“Somedays, when it’s your job to help achieve the mandate of peace on earth, it’s a requirement to come down, look at the art and relax,” or so says an officer with the UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations (now the Department of Peace Operations). He is a regular on the UN Party Scene. Yes, many, many nights, these starched shirts and suits — or occasionally, elaborately costumed — loosen their ties and hang out for Friday drinks at the UN Delegates Lounge, the various staff Halloween, Christmas, Kwanzaa parties and even elaborate charity events on the lawn. Ban said of the atmosphere, “we are all leaders with no rigid rules, and we can speak out of order.” This Tuesday, September 23rd at 12:00pm EST, you can get an inside look at the scene Ban described by joining journalist Adrian Brune for a virtual talk on the UN delegates party scene.
A photo of the Delegates Lounge in 1964. Photo: United Nations
Brune has reported and written hundreds of freelance newspaper, magazine and website articles – from pitch to print – for publications, such as Foreign Affairs, the New Yorker, The Guardian and OZY.com on variety of topics, including global affairs, social justice, the United Nations, human rights and culture. She has authored magazine cover stories for the Chicago Tribune Magazine, the Boston Globe Magazine and The Nation. In 2007, Brune took on a day job at the United Nations, first as a press officer, where she covered high-level meetings and produced press releases and articles for the 2007, 2013 and 2015 General Assemblies, and in 2014 and 2016 as an associate editor for the UN Yearbook, for which she produced the 2011 and 2012 chapters on the Middle East and the 2012 chapter on Social Development. She is currently a content specialist for UNICEF.
A jazz concert in the UN Delegates Lounge, 2016, Courtesy of Adrian Brune
Untapped New York is proud to be an official collaborator with the United Nations on the UN75 initiative — the largest, most inclusive conversation on the role of global cooperation in building a better future for all. The initiative was created to honor the 75th anniversary of the UN’s formation in 1945. UN75 invited citizens of the world to share their ideas for a better future via a short, one-minute survey focused on the key priorities for international cooperation. You can see the initial results of the survey online here! Responses have been collected responses from more than one million people from over fifty countries worldwide.
