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Fred UnLEEshed: Oct. 24, 2014

SCIENCE EXPERIMENT SUCCESS: The Geodesic Ball marked Science World’s 25th birthday.

SCIENCE EXPERIMENT SUCCESS: The Geodesic Ball marked Science World’s 25th birthday. For the pinnacle event of Science World’s year-long celebration, the popular attraction was transformed into a party palace to showcase the past, present and future of the attraction since its doors opened in 1989. Several hundred party-goers, including Gordon Campbell who championed the former Expo 86 building as a future centre of discovery, attended the silver anniversary celebrations. The evening’s festivities ignited as guests traveled back in time during the opening reception. Guests reminisced and shared memories of Science World’s past as they enjoyed a live science show. Partygoers were then escorted to the present where they sat down for a sumptuous dinner before being teleported to the future, where they enjoyed dessert and a glimpse of the next 25 years.

PALETTE TO PALATE: Yours truly played auctioneer at the third annual Smith Foundation Gala, which saw 132 guests attend the $250-a-ticket fundraising dinner and auction staged at the close of WORK IS ARTcurated by acclaimed painter Gordon Smith at the North Shore gallery that bears his moniker. The evening began with a Champagne and scotch tasting in the exhibition hall before supporters made their way upstairs for a three-course dinner prepared by David Hawksworth and rising talent Paul Moran, recipient of the Hawksworth Young Chef Scholarship. Works by artists Smith mentored over the years including Andrew Alvarez, Wing Chow, Warren Goodman, Bill MacDonald and Anne Watt went up for auction in addition to an original painting by the 95-year-old Canadian icon himself. An impressive $80,000 was generated to support the Artist for Kids program Smith founded and future exhibitions at the gallery.  

ANOTHER SWISH SPLASH: Hundreds of art enthusiasts and collectors filed into the CBC studios downtown for Splash, Arts Umbrella’s signature fundraising red carpet event. Always a leading date on the social calendar, the 32nd edition was emceed by CBC radio morning host Rick Cluff, anchor Renee Fillippone and meteorologist Joanne Wagstaff. Attendees were encouraged to act their shoe size, not their age, and re-discover their inner child at the art benefit, which saw more than 100 art pieces by local and world renowned artists go on the auction block. Participants included Ken Wallace, Shannon Belkin and Athena Bax. Another impressive outing, the event generated a reported $400,000 for Arts Umbrella’s outreach program, which recently expanded into Surrey, offered to at risk youth, as well to support bursaries assisting low-and-middle-income families overcoming financial barriers to providing quality arts education for their children.

ME TO WE: A reported 20,000 children and adults packed Rogers Arena for We Day. The largest youth empowerment event of its kind — hosted by founder Craig Kielburger — bought together Hollywood A-lister Orlando Bloom and musical chart-topping artists Jennifer Lopez, Selena Gomez and Macklemore to the massive pep rally for social change. The largest celebration of service, attendees had to commit to at least one local and one global act of kindness to earn a ticket to the big show.