We sent FBNY correspondent Amanda ReCupido out into the field to cover the New Yorker's annual Passport to the Arts on Saturday, November 10. The well-attended event not only netted guests free Padma Lakshmi books, but included tours of the vast majority of Chelsea's galleries... Along with a ton of corporate sponsorship. A ton.

After the jump, Amanda journeys on a New Yorker-sponsored trip into the heart of darkness known as the Chelsea gallery scene... and lives to tell about it.

Like we said, well-attended.

Somewhere, an art collector is figuring out how the hell to display this in their living room.

Artsy.

Again, artsy.

So hundreds of people crowded into over 20 art galleries in Chelsea yesterday as part of The New Yorker's sold-out annual "Passport to the Arts" event. Participants received a unique stamp created by one of the gallery's artists at each venue. As one New Yorker staffer put it, "this way, people can take a piece of the art home with them."

Things kicked off at "Passport to the Arts" headquarters, conveniently located next to the Magnolia bakery at Bond No. 9's Bleeker Street boutique. Of course, the perfumiers were one of the event's sponsors (guests also enjoyed a sample of perfume in their goodie bags). We were then whisked away to the first gallery location via Land Rover shuttle (you guessed it, another sponsor). We got to make awkward chit-chat with our driver who had been shuttling close to 450 people since the event opened at 11am and take in the new car smell. We asked how much it would be to keep him for the day, and he jokingly asked if we had American Express (hmmm, I guess the folks over at The New Yorker didn't tip him off that MasterCard was also a sponsor).

The gallery route included 23 locations. Participants were encouraged to go at their own leisure and even to mistakenly pop into other galleries close by and ask for a stamp (which we embarrassingly did). One artist, Annysa Ng, was present at her exhibition at the Vanina Holasek Gallery, and commented on how wonderful the event was. "So many people have been coming through today," she said. "It's great to see this number of people appreciating art." Other gallery workers lightheartedly complained about the unusual rush of visitors, trying to peg their coworkers on "stamp duty." "It's been crowded all day," one gallery worker said, in all seriousness. "It’s great to receive this amount of visitors."

The event culminated in a cocktail reception with drinks provided by St. Germain and a south-of-the-border spread provided by the people at Mexico/Puerto Vallarta (read: SPONSORS! Some ad rep is going to get a HUGE pat on the back.). Original works of art hung around the room for auction with proceeds benefiting Friends of the High Line, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation and reuse of the High Line, a 1.5-mile elevated railway that runs along the West Side of Manhattan (a portion of ticket sales went to the cause as well). It turns out then that our day of obsessively filling our passport with stamps wasn’t for naught, but for a good cause. And we also kind of feel like buying a Land Rover now. With a MasterCard.

— Amanda ReCupido