A tasty evening in aid of the arts
The Koffler Centre of the Arts presented Artful Dish, which brought together 12 cultural luminaries and six leading Canadian chefs for an extraordinary evening of courses and discourses in seven fabulous private homes.
The evening was a unique opportunity for guests to dine in an intimate setting with renowned cultural celebrities and dialogue about their lives and impact on arts and culture. Cultural luminaries included: Ian Brown, journalist and author of Charles Taylor Prize-winning The Boy in the Moon; Johanna Schneller, interviewer for Vanity Fair, GQ, Chatelaine, Toronto Life; Adad Hannah, internationally acclaimed contemporary artist working in photography, video and mixed media; Barbara Astman, celebrated Canadian artist specializing in a hybrid of photography and new media; Deepa Mehta, Academy Award-nominated film director and screenwriter of Fire, Earth, Water and Midnight’s Children; Anne Michaels, awardwinning poet and author of Fugitive Pieces; Bernice Eisenstein, renowned artist and author, I Was a Child of Holocaust Survivors; Colin Mochrie, Canadian actor and improvisational comedian on Whose Line Is It Anyway?; Debra McGrath, Canadian comedian and actress on Little Mosque on the Prairie; Louise Pitre, Tony Award-nominated musical theatre actress in Mamma Mia and Les Misérables; and Veronica Tennant, ballet dance legend and companion of the Order of Canada.
The Koffler Centre of the Arts is a broad-based cultural institution established in 1977 by Murray and Marvelle Koffler and based at Artscape Youngplace in the Queen West area of downtown Toronto. “For this special evening, we were particularly grateful to our friends who have graciously opened their homes for Artful Dish, and to the luminaries and chefs who have generously shared their talent and time in creating a unique evening,” said Tiana Koffler Boyman, Artful Dish co-chair with Jill Reitman. Artful Dish netted $215,000 for the Koffler Centre of the Arts and its cultural and educational programs.