On May 6, 2010, over 350 arts patrons gathered at the Four Seasons Hotel to celebrate artists’ health and artistic excellence. An Artists’ Affair ~ Celebrating the Partnership of Arts & Health was an exciting new partnership event between the Al and Malka Green Artists’ Health Centre at Toronto Western Hospital and Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra and Chamber Choir. The event was a wonderful success and we are pleased to announce that the evening raised over $320,000!

Hosted by Masters of Ceremonies Don Ferguson and Veronica Tennant (who was also the Artistic Producer of the event), An Artists’ Affair featured stars of the music, dance, theatre and visual arts communities who all came out in support artists’ health and artistic excellence. Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra kicked off the evening with highlights from their award-winning programme, The Galileo Project and then went on to perform with comedienne Mary-Lou Fallis, dancers Jeannette Zingg and Nathaniel Kozlow from Opera Atelier and Antonella Martinelli and Brendan Saye from The National Ballet of Canada. The evening also featured a stunning performance by Jane Bunnett and Hilario Durán playing Cuban jazz music, and singer Shakura with guitarist Donna Grantis performing rousing renditions Angels on High and Gotta Liv.

At the Artists’ Health Centre, proceeds from the Gala will help to subsidize the Joysanne Sidimus Subsidy Fund. This fund provides subsidies to eligible professional artists with occupationally related health care needs to be applied towards the cost of treatments at the Artists’ Health Centre that are not covered by public or private health insurance plans.

At Tafelmusik, proceeds from the Gala will support artistic programming, including over 50 concerts a year in Toronto, and 7 to 9 weeks of touring annually. In addition, proceeds will go to support Tafelmusik’s ongoing efforts to develop the next generation of musicians and audiences through their music education programmes for young people.

Again, we would like to thank Sun Life Financial, our Centre Stage Sponsor for the evening! We are deeply grateful to them and all of the individual and corporate donors who joined us for a wonderful evening in celebration of our community’s artists and the value that they add to our lives and community.