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"Do not miss a floor," event chairwoman Eileen Guggenheim admonished as she greeted guests to the New York Academy of Art's TriBeCa Ball on Tuesday. The ball was held, for the first time in several years, at the academy itself, on Franklin Street in TriBeCa.

The party took place throughout the building, giving guests the opportunity to see artists at work and to talk to them about their pieces. Performers provided additional spectacles: Johnny Fox swallowed sharp swords, and Vivian Hancock showed the art of the hula hoop.

"It's the 25th anniversary of the academy, and we are dedicated to figurative art, which, when we started 25 years ago, no one wanted to hear about. It was considered retrograde!" Ms. Guggenheim said. "And now our artists are going straight into Chelsea galleries. We're teaching a whole generation of artists how to paint and draw."

"It feels good to be here," artist Eric Fischl, an honorary chairman of the event, who teaches at the school, said. "It's great for people to come down and get a little sniff of what a studio feels like. The New York Academy of Art is very idiosyncratic. It doesn't fit into the mainstream but it trains students to do solid work."

The event drew 300 guests and raised $350,000 for the academy.

One advantage of the location: "You feel where the money is going when you see all of these artists in their element. It's really very personable," a chairwoman of the event, Sonya Rolin-Donald, said. "I think it's one of the neatest events I've been to in New York."

The dress code on the invitation was "bohemian chic." Most looked bohemian or chic.

agordon@nysun.com