Queens Museum Gala Garners Gift From Shelley, Donald Rubin

Tom Finkelpearl, the executive director of the Queens Museum, walked on water out to a point just south of Governors Island, where he stood towering above the five boroughs. As he delivered his speech, the 350 guests attending the museum’s annual gala last week stayed above sea level, listening from the glass walkway that wraps around the perimeter of the painstakingly detailed Panorama. “The community is here, the world is here,” he said proudly. “I’ve seen friends from China, India, Taiwan, Mexico—I’ve even seen people from Manhattan here tonight.”

Among these were the evening’s honorees, Shelley and Donald Rubin who, Mr. Finkelpearl announced to great applause, are donating $500,000 to the museum. The gift, which will endow an eponymous 1,800-square-foot gallery slated to open in October with an exhibition of Cuban art from the couple’s private collection, is the latest example of the Rubins’ support of outer-borough art institutions: just a few months ago they gave the same sum to the Bronx Museum at its gala, ensuring the continuation of free admission through 2015. As Mr. Finkelpearl announced the donation, artist Eleen Lin was actively christening the space, painting the couple’s names on one of the walls.

From a corner of the catwalk jutting out above the Rockaways, Mr. Rubin addressed the importance of taking action. “If you want to get things done, just do it,” he said insistently. “I’ll say that again. Just do it.” Mr. Rubin went on to mention a book titled Do It, though he didn’t mean Hans-Ulrich Obrist’s tangerine tome of instruction–based art. Mr. Rubin was referring to a book by radical activist Jerry Rubin (no relation), which chronicles his involvement with the Weather Underground, Black Panthers and LSD. “We had different politics,” he said, “but I like what he had to say: ‘Don’t sit on your ass. Just go out and do it and make it happen.’”

Before the speeches began, bright sunlight glinted off the stainless steel Unisphere as the guests arrived for cocktails and Flushing Meadows-Corona Park buzzed with soccer games and strollers. Pillars of water shot up around the enormous globe—the museum had arranged for the fountain to be on for the event—and children chased each other through the spray. “It used to flood our basement,” said Mr. Finkelpearl, who navigated the crowd, which included architects who came straight from the office and philanthropist types dressed in this season Chanel, with expert ease. The party snaked through the museum’s labyrinthine space, up a flight of stairs, along a series of high-ceilinged hallways and perhaps most dramatically, through the room containing the Panorama. On their way through, guests paused to pick their apartments out of the nearly 900,000 miniature, matchbox-size buildings below. Moving on to the next mezzanine, they bought raffle tickets and watched as artist David Kearns, one of many working throughout the museum during the event, painted a mural high up on the wall using an orange cherry picker.

Finally, guests arrived at a balcony overlooking what will be the museum’s airy new atrium and exhibition space. Small birds flitted through the 50,000-square-foot construction site (formerly the 1964 World’s Fair ice rink) and everyone twittered about how beautiful the new wing will be when it opens.

“Have you seen the future?” asked Peter Meyer, president of the museum’s board of trustees and TD Bank. “It’s here. And it will be open in a couple of months.”