SMPS Central Florida AEC Art Gala

The SMPS Central Florida AEC Art Gala began as an opportunity to celebrate something that often goes unseen in a highly technical industry: the creativity of the people behind the work. I served as Committee Captain for the inaugural event in 2016 and Event Chair in 2017, helping shape the strategy, programming, guest experience, and production for both years.

Hosted at the Orlando Museum of Art, the gala showcased original artwork created by professionals across architecture, engineering, construction, and related fields while raising funds for student scholarships and charitable organizations. From the beginning, I wanted the event to feel different from a traditional industry function. The goal was not simply to display artwork in a formal setting, but to create an experience that felt celebratory, culturally engaging, and genuinely worth attending.

Working closely with a volunteer committee, I helped develop the event concept, programming, sponsorship opportunities, artist participation, VIP judging, catering, entertainment, photography, guest flow, and production logistics. Many of the ideas focused on creating a stronger sense of arrival and occasion, including a red-carpet entrance, live music, full access to the museum, interactive entertainment, branded experiences, and a judging panel made up of respected community leaders.

The visual identity and event graphics were developed in collaboration with a professional designer, while my role focused on concept development, creative direction, programming, coordination, and the overall experience. That distinction is important because the strength of the project was never about a single graphic or design element. It was about how all of the pieces worked together to create an event with its own personality.

The gala also had a clear philanthropic purpose. Both years supported scholarships and charitable initiatives, including a $2,000 scholarship awarded to a UCF student chapter member. That added meaning to the experience and gave attendees another reason to feel connected to the event beyond networking or entertainment.

What made the project especially rewarding was seeing how quickly the gala became something people looked forward to. By combining art, industry, philanthropy, and thoughtful experiential details, we created a new type of gathering for the local AEC community, one that celebrated the people behind the profession rather than only the work they produced.

For me, the project is a strong example of experiential strategy in practice: understanding the audience, identifying what would make the experience feel distinctive, and designing the event around connection, participation, and memory rather than simply attendance.