[Performance of “Welcome to Nowhere,” directed by American Kenneth Collins, as part of this year’s Young Director’s Project]
Dries Verhoeven’s “YOU ARE HERE” takes home honors at the Salzburg Festival
Out of the field of four participating productions at this year’s Young Directors Project Powered by Montblanc at the Salzburg Music Festival, Dries Verhoeven’s and his innovative “YOU ARE HERE” stood out from the rest, winning the competition, its €10,000 prize money, and a Montblanc “Hommage à Max Reinhardt” Salzburg Special Edition fountain pen.
Participation in the Young Directors Project offers young directors from all over the world the unique opportunity to present themselves for the first time to the international press in the German-speaking area of Salzburg. Some past participants have since started outstanding careers.
[Actress Eva Green and Montblanc International CEO LutzBethge reveal the Montblanc Meisterstück ‘Signature for Good’ Special Edition]
World-renowned writing instrument manufacturer and UNICEF team up
In an effort to help UNICEF’s worldwide education and literacy programs, Montblanc recently unveiled the Montblanc Meisterstück “Signature for Good” Special Edition, a new version of the classic Montblanc Meisterstück, the renowned penmaker’s 85-year-old flagship line of pens.
According to Montblanc, the new pen reinforces a commitment to UNICEF, a partner it has been working closely with since 2004. The special edition Meisterstück is part of a larger ‘Signature for Good’ collection of writing instruments, jewelry and accessories specially created to help raise funds to support UNICEF in its work addressing inadequate schooling and illiteracy. This first launch of the ‘Signature for Good’ collection is part of a one-year charity initiative to benefit UNICEF’s education and literacy programs. Montblanc will be donating 10% of the retail price from each Meisterstück ‘Signature for Good’ Special Edition with the overall aim of raising at least US$ 1.5 million in the next 12 months through various global fundraising initiatives.
[Artists exhibited at Step Up on Second’s Art Heals event with their work]
Santa Monica foundation looks to art as a way to help individuals with mental illness
Step Up on Second in Santa Monica is a rare institution, working with people in the community who suffer from a variety of mental illnesses. Step Up’s uniqueness lies in its magnanimous approach, providing counseling, support, friendship, homes, and especially involvement in the arts.
President and CEO Tod Lipka has launched two new housing projects, scheduled to open in 2009 that will, as he explains, “provide 54 units of permanent supportive housing for individuals struggling with mental illness.”
[Alyce Morris and others at the ribbon cutting of the Jeffrey Foundation’s Special Child and Family Resource Center. Image courtesy of the Jeffrey Foundation]
Alyce’s Morris’s project of devotion provides aid to children in need
Alyce Morris turned a profound personal problem—a need for day care for her son—into the Jeffrey Foundation, one of few centers nationwide serving special needs children exclusively.
When Morris and her son Jeffrey (who was afflicted with muscular dystrophy and later died in 1980) moved to California, she found no childcare for disabled children. In 1972, Morris opened the Jeffrey Foundation in Los Angeles to care for her son, while helping other families in similar circumstances.
[Bernard and Shirley Kinsey. Courtesy of the Bernard and Shirley Kinsey Foundation for the Arts and Education]
Southern California-based foundation provides support for education and African American history and culture
Bernard and Shirley Kinsey’s lives embrace art, philanthropy, African American history and artifacts, community outreach, education, and nearly every person and group they meet.
The Kinseys work, play and often fundraise from their ocean-viewing Pacific Palisades home, filled with one of the largest private collections of African-American art and artifacts. Key selections, including sculptures, paintings and documents, have shown at the California African American Museum and at museums in Florida and Cincinnati, among others.
World-renowned philanthropist opens up about giving and her own artistic inclinations
If philanthropist Glorya Kaufman had been born in the animal kingdom, she might have flourished as a bird, soaring and swooping through the air, given her delicate physique, her bright eyes and her penchant for movement. As a child, she grew up in Detroit, Michigan in a loving family where dance at family gatherings was considered a joyous slice of life. As a teenager, it wasn’t unusual for her to win a bottle of wine in a dance contest in the clubs that she and her friends frequented. Also, recreationals, held at the homes of friends, were opportunities to dance and socialize with neighborhood boys.
We go inside the studios of Montblanc for a look at the creative team behind one of the world’s leading writing instrument manufacturers
Writing utensils seem so simple, yet Art and Living learned otherwise when we got to tour the design studios of renowned penmaker Montblanc. There’s a lot of design and artistry that goes into the crafting of these intricate pieces.
We’re hard at work on our latest issue, which will showcase our experience firsthand. But in the meantime, you can check out some photos we took of the journey.
[Left to right: Michael Sullivan, owner of LAcarGUY, with Ken Frank, chef/owner of La Toque, and Marty Collins, president/CEO of Gatehouse Capital and sponsor of LA All Stars band for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation event]
Art and Living-sponsored gala helps the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation raise $1.5 million. Sponsored by American Airlines, Toyota and Four Seasons Maui.
For information regarding the 2010 event, please contact Barbara Balik at bbalik@cff.org
This last weekend, fine wine and food lovers from around the world joined Art and Living and host of other supporters in participating in one of the nation’s largest single-day charity wine auctions, “A Culinary Evening with the California Winemasters,” at the Warner Bros. Studio backlot. The annual event, which showcases celebrated chefs and restaurateurs, winery owners and winemakers, raised $1,500,000 for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Amazingly, 90.6 cents of every dollar raised at the “Winemasters” gala funds vital cystic fibrosis research and care programs. Cystic fibrosis remains North America’s number-one genetic killer of children and young adults.
This year, Cobblestone Vineyards returned as an Imperial Sponsor for the 20th incarnation of the evening. The event, which is a veritable who’s-who of California’s iconic chefs and wineries, has raised over $17 million since its inception.
Catching up with one of the great philanthropists of our time
By Lisa Stahl
For an institution once considered “establishment,” the current exhibit Burning Down the House is more than merely metaphor. Here at the Brooklyn Museum, wall space is finally repatriated.
In searing, provocative images, nearly fifty works on display at the Center for Feminist Art from feminist artists like Kiki Smith and Lorna Simpson explore gender inequality and perceptions. They participate in more than artistic exhibition; they celebrate the groundbreaking recognition of a movement both artistic and political.
The exhibit mirrors the passionate commitment to social change and gender equality of founder and financier Elizabeth Sackler. The center is her brainchild; it’s the first museum collection devoted not just to female artists but to feminist art.
Talking with the faces behind one of the world’s great cultural institutions
By Kathleen Joiner
On August 23, 2004, the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center opened in Cincinnati, Ohio, steps from the banks of the Ohio River, the dividing line separating slave and free states in the decades leading to the Civil War. Housing slavery era artifacts, permanent and changing exhibits—including an original slave pen, a holding place for slaves awaiting auction—the Freedom Center tells the story of slavery, America’s struggle for freedom, while serving as a safe house to foster healing and restoration.
While the museum was still a concept, a diverse core group of citizens united to raise the necessary $110 million to start the institution. The mission was clear: To reveal stories about freedom’s heroes, from the era of the Underground Railroad to contemporary times, challenging and inspiring everyone to take courageous steps for freedom today.
We talked to some of these founders and current Freedom Center supporters about why building and growing the Freedom Center is paramount. Here’s what they had to say:
^ John Pepper, Retired CEO of Procter & Gamble and Co-Chair of NURFC’s Board of Directors: “The youngsters are the nucleus of change,” he says. “Change cannot be made if the history is unknown.”
[Left to Right: DreamHome Living Room Designer Grace Sielaff, Sheila Kennedy, and Chris Kennedy. DreamHome is a design house sponsored by Chicago’s Merchandise Mart that features nine couture rooms created by renowned Chicago designers and using furnishings from the Merchandise Mart. Image courtesy of Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc.]
In recent years, Chris Kennedy has worked tirelessly to promote art through politics, philanthropy, and sheer love of creativity
By Lynn Morgan
‘‘I don’t know if people who live in Chicago can explain to people who live in LA why art is important!” laughs Chris Kennedy, the president of Merchandise Mart Properties, Inc. (MMPI), the owners and operators of the newly refurbished LA Mart and the producers of ten international art fairs, including Art Chicago, the Toronto International Art Fair, VOLTA and the Armory Show. Because of his involvement in the business of both fine and decorative art, he has a unique perspective on the importance of art to community and to commerce.
Catching up with one of the great philanthropists of our time
By Tina Marie Tyler
There is something about Elizabeth Segerstrom that transcends wealth, art, and culture. It whispers of perspicacity, blushes of compassion, and radiates a gentle humanity that warms those around her. In a rare interview, she exudes the complexity of a woman determined to embrace life through art and on a foundation of family.
[Chris Edwards, Scott Butler, Gretchen Bender, and Chris Carnes. Photo: Brandy Rawlins]
Evening nets $20,000 for Queen of the Valley Medical Center’s CARE Network Program
The 21st annual Napa Valley Academy Awards Gala and Black T-shirt Extravaganza, held February 22 at Robert Mondavi Winery, raised more than $20,000 to benefit HIV, AIDS and other chronically ill patients served by Queen of the Valley Medical Center’s CARE Network.
The event featured viewing of the Academy Awards ceremony, samplings of cuisine from 30 Napa Valley restaurants, entertainment by actor/comedian Bob Sarlatte, a silent and live auction, and dancing. Approximately 300 people attended the event.
First in a series of spotlights on the world’s great charitable organizations
“I am deeply impressed by Montblanc’s sincere and exceptionally strong global commitment to culture,” says classical pianist Lang Lang, Montblanc Foundation’s culture chairman and brand ambassador. “It has always been my dream to spark an interest in classical music in even more people, particularly more young people, and I am delighted at the opportunities this collaboration presents.” Lang Lang is an exemplary ambassador for Montblanc. The now-brilliant pianist grew up under difficult circumstances in China, experiencing hardships while striving to develop his skills.
Throngs of visitors came out this weekend to witness the latest presentation of Art and Living’s Art to Life Awards. In this incarnation of the vaunted award ceremony, commendations were given out to a distinguished group of women in the visual arts as part of A.I.R. Gallery’s Inaugural Gala during National Women’s History Month.
Eli Broad and Jeff Koons might seem a strange couple. Broad is a philanthropist, collector and financier who galvanizes the arts in the traditionally conservative world of bankers and corporations. Koons is a maverick artist and former Madison Avenue marketing guru who manages to incite critical furor and, more recently, public acclaim for his monumental public art and extreme appropriation of an art-as-commodity concept in a post-Warhol era. But collector and artist have more in common than their artist/collector relationship might suggest: they are both shrewd businessmen with uncanny acumen for tracking the art markets, anticipating trends and, most importantly, initiating developments.
In 1984, Eli and wife Edythe formed the Broad Art Foundation, the single largest collection of Jeff Koons artworks in the world. “We had more artworks than we could possibly display,” explains Broad, seated in his corporate offices in Westwood. “The art foundation was a way to share important works with museums, other institutions and the public.” Presently, the foundation has made more than 100 loans of Koons artworks to more than 30 institutions in ten countries. Read the rest of this entry »
Eli Broad enters the inner sanctum of his office in an art-filled suite precisely on time for his tightly-scheduled meeting. It’s the day after the Los Angeles City Council has approved his Grand Avenue Development project and clearly life is busy for the businessman turned full-time philanthropist. Broad, alongside a who’s-who list of collaborators that includes architect Frank Gehry, is spearheading the multi-billion-dollar effort to revitalize Downtown L.A. and finally the green light has been given. Read the rest of this entry »
Baroness Thyssen Carmen Cervera holds one of the world’s most expansive art collections. Exhibited at Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza in Madrid, her collection presents a fantastic assortment of impressionist paintings, classics and avant-garde works that demonstrate the vastness of European art. Cervera talked with Art and Living’s Beatriz Bonduel Smith about the finer points of being an art collector.
Art and Living: Baroness, you own one of the best and more international collections of art in the world. What does this imply? How do you take care of it?
Cervera: Absolute dedication. The paintings have to be studied by expert professors specialized in different epochs, artists and topics. Each and every painting has to have its own artistic file, a technical file and a series of slides. The history of the painting has to be traced from the moment when it was painted—if it has been owned by different families or entities, the exhibitions it has been in, the museums, and whether it can be lent or not for temporary exhibitions. We could call this the painting’s official bibliography. Similar to the way in which libraries handle books, we handle unique masterpieces. Also, to preserve the paintings, they must be kept at a certain room temperature and humidity levels must be kept under control. Read the rest of this entry »
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