• by Karl Greenberg , September 3, 2009

Uptown, a luxury lifestyle magazine for affluent African-Americans, and General Motors' Buick brand are launching "The Art of Taste," an event-marketing program to showcase the 2010 Lacrosse luxury sedan to its readers.

The program -- a series of events in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago and Washington, D.C. in September and October held at upscale lounges -- mixes music, culinary arts and entertainment. Buick Lacrosse is the automotive centerpiece of the evening. Chef Marcus Samuelsson will create a menu of gourmet hors d'oeuvres from his cookbook "American Table."

The Lacrosse will be placed outside and inside each venue, and Buick will have Lacrosse brand ambassadors talking about the car.

The Art of Style events will be prominently featured in upcoming issues of Uptown and www.uptown-life.net.

Len Burnett, Uptown co-founder and group publisher, says invitations are going to a mix of Uptown's 200,000 subscribers and VIPs. The company expects about 300 attendees per market. Burnett says the parties will be at museums, lounges and event spaces. "Buick wants to make sure [the venues] have a luxurious feel," he says. Uptown has held several such efforts with auto brands, says Burnett, citing Aston Martin, Lexus, Infiniti and Jaguar.

"Consumers in the African-American market, who are usually under-served by these kinds of events, respond very favorably. We have done parties for 125 people at which we sold two of the vehicles from the dinner party, and these were very high-end vehicles," he says. "Reaching out to consumers like this derives positive results."