Ned and Sherry Ann Dayton with Brady Roberts and Max Hollein. [Photo: Denise Ritchie]

The Vero Beach Museum of Art feted its upper category members at the annual Director’s Society and Chairman’s Club Dinner last Friday evening, sponsored by the King Group Merrill Lynch Wealth Management and Indian River Estates. The contributions of these sophisticated art aficionados provide major support to the museum and its ever-expanding programs.

Guests had been offered a choice of early or later seatings at the black-tie affair, which featured a lecture and an elegant filet mignon dinner that concluded with chocolaty tartufo for dessert, catered by Elizabeth D. Kennedy & Co.

Prior to dining, both groups were treated to a fascinating talk in the Leonhardt Auditorium by Max Hollein, director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, on ‘The Encyclopedic Museum in a Globalized World.’ (See story in the Arts section.)

“We’re kind of building on some momentum that we started last season,” said Brady Roberts, VBMA CEO.

“We launched our strategic plan with the Victorian Radicals exhibition, and for us it was the first time that we themed our programs, all of our educational programs, around a major exhibition. And then we marketed it broadly. As a result, we achieved record high membership and sponsorship, and we’re building support all over the community. So it’s been a tremendous success for us. I want to thank all of you, the Chairman’s Club and Director’s Society members for making this possible, because we couldn’t do it without your support.”

Roberts added that contributions by leadership members are critical to the museum, as they provide its single largest funding support.

Current VBMA exhibitions are the AI Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Gold, through Dec. 15, and L’Affichomania: The Art of French Posters exhibit through Jan. 12. The upcoming From Homer to Hopper: American Art from The Phillips Collection opens Feb. 1 and runs through May 31.

For more information, visit vbmuseum.org.