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MONKEY BUSINESS: Tapestry Foundation for Health Care ushered in the Year of the Monkey by hosting its annual Scotiabank Feast of Fortune charity dinner. Held at the Westin Bayshore Hotel ballroom, chairs Margaret Chiu, Paul Oei and Heather Pei Huang, together with honorary chair SingLimYeo, fronted the gala in support of Mount Saint Joseph Hospital, which is celebrating its 70th anniversary. Five Chinese master chefs who recently won accolades at the Chinese Restaurant Awards kicked off the marathon evening of food, fun and philanthropy, serving their signatures dishes to some 800 guests at the event.
Fundraising to purchase vital equipment for the hospital’s emergency department was the focus of the foundation’s signature Chinese New Year event, now in its ninth year. Media personalities William Ho and Lisa Wu served as masters of ceremonies, while John Mac
Donald and yours truly orchestrated the live auction of one-of-a-kind trips, experiences and luxury sports cars supplied by Luxury & Supercar Weekend founder
Craig Stowe. The 15-lot sale, along with ticket sales, sponsorships and personal pledges from party guests that ranged from $250 to $20,000, helped generate a record-setting $845,000, up 15 per cent from the previous year.
Notables lending their support included Dianne Doyle, CEO of Providence Health Care; Tapestry Foundation CEO
Ann Adams; Winnie Leong, Scotiabank senior vice-president, B.C. and Yukon region; and SUCCESS CEO Queenie
Choo, who will seek similar fortunes hosting a similar crowd next month at the social service agency’s Bridge to SUCCESS Gala on March 12.
FEELING THE LOVE: Aiming to develop a greater appreciation of Asian art, the Institute of Asian Art was officially launched at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2014 in conjunction with two major exhibitions of Chinese works. Gallery trustee Amelia Gao and IAA adjunct director
Zheng Shengtian fronted the institute’s first-ever fundraising gala, In the Mood for Love. Nearly 200 guests — including artists, collectors and community leaders — convened for the fundraising dinner, which was inspired by the life and career of China’s first movie star Hu
Die, the country’s most popular screen actress from the 1920s to 1960s. (Better known as Butterfly Wu to westerners, Die would spend her final years in Vancouver and passed away in 1989.)
A champagne reception greeted galagoers to the red carpet event. Following air kisses, official photos and selfies in the gallery’s rotunda, attendees moved next door for a sumptuous dinner of wild mushroom soup, porcini-crusted sablefish and crème fraîche panna cotta orchestrated by the Four Seasons’ Ned
Bell.
Sales of coveted works by some of China’s most revered artists, including Wang
Jianwei, Chen Chieh-jen and Guo Yan,
followed. But it was Xu Bing’s English calligraphy work that drew the most love. His ink-on-paper masterpiece of nonsensical Chinese characters fetched $125,000, contributing to a reported total of $500,000.
TALES OF THE COCKTAIL: Bar stars such as UVA’s Lauren Mote, Fairmont Pacific Rim’s GrantSceney andHawksworth’s Cooper Tardivel convened at Science World to explore the art and science of mixology at the inaugural Science of Cocktails soiree. In partnership with the Canadian Professional Bartenders Association, Science World was transformed into Vancouver’s largest cocktail laboratory for one night. More than 1,100 drink enthusiasts filed into the geodesic dome for an unforgettable evening exploring the physics, chemistry and biology behind the cocktail.
Beautifully crafted concoctions from 25 stations run by award-winning bartenders awaited attendees. In addition to the all the imbibing — in the name of research, of course — there were demonstrations and a cocktail competition featuring several of the city’s top mixologists. Chaired by Warren Tsoi and Tristan Sawtell, the night drummed up a reported $185,000 to fund field trips to the interactive science centre for students from underserved schools.