Report from AdLounge’s “Art from the Unexpected” Event (via OneDegree.ca)
by Tim Willison
Last week I attended the successful gala “Art from the Unexpected” – a fundraising event for “Sketch“, an organization that helps empower young artists to develop their unique talents in a safe environment.
Sketch has been helping for thirteen years now, as I came to learn by speaking with their friendly volunteers. For many who arrive there, Sketch is their first opportunity to leave behind the troubles and dangers of the street for a place to develop unique talents and achieve a sense of direction.
This is why the event, dreamed up by AdLounge and held at the historic Steamwhistle Brewery, was so important. I’m happy to report that the event was a great success, raising over $20,000 dollars in support of the organization. I was happy to attend with my good friend and talented video producer Shazeen Pirani, of Organic Inc.
The premise of the “Art from the Unexpected” event was unique. Twenty business leaders were asked to produce artwork, based around the theme “Eureka”. What makes this unexpected is that these people have large groups of highly talented individuals at their disposal who work in the creative field, yet these pieces of art were to be their own contribution – their own unique creations, reflective of their ideas for the theme.
I was excited by the prospect of seeing a glimpse into the private minds of these successful individuals, and I was not disappointed. As noted by AdLounge founder Trina Boos in the opening address, it seems we are all born creative…and spend a lifetime un-learning it. At times it is good to remind ourselves of this early ability, and learn once again to play, discover, and build. I am a firm believer that good ideas, creative thoughts, can come from anyone. This was certainly evident at the event.
“Every single person in this room has the ability to be creative”, said Trina, “to take chances, to come up with original ideas”
Each of the twenty contributors had exactly one minute to present their work and deliver a few sentences about their creation. Again, I enjoyed this very much and alongside the many in attendance applauded people who stepped out from behind their creative directors and pitch teams to talk openly and honestly about their own personal creative process. What came forward from many was an overall sense of good humour, curiousity, generosity, and yes, a bit of nervousness.
I don’t think we often get to see that side of this industry, where presentations are polished to perfection, and creative efforts go through many iterations, often transforming into something entirely different than originally planned. No these creations, and their matching presentations, were open honest expressions.
TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE, PLEASE GO TO OneDegree.
Filed under: Ad Lounge Events, Ad Lounge News, Content & Updates, Industry Events, adlounge, advertising, alittlesweet, ariaronson, artfromtheunexpected, Autoshare, bensimonbyrne, brandinfiltrators, business, canada, capitalc, ceo, charity, community, cupcakes, dawnahenderson, Espresso, executives, fundraising, Globalive, goodwingibson, hendersonbas, jackbensimon, maclaren, marketing, oddlystudios, onedegree, ontario, Organic, sketch, steamwhistle, tonychapman, toronto, trinaboos, youth
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