Enchanted Crossing drew inspiration from Monet’s water lilies. Old Hollywood offered cinematic glamour, Garden Party celebrated friendship and creative collaboration, and Finding the Perfect Place turned the warmth of home into an artistic centerpiece. Carefully selected wines were woven into the character of each setting, completing the experience.

     Executive Director Patrick Barnes said the gala sold out approximately two months in advance. “This event hasn’t happened in nearly 20 years, but it was a fixture for many years,” Barnes said. “So many people talk about it. I think there was enough excitement that it was a reprise, that people were looking forward to it and knew what it was.”

    Barnes praised Factor and Lawrence-Bauer for “pounding the pavement,” but said the broader support made organizing the fundraiser unusually smooth. “It’s like a wedding that you have to make profitable,” he joked. “When everybody pitches in as a community and as a board, it was incredible. There was huge support from the board and community to pull this off.”

    The evening also included silent bidding and a fundraising auction conducted by professional benefit auctioneer Rick Gallo. Although those elements contributed to the gala’s purpose, the artist-designed dining experience remained its defining feature.

    Funds raised will help RAG cover the essential costs that many program-specific grants cannot. Lawrence-Bauer described the proceeds as “prized unrestricted funding” used to support staff, utilities, insurance and the infrastructure necessary to present RAG’s extensive programming. “The short answer is everything that grants won’t support,” she said. “We are deeply grateful for the support of our community in that effort.”

     In 2025, RAG presented 286 events and programs, ranging from exhibitions and performances to master classes. It also provided 168 CROP classes across 14 schools. In 2026, the organization distributed $187,000 in New York State Council on the Arts regrant funding to Delaware County artists and arts organizations.

    The benefit will also help address needs within the Great Hall that are not fully covered by Downtown Revitalization Initiative funding. Barnes cited a new curtain or replacement lift among the possibilities. Current improvements include a bluestone walkway and driveway, with HVAC, theater lighting, flooring, electrical work, doors, and fire and security systems planned. The mini-split HVAC system could allow RAG to offer a longer performance season by improving comfort throughout the year.

     The weather matched the occasion, continuing a summer marked by remarkably beautiful weekends. Guests arrived in stunning attire and gathered around tables that appeared to have been lifted from different pages of an illustrated storybook. With each setting offering its own world of color, memory and imagination, Over the Top Tabletops once again became part of the best chapter of Roxbury Arts Group history, written together with the community.