The Waterfalls party on Thursday night at South Street Seaport gave the patrons who helped fund the $15 million art project an opportunity to meet its artist, Olafur Eliasson.

"The waterfalls are meant to be experienced individually, but they are also meant to be a shared experience," Mr. Eliasson said.

The crowd of arts and civic leaders included the head of the Art Production Fund, Yvonne Force Villareal, a former chairman of the Museum of Modern Art, Robert Menschel, the director of the Bronx Museum of the Arts, Holly Block, the director of the Israel Museum, James Snyder, and the director of the Harbor District, Paula Berry, who is anticipating next year's quadricentennial celebration of New York's harbor (specifically, the explorations made by Henry Hudson and Samuel de Champlain in 1609).