Fundraiser extraordinaire Becca Cason Thrash, as resourceful as she is relentless, loves to tear through French red tape like a champion sprinter rips across finish lines.
At the 2011 gala she organized in support of the Louvre, which had Janet Jackson performing after dinner and a Richard Prince joke painting up for auction, she was adamant that guests first sip Champagne on the balcony of what was once Napoléon III’s private apartments — even though museum officials insisted the doors could not be opened.
Over a two-month campaign, she made two trips to Paris from her native Texas to state her case — at her own expense — secretly procured an estimate from a supplier, and basically would not take “no” for an answer.
“I was like, ‘I’m bringing in $4 million: Get those damn doors unsealed for me,'” she said in her disarming drawl.
Thrash, whose latest project is a benefit gala at the Palace of Versailles planned for June 8, upholds a long tradition of American philanthropy in support of French cultural institutions.
