Autism: Facts, Mysteries and Wonder

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is everywhere. It heeds neither racial, cultural nor economic boundaries. For the millions of children, youth and adults with autism, life is an ongoing struggle. For the parents and guardians who care for them, their greatest concern is “what will happen to our child after we’re gone?”

However, autism also happens to be, for some, the driving force behind astonishing intellectual and creative feats in areas such as drawing, painting, sculpting, filmmaking, music, mathematics, engineering and technical skills. For people who inhabit the autism universe – those who have it, those who care for them, as well as researchers, teachers and physicians, autism remains an enigma. What it does provide however, is a unique glimpse into the untapped potential that is the human mind.

The Event: An Overview

The Autists will take place on Sunday, May 2nd 2010, at Koerner Hall in the magnificently restored Royal Conservatory of Music’s TELUS Centre for Performance and Learning (photo below) in the heart of downtown Toronto. Early reviews have singled out this performance space as as among the nation’s finest.

It will be a full-day extravaganza beginning with free art displays, music, talks and breakout information sessions during the day. In the evening, an exclusive invitation-only reception, art auction and gala concert will take place at the Conservatory Theatre and the adjacent architecturally and acoustically sensational 1,120 seat Koerner Hall. The concert will include a rich blend of international celebrities and musicians performing alongside gifted performers with autism.

The concert will be preceded by a live and silent auction in which some of Canada’s top artists will exhibit their works together with Autists from Canada and abroad. The professional artists performing in this event will use their star power to shine a spotlight on our multi-talented Autists.

The Purpose

1. To showcase and monetize the intellectual and artistic abilities of gifted individuals with autism, while putting them together with international stars — all in front of a wide audience of artists, musicians, collectors, curators, educators, arts patrons as well as the general public.

2. The gourmet champagne reception, live & silent art auctions and concert will support programs and services at Geneva Centre for Autism in Toronto as well as provide an income stream for the Autists themselves.

The Big Picture

The Autists will become an annual event that grows in scope with each passing year. Its goal is to provide both a source of income for a maximum number of gifted ASD children, youth and adults, as well as to support programs at the Geneva Centre for Autism that help children and youth with autism develop their gifts, integrate into society, get an education and reach their utmost potential.

For the gifted Autists featured at this event, this goal will be accomplished by pairing them with top professional musicians and artists in their fields who will perform and submit works alongside theirs. This will showcase and validate the Autists’ work, help them financially as well as benefit thousands of Toronto area children, youth and adults with an autism spectrum disorder.

Events
Music, Food and Revelry

Music will feature prominently, with Autist musicians and acclaimed professionals playing everything from classical to jazz. Since this is primarily a celebration of creativity, there will be a cocktail reception, gourmet delicacies and a festive, upbeat ambiance throughout the event.

Evening Gala Festivities: Cocktails, Cuisine, Schmoozing, Silent Auction and Live Auction

The evening portion will begin at 6:00pm, with aperitifs, gourmet delicacies and plenty of mingling. A welcome by the Geneva Centre’s Executive Director and our celebrity MC, along with a child with autism, will open the silent and live auction portion of the event. Here, local and international Autists’ creations — together with works by some of Canada’s most renowned artists — will be sold to the highest bidder.

The Gala Concert hosted by, and featuring, internationally renowned stars from the world of classical music and jazz, together with our Autist performers, will begin at approximately 7:15pm.  At the halfway mark of the concert, a 20-minute intermission will give patrons an opportunity to put in their final bids at the silent auction.  After intermission, the concert will resume, followed by the payment and collection of auction pieces

Daytime Events and Speakers

Paul Fenn, Creative Director of newly-minted advertising and social media firm Uncle Charlie, and stepfather of a girl with autism, will host a selection of experts and personalities from the ASD field who will speak and interact with attendees.

Guest Stars for Concert and Art Auctions

Alongside a great lineup of gifted Autists, we will enlist the participation of Canadian and international stars in the fields of music, TV and film, together with some of Canada’s most prominent visual artists.

When and Where

The Autists fundraising gala and daytime events will all be held on Sunday May 2nd at the Royal Conservatory of Music’s Brand new Telus Centre for Performance and Learning in downtown Toronto. The concert will be occupying the stage at the magnificent and critically acclaimed Koerner Hall. This event will serve as the Geneva Centre for Autism’s signature annual gala.

Who’s behind all this?

The idea of The Autists was conceived by Paul Fenn, Creative Director of advertising and social media firm Uncle Charlie. The event is a non-profit collaboration between Toronto’s Geneva Centre for Autism Foundation and Uncle Charlie. This is a rare opportunity to witness the untapped gifts possessed by many with an Autism Spectrum Disorder as well as to support the Geneva Centre for Autism’s programs and services.

Sponsorship Opportunities for a One-Of-A-Kind Event

Corporations, foundations and individuals interested in sponsorship of The Autists event are invited to contact:

Hindy Abelson, Director of Development, Grants and Events

Geneva Centre for Autism

Telephone: 416.322.7877 ext. 307

Email: habelson@autism.net

International ARTISTS

Gala Art Auction Curator for The Autists 2010

Charles Pachter - Artist, tastemaker, Chevalier,

Charles Pachter (cpachter.com) is one of Canada’s leading contemporary artists. He holds degrees from U of T, the Sorbonne, Cranbrook Academy of Art and honorary doctorates from Brock University and the Ontario College of Art & Design. He is a member of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier of France’s Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and a recipient of the Queen’s Jubilee medal. His works hang in public and private collections around the world. His queen, moose, and flags are pop icons of Canadian art. His flag paintings hang in the Toronto Stock Exchange, the Canadian Embassy in Washington and the Parliament buildings in Ottawa. Pachter exhibitions have toured France, Germany, Japan, and India. McClelland & Stewart publications include an illustrated biography, and The Journals of Susanna Moodie, his celebrated collaboration with poet Margaret Atwood. He lives and works in downtown Toronto in a residence designed by award winning Canadian architect Stephen Teeple.

Boris Brott - Conductor, music director, knight in shining armour

Boris Brott (borisbrott.com) has served as: Conductor and Music Director of the New West Symphony in California; McGill Chamber Orchestra in Montreal; the National Academy Orchestra of Canada; Principal Youth and Family Conductor of the National Arts Center of Canada and Artistic Director of the Brott Musical Festivals. Boris served as Assistant Conductor to the New York Philharmonic under Leonard Bernstein; Music Director & Conductor for the Royal Ballet, Covent Garden; Chief Conductor of BBC National Symphony of Wales and Music Director of the Northern Sinfonia of England.  Boris conducted Leonard Bernstein’s The Mass for Pope John Paul II at the Vatican; was awarded Officer of the Order of Canada; an Honorary Doctorate of Law at McMaster University; made a Knight of Malta; selected International Man of the Year by the International Biographical Center in Cambridge, England; elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts of Great Britain and appointed to the Order of Ontario.  Mr. Brott conducted, produced, and and hosted over 100 TV programs and recorded for CBC, Septre-Mace, Mercury, Pro-Arte Records and Sony Classical.

Lindsay Fischer, Artistic Director -YOU dance, National Ballet of Canada, Doctor of Dance

Lindsay Fischer is a native of New York City. He graduated from National Ballet of Canada School in 1978 and began a dance career that took him to Lisbon, Amsterdam, New York City and back to Toronto. During that time, he performed as a Principal Dancer with the Dutch National Ballet and New York City Ballet and as a guest artist with some of the greatest ballerinas of the era, including Margaret Barbieri, Cynthia Gregory and Evelyn Hart. Upon his retirement from performing, Mr. Fischer joined the artistic staff of Canada’s National Ballet School, where, in addition to teaching, he created a structure to guide the school’s graduates to professional employment. Most recently, Mr. Fischer was appointed Director of the Professional Dance Program at The Banff Centre. Mr. Fischer has created works for senior students of Canada’s National Ballet School and has overseen the production of ballets by George Balanchine, James Kudelka, Rudi van Dantzig, Peggy Baker, Christopher House, Matjash Mrozewski and Toer van Schayk. He has staged ballets for and been a guest ballet master with a variety of professional companies in Canada and abroad and was a guest repétitéur for The National Ballet of Canada from 1999 to 2007, becoming Ballet Master in 2007. Mr. Fischer is currently Artistic Director of the highly successful YOU dance program, a joint initiative of the National Ballet and Canada’s National Ballet School, whose goal is to engage young people in the world of dance and ballet.

International AUTISTS

Matt Savage — Pianist, composer, jammer

Matt Savage (savagerecords.com) is a 17-year-old award-winning and internationally celebrated Jazz pianist with autism.  In 2000, when Matt Savage was just 8 years old, he played piano for Dave Brubeck and jammed at a sound session with Chick Corea. The following year he was invited to a soundcheck to jam with jazz great McCoy Tyner and his sidemen, Avery Sharpe and Al Foster. In 2003, at the age of 11, Matt debuted at the famed Blue Note in Manhattan. The following year he debuted at Birdland, performing with the legendary Clark Terry on trumpet, Jimmy Heath on sax, Jon Faddis on trumpet, Marcus McLaurine on bass and Kenny Washington on drums. By 2005, Matt had performed twice with Chaka Khan. In February of 2007, Matt made his first appearance at the prestigious Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Jazz at Lincoln Center. At 16, Matt appeared on “The Late Show with David Letterman” as the musical act, released his newest CD, hit #11 on the JazzWeek radio charts, garnered the #2 position in LIVE JAZZ sales on Amazon.com (behind only Keith Jarrett) and signed an international sub-publishing deal with SONY/ATV.

See Matt get ‘Infected with Hemiola’

Matt plays Blues in 33/8

Further studies

See a prodigious savant recite Pi to 22,500 decimal places, learn fluent Icelandic in a week and other mild pursuits (First of 5 videos)

More Artists & Autists to come soon, so check back often.

Toronto agency Jib Design & Advertising Inc. has just completed placement of The  Autists’ new ID into the event blog you’re presently staring at. The company’s agreement to take on the task was given to us only last Friday. In just six days Jib has delivered.

And we’re proclaiming it gorgeous. In his witty iteration, Jib graphic designer Dalibor Simic has taken the upbeat, declarative qualities of the logo that Underline Studio designed for us and basically slapped a turbocharger onto them.

But there’s more: Jib’s management yesterday informed us that in future weeks they’d like to enhance the site’s functionality, in particular the bits that apply to Web searchability, ease of sponsorship and other areas.

And all on a pro bono basis.

Our cups runneth over here at The Autists. We would like to express our most profound thanks to Jib’s generous people, in particular Dalibor, but also principals David Shephard and George Argyropoulos, who, when asked if they’d help us out, said ‘Yes’ without a second’s hesitation.

What this means for The Autists is we’re officially up and running as a fund-raising machine. We have us a date, a venue, plus expert design and technical minds at our sides.

Onward we march to the enormous task at hand: Raising a ton of cash for contributing Autists, and for the Geneva Centre for Autism.

Screen grab from jib.ca

A while ago, we contacted multi-award-winning Toronto graphic design shop Underline Studio about developing a brand ID for the Autists, as well as some collateral material for use in fundraising. They not only said yes, but offered to do so on a pro bono basis.

Now they have delivered, and we’d like to introduce the world to our new baby:

We hope you’ll agree that it not only looks brilliant but nicely broadcasts the celebratory spirit we intend on infusing into this event. We like that its mixed font/colour approach is a knowing wink to the many vagaries the autism spectrum presents — both to those living within its sphere, and those who care for them. It somehow does all that while remaining tasteful, clean and an all-around class act, if we do say so ourselves.

So expect to see The Autists’ new ID on all materials connected to the event.

And a big tip of the hat from all of us at The Autists to Underline Studio’s principals, Claire Dawson and Fidel Peña.

Screengrab from UnderlineStudio.com

The Autists has just found a home, and a date of birth.

After considering and touring several top-tier locations around Toronto, we have settled on the just-renovated Royal Conservatory of Music on Bloor Street, just west of Avenue Rd.

The reasons are many: It will easily handle all the events we intend on staging, it is in a tremendous location — walking distance from four decent hotels, TTC station, taxi stand, the ROM, the Bloor/Yorkville shopping and entertainment scene — and also because it is simply stunning.

As soon as we saw the vast auditorium, along with its floor-to-ceiling glassed-in reception area overlooking Philospher’s Walk and the city core, we knew.

Also the fact that music will be a big focus of The Autists… well, the longer we stood there absorbing it, the more it all made sense.

So we have booked The Autists event for SUNDAY, MAY 2, 2010. Please scratch that one into your daytimers and keep the day clear from mid-afternoon till the early hours — because this is going to be one fabulous bash.