amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, will hold its inaugural fundraising gala in Hong Kong on March 14, 2015 at Shaw Studios.
Gwyneth Paltrow will serve as the evening’s Honorary Chair, and Michelle Yeoh will receive special recognition during the event for her exceptional contributions to the global struggle against HIV/AIDS. Robin Thicke will highlight the evening with a performance. Pansy Ho is graciously serving as the event’s Chair. Victoria Beckham, Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell will attend and serve as Event Co-Chairs. Harry Winston, Marc Jacobs and MGM China Holdings will generously serve as the event’s presenting sponsors.
Event Co-Chairs of the amfAR Hong Kong also include Veronica Chou, Kenneth Cole, Serge Dumont, Vinay Dube, Larry Gagosian, Milutin Gatsby, Nayla Hayek, Emily Lam Ho, Jean-Marc Lacave, Cathy Lee, Xin Li, Wendi Murdoch, Michelle Ong, Dee Poon, David Tang, Claudine Ying, Andrew Yuen and Yvette Yung. The event’s Signature Sponsors are Delta Air Lines, Island Shangri-La, Hong Kong, and Moët Hennessy. Microsoft is the Official Technology Partner.
Since amfAR’s first international benefit, held in 1993 during the Cannes International Film Festival and hosted by amfAR Founding International Chairman Dame Elizabeth Taylor, the Foundation’s international galas in Milan, New York, Cannes, India, Venice, Rome and São Paulo and beyond have become some of the most high-profile and eagerly anticipated charity events in the world and have helped raised millions for critical AIDS research programs. The events are known for their unpredictable nature with many of the celebrities in attendance participating in the live auctions or jumping onstage with impromptu performances.
amfAR Hong Kong will be a black-tie gala dinner featuring cocktails of MoëtHennessy champagnes and spirits, a live auction conducted by Simon de Pury, and special performances.
amfAR’s annual events play a critically important role in raising funds for the Foundation’s research programs and provide an important platform for raising awareness of HIV/AIDS, a disease that affects more than 35 million people around the world today, and infects more than two million every year. Last year, amfAR launched the “Countdown to a Cure for AIDS,” a research initiative aimed at developing the scientific basis for a cure for HIV by 2020. The bold initiative will intensify amfAR’s cure-focused HIV research program with plans to strategically invest $100 million in cure research over the next five years. Harry Winston is a proud supporter of the Countdown to a Cure campaign.
amfAR has been very active in Asia for more than 20 years, and its TREAT Asia program has become a model of regional collaboration on HIV/AIDS since its founding 14 years ago. Since 1991, amfAR has awarded more than $17.2 million in research grants to 120 organizations in 14 countries in the Asia-Pacific region. While Hong Kong ranks as one of the world’s lowest in HIV prevalence, the number of new HIV infections has been increasing steadily every year among gay men, other men who have sex with men, and young people in Hong Kong. The alarming rise in HIV cases is worrying, and it shows that the HIV/AIDS epidemic is still a reality in Hong Kong, as it is in every other city around the world.
