The British Museum will host its second annual fundraising ball this October.
Following last year’s Pink Ball, which raised more than £2 million, this year's theme will be red.
Tickets to the event, which is set to take place on October 17, will cost £3,500 a head, up from £2,000 last year.
The ball has been described as London’s answer to New York’s Met Gala, the annual fundraising event hosted by the longtime Vogue editor Anna Wintour.
Award-winning artist and designer Es Devlin is the artistic director for this year’s ball which she says, “will help the British Museum continue to offer over six million people each year free immediate access to two million years of human history”.
Ms Devlin provided kinetic stage designs at the Super Bowl and the Royal Opera House in recent years.
The British Museum will be hosting the Bayeux Tapestry from September, and also has plans for a special display marking the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States and an exhibition exploring 2,000 years of Korean creativity.
The museum has said that the red theme was chosen as it was the earliest pigment known to have been used by humans in artistic expression, as well as being a unifying thread through all three major exhibitions.
They said it reflected the “embroidered wool” of the Bayeux tapestry, the stripes of the American flag, and the “rich hues found across centuries of Korean art”.
Last year’s ball was attended by more than 800 guests, including the former UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Sir Mick Jagger, Naomi Campbell, and the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.
The event was not without controversy, being disrupted when a climate protestor took to the stage during a speech by the museum’s chair of trustees, George Osborne.
The ball also angered the Greek government, who criticised the museum for having some guests dine in the same room that holds the contested Elgin Marbles.
The funds raised at this year’s ball will go towards the museum’s ambitious overhaul plan, including a complete reworking of the Western range of the museum and an energy centre designed to reduce the museum’s carbon footprint.
Nicholas Cullinan, director of the British Museum, said: “Set within the beautiful galleries of the British Museum, the ball embodies the institution’s unique role as a global meeting place for cultures, ideas and creativity.
“Bringing together artists, collectors, patrons and cultural leaders from around the world, it celebrates the power of cultural exchange while championing the museum’s future.”
