Gala

Gala may refer to:

Agriculture

Events and festivities

Fiction, film and gaming

Music

Albums

Names, organizations, and brands

Tribute

A tribute (from Latin tributum, contribution) is wealth, often in kind, that a party gives to another as a sign of respect or, as was often the case in historical contexts, of submission or allegiance. Various ancient states exacted tribute from the rulers of land which the state conquered or otherwise threatened to conquer. In case of alliances, lesser parties may pay tribute to more powerful parties as a sign of allegiance and often in order to finance projects that benefited both parties. To be called "tribute" a recognition by the payer of political submission to the payee is normally required; the large sums, essentially protection money, paid by the later Roman and Byzantine Empires to barbarian peoples to prevent them attacking imperial territory, would not usually be termed "tribute" as the Empire accepted no inferior political position. Payments by a superior political entity to an inferior one, made for various purposes, are described by terms including "subsidy".

The ancient Persian Achaemenid Empire is an example of an ancient tribute empire; one that made relatively few demands on its non-Persian subjects other than the regular payment of tribute, which might be gold, luxury goods, animals, soldiers or slaves. However failure to keep up the payments had dire consequences. The reliefs at Persepolis show processions of figures bearing varied types of tribute.

Celine Dion

Céline Marie Claudette Dion, CC OQ ChLD (/ˈdiːɒn/;French: [selin d(z)ijɔ̃]; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, businesswoman and occasional actress. Born into a large family from Charlemagne, Quebec, Dion emerged as a teen star in the French-speaking world after her manager and future husband René Angélil mortgaged his home to finance her first record. Dion first gained international recognition in the 1980s by winning both the 1982 Yamaha World Popular Song Festival and the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest where she represented Switzerland. Following a series of French albums in the early 1980s, she signed on to CBS Records Canada in 1986. In 1990, she released the English-language album Unison, establishing herself as a viable pop artist in North America and other English-speaking areas of the world.

During the 1990s, with the help of Angélil, she achieved worldwide fame after signing with Epic Records and releasing several English albums along with additional French albums, becoming one of the most successful artists in pop music history. Two of her albums, Falling Into You (1996) and Let's Talk About Love (1997), were both certified diamond in the US. In addition, her 1995 album D'eux, is the best-selling French-language album of all time. However, in 1999 at the height of her success, Dion announced a hiatus from entertainment in order to start a family and spend time with her husband, who had been diagnosed with cancer. She returned to the top of pop music in 2002 and signed a three-year (later extended to almost five years) contract to perform nightly in a five-star theatrical show at the Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Paradise, Nevada.

Film Society of Lincoln Center

The Film Society of Lincoln Center, based in New York City, United States, is one of the world's most prominent film presentation organizations. Founded in 1969 by three Lincoln Center executives—William F. May, Martin E. Segal and Schuyler G. Chapin—the film society spotlights American Independent cinema and World Cinema, and recognizes and supports new filmmakers. The Film Society of Lincoln Center is one of the eleven resident organizations at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Over the last four decades, the film society has introduced to American audiences the works of many of the world's most acclaimed filmmakers, including François Truffaut, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Jean-Luc Godard, Pedro Almodóvar and Martin Scorsese.

Each year the organization presents its annual Gala Tribute, honoring legendary stars and industry leaders at Lincoln Center’s David Geffen Hall, formerly known as Avery Fisher Hall.

The Film Society of Lincoln Center also hosts the annual New York Film Festival and is a co-presenter (with the Museum of Modern Art) of the New Directors/New Films Festival. The Film Society also publishes the bi-monthly film journal Film Comment.

FIA World Endurance Championship

The FIA World Endurance Championship is an auto racing world championship organized by the Automobile Club de l'Ouest (ACO) and sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The series usurps the ACO's former Intercontinental Le Mans Cup which began in 2010, and is the first endurance series of world championship status since the demise of the World Sportscar Championship at the end of 1992. The World Endurance Championship name was previously used by the FIA from 1981 to 1985.

The series feature multiple classes of cars competing in endurance races, with sports prototypes competing in the Le Mans Prototype categories, and production-based grand tourers competing in the LM GTE categories. World champion titles are awarded to the top scoring manufacturers and drivers over the season, while other cups and trophies will be awarded for drivers and private teams.

Format

The World Endurance Championship follows much of the format of the Intercontinental Le Mans Cup and features seven endurance races across the world, including the 24 Hours of Le Mans, with all races being at least six hours in duration. The calendar includes four races in Europe, two in the Americas, two in Asia and one in the Middle East, with a possible future expansion. There are four categories: LMP1 and LMP2 prototypes and the GTE category, divided into GTE Pro for teams with professional driver line-ups, and GTE Am for teams featuring a mixture of amateur drivers.