Masks Exhibition Summary

Our Masks Exhibition utilizes art and celebrity power/talent to create a spectacular event with a lasting impact. Our fundraising concept is simple but powerful. We produce an exhibition of clay masks designed by a variety of high profile celebrities. The masks are shown along with paintings and prints from some of the most prominent artists in the world. All the artwork is auctioned off and the proceeds from its sale are given to charitable causes. The charities we support benefit from the sale of the masks and other artwork and their corporate sponsors enjoy the publicity and brand building generated by the event.

The idea was born in the winter of 1995. Our founder, Henri Boll, sponsored a creative workshop where mentally challenged children were given clay and told to shape a mask. One of the children created an abstract mask with minimalist features. The design seemed a perfect match with the vision of the workshop; that “behind our masks we are all the same.” It was duplicated and sent to 300 famous personalities in the fields of entertainment, music, arts, sports and fashion.

The results have been spectacular. In fact, we have managed to build up the largest selection of celebrity art in the entire world. Our program has a prosperous 9 years of success with more than 200 clients including Lexus, Neiman Marcus, eBay, and Bloomingdale’s. We have also put together an exhibition for Prince Charles’ charity, The Prince’s Trust, held at Buckingham Palace in London.

By now, over 1,000 celebrities have designed masks for us. Our exhibitions also include paintings and prints from well known artists such as Ya’acov Agam, Richard Mock, and Christo and Jean-Claude. We have amassed a database of 40,000 copyrighted images, both originals and copies, which can also be sold at our events. This stockpile allows us to offer masks and artwork at variety of different prices in order to appeal to a wide audience.

We have raised millions of dollars for charities such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the American Cancer Society, and the Ronald McDonald House. Our exhibitions have appeared in New York, Rome, Jerusalem, Chicago, London, and Paris. Charities have been able to fundraise in an original and exciting fashion, corporate sponsors have benefited from the publicity generated from the event and the public has been given a unique window into the minds of their favorite celebrities.

Every charity is looking for a compelling and interesting way to fundraise and create excitement about the work they are doing. It is our involvement with these great causes that makes our job so rewarding, especially our history of collaboration with children’s charities. We have found that when a deserving charitable organization is involved, it is easy to persuade celebrities to take the time to design a mask or to convince artists to contribute their work. In fact, a number of celebrities have offered to paint masks for us without a specific event or charity in mind, because they know that the funds raised from its sale will go to a worthy cause. As a result of this trend, we have some 60 original masks available to us of top level celebrities such as Diane Sawyer, Sean Penn, and Liza Minelli. Our exhibitions have been used for a number of different fundraising events including silent auctions, galas, masquerade balls, art shows, and even internet sales. It was our ability to simultaneously present our exhibition in a number of different formats that compelled Prince Charles to give us a call.

While we originally conceived of ourselves as charity fundraisers, we began to realize that in many ways we were a marketing company. Corporations were eager to be involved with our events as they became frustrated with the poor return on investment they were receiving from the traditional forms of advertising. Not only do our exhibitions create a memorable experience for those attending, but they have been covered extensively in newspapers, magazines, and on television. Corporations can build their brand by aligning themselves with charities and celebrities that they feel are consistent with their image, but also they can present themselves as a company that is an innovator, a corporation willing to think outside the box. That charities are also able to benefit from the event has led us to refer to our exhibitions as “win-win marketing campaigns.”

When a company decides to sponsor an event, we make sure that they receive the full benefit of their support. Our staff utilizes a fully integrated marketing and public relations campaign to generate publicity in traditional media as well as on the internet. We have the technology available to set up an auction directly on a company’s own website.As a result of our integrated approach, corporations have come to us not just for the purpose of traditional sponsorship, but in order to help them achieve and surpass specific sales and marketing objectives with our value-added services. Corporations have used our unique marketing campaigns for product launches, networking dinners, real estate sales, and brand building projects. The company’s we have worked with are blown away by the buzz our events are able to generate.