New York, May 12, 2009 – “Thank you very much, Mr. Nicolas Cage; I’m very glad you are here today.  As soon as I saw you, I was thinking my daughters would have loved to have an autograph,” U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the crowd gathered in the delegates dining room on Tuesday evening, surrounded by artworks created by exploited Ugandan children for the Weclome to Gulu exhibition.  But Cage was not the center of attention this evening – he was only there to speak on behalf of the cause spearheaded by artist Ross Bleckner, who was formally sworn in as a U.N. Goodwill Ambassador at the benefit.  While Bleckner was expecting the ambassadorship ceremony, he was completely surprised when U.N. officials announced that that day was his 60th birthday, and presented him with a cake and led all of us in a round of “Happy Birthday.”  Ambassador Bleckner says he never mentioned that the ceremony fell on his birthday, but his friends apparently put the word out.   “I was not expecting that cake, that was a big surprise,” he said.

Wishing Bleckner well were Alec Baldwin, Joy Behar, country music star John Rich, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Francisco Costa and artists Brice Marden and Jenny Holzer.