By Bob Travers, Principal
To say that fund raising is challenging while we are in the midst of the worst recession in decades is certainly an understatement. Today’s reality is that contributions from individual and corporate donors are being reduced and in many cases eliminated. The same is happening with state and federal funding support. The result is that many arts and cultural non-profits are in a precarious position because they depend on these contributions to help support their operations and programs. It’s a daunting time for these organizations.
But some are turning to creative methods to ensure much needed funds continue to come in. Events that are a win-win-win for the donor, the not-for-profit and the community.
CEPA Gallery, located in downtown Buffalo at the Market Arcade, is one of those organizations that created a unique fundraiser that was just that: a winner for everyone. On April 25th, CEPA had the opening of their 3rd biennial Visions of a Greater Buffalo exhibition and silent auction, highlighting the photographic images of people and places in Buffalo and Western New York taken by close to 100 of our community’s VIP’s – Very Interesting People. A group that represented a cross section of business, political, educational leaders; you name it, from our community.
CEPA provided each VIP a Kodak single use camera and asked them to photograph or document what they found most interesting where they live and work in WNY. CEPA collected the cameras, developed the film and printed each participant’s photos. One photo from each participant was chosen by a selection committee to be on display at the exhibition. The photos were professionally printed, matted and framed and ranged from architectural landmarks to abstract images to interesting landscapes.
For only $10.00 admission price you could enjoy great hors d’ oeuvres, good music by Déjà Vu and the chance to meet and mingle with the VIP’s and of course bid on some exceptional artwork.
All in all it was probably attended by close to 200 people, many who I suspect knew very little about CEPA Gallery and the good work it does with their education and exhibition programs.
One of the neat ideas about Visions is that CEPA prints a duplicate print of each of the chosen photos and now has a collection of several hundred interesting images that capture the essence and beauty of our region. And they are available for purchase for your home or office.
All funds generated from the 2009 Visions of Greater Buffalo event are used to provide operating support to help achieve CEPA Gallery’s mission: to curate internationally recognized exhibitions of contemporary photo-related art; to provide Buffalo youth with innovative in-school, after school and summer education programs that enhance visual literacy, and to promote the rich cultural heritage of our region.
If you’ve never visited CEPA Gallery I suggest now’s the time to do it. You won’t regret it.
