Party photos of the week: H Project celebrates Africa

Alexandra Weston and Royal African Safaris came together recently to celebrate Africa, the region of focus for H Project’s second annual Uncrate series. A cocktail reception and dinner was held in Holts Café in Holt Renfrew’s Bloor Street Toronto flagship to unveil the latest collection of sustainable and stylish accessories, home goods and clothing available this spring in the Bloor Street, Yorkdale, Calgary and Vancouver locations. The space was transformed, taking inspiration from the relaxed beauty of grand safaris and in particular the history-steeped canvas tents synonymous with exploration and adventure. During cocktails, guests were transported to Africa via a performance of regional music and song by South African musicians – a preview of sorts for Canadian Stage’s Spotlight South Africa, a three-week festival that celebrated the best of South African performance art. H Project was an idea imagined in 2011 by Alexandra Weston, director of brand strategy at Holt Renfrew, “The ‘H’ in H Project stands for humanity, health and habitat,” Weston said during her remarks, adding, “it was a way for us to give back to communities locally and globally through an in-store experience.” The well-heeled crowd included Alexandra’s husband, Loblaw Companies Ltd. executive chairman and president Galen Weston Jr. (the two honeymooned in Africa); Peter Silvester, founding partner of Royal African Safaris and his wife, Julianna; Holt Renfrew president Mark Derbyshire and his wife, Julie; Longview Asset Management chairman Biff Matthews and his wife, Sue; real-estate guru Jimmy Molloy; Acasta Capital founding partner Michael Liebrock; KJ Harrison & Partners’ Rob Ogilvie; CanStage artistic and general director Matthew Jocelyn and Free the Children founder Craig Kielburger.

Photos by Nolan Bryant

“Canadians spend twice as much attending the arts as they spend on all sports put together,” announced Douglas Knight, chair of the Governor-General’s Performing Arts awards as he addressed an intimate crowd inside the Toronto home of Kate Alexander Daniels, long-time Governor-General’s Performing Arts Awards Gala co-chair and her husband, David Daniels, principal of the Daniels Capital Group. The occasion was a cocktail reception to mark the announcement of the 2015 GGPAAs to be made the following day, events all leading up to the big award ceremony slated for May 30 in Ottawa. Alexander Daniels introduced this year’s honorary chair of the GGPAA Gala, Suzanne Rogers, who attended with her husband, Edward Rogers, deputy chairman of Rogers Communications, and noted the importance of recognizing and supporting our homegrown talent. Eric Peterson, a 2013 Governor-General Lifetime Artistic Achievement award recipient, thanked the group for their support and contribution to the annual event, the arts and, more broadly, creativity in Canada, praising the crowd for “understanding the power of art to offer beauty and insight into the ongoing conversation on who and what we are as a people.” Among those sipping and schmoozing in the Daniels’ deco digs: Dream Asset Management Corporation founder Michael Cooper and his wife, Krystal; television personality Ben Mulroney and his wife, Jessica; president of Cineplex Media and the GGPAA Gala co-chair Salah Bachir; Virginia Thompson, executive producer of the GGPAA gala; Manulife Financial vice-president of branding Jeronimo De Miguel; Capital Canada Ltd. president and CEO Robert Foster and his wife, Julia, former chair of the National Arts Centre’s board of trustees; Hiscox Holdings’ Robert Hiscox; National Film Board adviser Anne– Marie Applin; Eric Prud’Homme, Enbridge’s Quebec-based senior adviser of public affairs; culture enthusiast Denise Donlon; and president and CEO of the National Arts Centre in Ottawa Peter Herrndorf and his wife, Eva Czigler. The following day, April 9, recipients of the 2015 awards were announced at events held in Montreal, Victoria, Vancouver and Toronto and via live stream. Lifetime Artistic Achievement inductees for 2015 include composer, conductor and artistic director Walter Boudreau; film and stage director Atom Egoyan; actress and director Diana Leblanc; singer-songwriter Sarah McLachlan; actor, director and producer R.H. Thompson and Montreal– born director Jean-Marc Vallée, who will receive the National Arts Centre Award, while philanthropist Michael M. Koerner will receive the Ramon John Hnatyshyn Award for Volunteerism.

Photos by Nolan Bryant