Opening night reception

The Online News Association’s 2010 Conference kicks off Thursday when the opening night reception is held at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery, collectively known as the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture.

The event, sponsored by Yahoo, will be in the Luce Foundation Center for American Art at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, which features works by Edward Hopper and Georgia O’Keeffe.

More than 3,300 works of American art are displayed throughout the Luce Center, which occupies the third and fourth floors of the museums’ historic building at 8th and F streets in downtown Washington.

In February 2009, the space was used to construct portraits of presidents Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln — made out of cupcakes. In fact, the space hosted one of Lincoln’s inaugural balls in 1865. A midnight supper was held in the space, a Smithsonian official said.

There’s room for 500 people at the reception, Josh Hatch, ONA co-conference chair, said. While 900 people registered for the conference — the most ever — he said to not worry about being turned away at the door, since not everyone is expected to arrive on Thursday, and many people tend to come and go from this event throughout the evening. The reception is open to only those with general conference passes.

The reception runs from 7:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. and is three blocks from the Marriott Renaissance, the conference hotel.

One Comment

  1. http://Making%20Arrangements
    Posted October 28, 2010 at 9:51 pm | Permalink

    Can anyone tell me if I can pick up my general pass at the reception door, or do I need to go by the Marriott first? If the latter, how long will the desk be staffed?