The biggest fundraiser of the year for Contemporary Calgary will be held Saturday, May 31 – the Look25 Gala: Noir Nouveau. The gala is geared toward supporters of the arts across the economic spectrum. “It’s three events in one,” said Contemporary Calgary CEO David Leinster. “There’s a VIP dinner, which Holt Renfrew kindly supports, and then you move into a reception halfway through dinner, that a whole other group of guests come as a different price point – still tickets available – and then at 10 p.m. there’s an after party for forty bucks.” The gala’s auction will include a broad range of art too. “The art in the auction goes from $225 all the way to the Riopelle, which is $225,000,” said Leinster, referring to a piece by late Quebec abstract artist Jean-Paul Riopelle. Contemporary Calgary – housed in the city’s former Centennial Planetarium– will soon undergo a massive expansion. “It will actually look more like the Planetarium looked in 1967,” said Leinster. “We have a project that is one part archaeology, one part new construction, maybe one part plastic surgery.”
