A Worthwhile Cause

I am back on the road and last week was hectic with an in out to Cairo followed by a trip back to the UK for a last minute meeting. The good thing was that I managed to be in Dubai for the Night of 1000 Drawings – Dubai.

The build up had been great with the organisers “Legion-DXB” throwing themselves headlong into publicity for the fund raiser with  a number of “Doodle events”, features in Timout, radio interviews and even an appearance on CNN Arabia.

The output of this huge amount of work was a really cool evening showing 1000 drawings (they actually got 1200 pictures in the end) from all around the world. The team had recruited volunteers and pegged out the art around the gallery to good effect:

The format was quite simple. There was a couple of hours to have a good look around and decide what you might be interested in. Each picture was sale at 50 Dhs ($13). If there was something you really wanted there was a VIP option for 200 Dhs ($52) which gave you 15 minutes head start on the public.

The choice was bewildering. Though I really regret not grabbing the “Renata Giovanni” originals:

However, I did invest in a VIP ticket and was delighted to win a piece called “Phunky Phresh” by Foo Dog a local urban art compnay and here it is in pride of place in my home office:

and the reverse side:

As well as the art there was a doodle battle, a number of bands performing and the obligatory shwarma guys. Together it made for a really fun night. The important thing however was they raised an excellent 65,000 Dhs ($17,700) which is being donated to Gulf for Good who will then distribute the money to hand picked charities.

I know the organisers put their hearts and souls into this for the last four months and should be proud of what they achieved. I hope this becomes an annual event as this unusual combination of cool, urban art, hip and altruistic attitude is something  we could all use a little of in this day and age.