Want to win a pair of tickets to ANYWHERE WESTJET FLIES?*

How to Enter:

1. Attend tonight’s Timeraiser (doors open at 7pm)

2. Send a tweet about the Timeraiser using your mobile phone. Entries MUST include the hashtag #Timeraiser, #TRWJ, or #TimeraiserWJ. Don’t have a Twitter account? Enter at our Civic Footprint Kiosk!

3. Watch the entries LIVE on our Civic Footprint Blog (live stream begins at 7pm). Winners will be announced later this evening.

+ 3 Days = Pick-up artwork from corporate partners, wrap each work of art safely for transportation

+ 2 Days = Final confirmation with vendors about their drop off and pick up

+ 1 Day  = Travel to storage locker, load van with supplies,  including print material from Eva’s Print Shop, The Printing House or IDA Print

Show time = Timeraiser (12 hours of set-up, tear-down)

- 1 Day  = Travel to storage locker, unload van with supplies

-2 Days = Drop off art to corporate partners

All, in all, lots of logistics. Logistics takes up about 15% of our time and energy to make sure things are delivered on time and where they are supposed to be. It also means that we are doing lots of calculations on whether to buy, rent or lease materials or supplies. For instance, do we rent easels at $10 per use or buy for  $25 per easel, but get to use each easel 4 time per year (add storage cost of $250/year for 4 square feet of the storage)

• Lease Over three years = $20 x 10 x 3 years x 4 Timeraisers = $2,400
• Purchase Over three years = $25 x 10 = $250 + (10% locker space @ $2,000/year) x 3 years = $1,350

These are rough calculations, but illustrates a growing level of financial and logistics planning that our team is doing more frequently. We will be contacting seasoned professionals to look at our annual plans and logistics to weigh-in on our options to keep costs down while at the same time scaling the program.

The jury consisted of local Edmontonians who are in the know of the cities art and philanthropic community.

Over the course of 2.5 hours, the art jury team deliberated about what artwork would generate the most hours AND be a meaningful investment in his/her career. A very subjective process, but very fair and balanced. As was the agency selection. Here the team explored each organization’s range of volunteer opportunities and capacity to engage, as well as the mix of organizations that covered a gamete of causes. Environment. Social Services. Education. Sports & Recreation. Arts & Culture. International Development.

A special thanks to United Way of Alberta’s Capital Region for hosting the selection night, and all the volunteers who sat in on both jurys. We will be contacting all the artists and agencies directly with next steps. However, here is the sneak peak at who was selected:

1. Alberta AdaptAbilities Association
2. Big Brothers Big Sisters of Edmonton & Area
3. Boyle Street Community Sevices
4. Canadian Cancer Society – Alberta/NWT Division
5. Canadian Celiac Association – Edmonton Chapter
6. Canadian Mental Health Association – Edmonton Region
7. Edmonton Immigrant Services Association (EISA)
8. Edmonton Opera Assonciation
9. Edmonton Social Planning Council
10.Edmonton’s Food Bank
11.Fringe Theatre Adventures
12.Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital
13.Humane Animal Rescue Team
14.Junior Achievement of Northern Alberta & NWT
15.Sexual Assault Centre of Edmonton
16.Special Olympics Edmonton
17.The Pride Centre of Edmonton
18.The Support Network
19.The Works International Visual Arts Society
20.Youth Emergency Shelter Society

Stay tuned. In the early fall, we will be hosting a kick off night several weeks before the actual Timeraiser. This is where we will be handing out over $10,000 in cheques to artists, and our founding corporate partner Enbridge will be on hand to say a few remarks to the artists in attendance. The 2nd Edmonton Timeraiser is Saturday October 16th. Tickets will go on sale in early September.

Thursday – Kick Off Night
Thursday evening we had our Timeraiser kick off night at the Wind Mobile Store on 17th Avenue. A small gathering of 50 people packed the store. Artists, volunteers and sponsors mixed and mingled. WindMobile Area manager Dan MacDonald gave opening remarks. We were happy to have three founding sponsors were in attendance. Lennina Pavon Cardoso from Enbridge Inc spoke about the importance of investing in Canada’s art community. Dani Deboice was representing both First Calgary Savings and as Volunteer Calgary’s board chair. Volunteer Calgary’s Buffy St Amand was also there. Robin Greschner was representing Nexen (and fellow Queen’s Grad). Roger and Candice from 92.9 FM radio dropped in to say hi (Roger is our emcee this year). And several volunteers from United Way of Calgary and Area’s Because initiative were also in attendance. After the artwork was exchanged for cheques, and speeches given, Wind Mobile raffled off a phone and one month data plan for artists. Bille Rae Busby won.

Friday – Promotional Material Drop Off
Jen and I spent most of Friday dropping off promotional material all across Calgary. We delivered posters and flyers to dozens of businesses. The next time you go into a First Calgary Saving’s branch, you’ll see our print material on their community board. We also finished our last video edit for their Facebook page at 4 pm.

Saturday – Neighbourhood Day
Over a dozen volunteers, mainly from United Way of Calgary and Area’s Because Initiative, gathered at Wildernest for an amazing brunch before fanning out across the city. The group split up into five teams. Each team spent two hours handing out posters and flyers in Kensington, 4th Street, Inglewood, Stephen Avenue and 17th Avenue. We hit over 150 stores and had 50+ quality conversations. A hugely successful campaign. Our past experience is at least 10% of our ticket sales come from doing this.

Sunday – Lilac Festival
Despite the cold weather, we set-up a tent for the day. This is our forth straight year attending the event. Our was location primo: right by the Rose & Crown beer garden. We had a small selection of artwork on display. From 10 am till 6 pm, our team of volunteers spoke to hundreds of people who passed by our tent. Our team also walked up and down the strip on 4th Street. We also stopped off at Wordfest, City of Calgary, Katimavik, WinSport and dozens of other vendors to spread the word. We had an iPad with 3G service to power our #WestJet contest, and snapped a dozen plus photos with our Google Nexus One Phone powered by Wind Mobile.

Thanks to our Volunteers
A big, big thanks to our super volunteers for all their help. And special shout out to Lynn McKendrick, Bib Patel, Stew McDonough, Jeff Pearson, Rhiannon McDonald, Carm Coccimiglio for their extraordinary effort these past few days.

With all this effort, we are sure the 5th Calgary Timeraiser on Thursday June 17th is going to be a great success! Get your tickets soon. A final big thanks to our national sponsor WestJet. We will be raffling off a pair of tickets anywhere WestJet flies at the Timeraiser. Check out how you can win.

See you tomorrow at the London Mansion – Doors Open at 7pm

Photo courtesy of Russell Druiven

On Thursday April 22nd, over 100 Hamiltonians attended the 2nd Hamilton Timeraiser held at the McMaster Innovation Park. A special thanks to our volunteers and other supporters for helping us organize the night. Here are some quick Timeraiser results:

• Over 100 people attended with 55 participants making the ‘pledge’.
• 4,490 total volunteer hours pledged, of which 50% was pledged by art bidders.
• 20 Timeraiser volunteers contributed 1,000 hours to organize.
• $12,000 invested into the careers of Hamilton-based artists.
• 25+ community leaders in attendance.
• 20+ entries for the WestJet/ Timeraiser Social Media Contest.
• Thanks to : WestJet, Upper James Toyota, The Hamilton Spectator, ArcelorMittal Dofasco, United Way of Burlington & Greater Hamilton, Hamilton Community Foundation, Molson, RBC, PWC, CIBC, & TD Bank.

At the beginning of the evening, participants energetically rolled into the McMaster Innovation Park. Each participant had a couple hours to ‘speed date’ with over 25 nonprofit organizations. Once the preliminary matching was complete, he or she was eligible to bid on artwork using volunteer time. Winning bidders now have 12 months to complete their pledge to receive their artwork at the 3rd Hamilton Timeraiser scheduled for 2011.

30 people completed and some even surpassed their pledge from last year, resulting in a 99.75% completion rate – a new Timeraiser record!

WestJet Social Media Contest winner Matt McPeak:

“TIMERAISER To: Initiate. Mediate. Empower. Raise Awareness. Inspire Social Engagement. Revolutionize.”

Want to win a pair of tickets to ANYWHERE WESTJET FLIES?*

How to Enter:

1. Attend tonight’s Timeraiser (doors open at 7pm)

2. Send a tweet about the Timeraiser using your mobile phone. Entries MUST include the hashtag #Timeraiser, #TRWJ, or #TimeraiserWJ. Don’t have a Twitter account? Enter at our Civic Footprint Kiosk!

3. Watch the entries LIVE on our Civic Footprint Blog (live stream begins at 7pm). Winners will be announced later this evening.

I got a chance, due to the generous nature of non-profit organizations, to attend the 2010 Timeraiser in Toronto on March 20th. Art on display, the charitable-minded brushing shoulders with not-for-profit organizations and warm and interesting individuals striking up easy conversations were some of the aspects of this exciting, annual event that even my dubious research couldn’t convey in print. Set in the Fermenting Cellar of the Distillery District downtown, the lights were dimmed, swanky couches and a myriad of displays from non-profit organizations graced the bare cement floor as everyone lent their time to good causes and felt excited to be doing so. People energetically moved from painting to sculpture to knowledgeable attendants to the computers setup on display, ready for social networking at its most efficient.

Young professionals participated in a silent auction where they bid personal hours on volunteer work at any of the organizations on display. And what struck me the most was the innovative, fundamental logic behind the Timeraiser: if you take pleasure in art, and enjoy helping others, Timeraiser is just about the only event where you can get art in exchange for good works, enjoy good food and mingle with like-minded individuals. It benefits you, it benefits the artists and it benefits those in need. What more could you ask for?

Want a chance to check out the Timeraiser for yourself? You could win a pair of WestJet tickets, too! The 2nd Hamilton Timeraiser is TOMORROW and tickets are available here.

Working with the GenNext crew in London has been a pleasure – and what a great space to host a kick-off!

Fabulous GenNexters

The kick-off night is an opportunity to bring together community partners, agencies and artists to promote the upcoming Timeraiser. It also provides the community with a sneak peak of the artwork, which looks great, by the way!

Last night we also awarded cheques to the artists in attendance, further supporting the work of local emerging artists. We like the kick-off night because it gives us an opportunity to showcase the work of our selected artists, and gives corporate and community leaders a chance to meet and chat with the artists one-on-one.

One thing I noticed and really like about London, is the spirit in which the community has embraced the Timeraiser, and the exciting buzz that is building about the event. We had a great mix of corporate and community leaders attend, all friendly and encouraged by the Timeraiser.

Take a peak at some of the pictures from last night, and don’t forget – you can get tickets to the GenNext Timeraiser here. See you May 13th.