When a job is awarded, commercial producers put wheels in motion at a moment’s notice, getting a logistically complex shoot off the ground in the proverbial blink of an eye. Akin to that nimble, proactive, can-do, take-the-initiative modus operandi, the L.A. ad community spanning assorted agencies, production and post houses mobilized in short order to bring to fruition an ambitious, creatively driven fundraiser to benefit Safe Place for Youth (SPY), a homeless center in Venice, Calif., which opens its doors each year to more than 6,000 people under the age of 25 on the streets of L.A., providing shelter, food, healthcare and other services.
The industry fundraiser took the form of a silent auction held last week (12/7) in Santa Monica, hosted by Deutsch LA chief creative officer Pete Favat, his wife Amy, who has an agency producer pedigree and serves as a volunteer at SPY, and Melissa Ross of indie talent management and communications firm Melissa Ross Represents.
The auction sprung from a grass-roots effort organized by the Favats and Ross to solicit talent throughout the industry to use their art to make a better holiday for others. Pete Favat put out a call to chief creative officers at L.A. area agencies to donate art made by their staffers, ranging from paintings to photography, sculptures, furniture, light installations, and assorted other creations of artistic value. Word then spread to production and post houses. The goal was to procure at least 100 pieces of high-caliber art from L.A.’s “Mad Men” community for the fundraiser event, aptly named “100 Pieces.”
In less than three weeks, the event came together with 132 pieces donated. Among the participating agencies were CP+B, TBWAChiatDay, The Pitch Agency, Media Arts Lab, Team One, RPA, 180LA, Saatchi & Saatchi LA, and The Agency Oasis, Participating production and post houses included Partizan, Prettybird, Furlined, Cut+Run, Union Editorial, Company 3 and Whitehouse Post. Artwork was donated by such notables as directors Michel Gondry of Partizan and Samuel Bayer of Superprime, and agency creatives like Jim Darling of Team One, Chuck Blackwell of RPA and Gavin Lester and Chris Pouy of Deutsch, among many others.
The auction event drew in excess of 500 people and 103 donated pieces were sold, raising $50,000 for SPY. Pete Favat noted that queries have come in locally and from other states about buying the remaining pieces of art, raising the possibility of online bidding. Meanwhile word of mouth has sparked monetary donations that are coming in separately from any auction. Furthermore interest from commerialmaking communities in other parts of the country have expressed interest in organizing their own similar events to raise funds for a worthy cause. “We’re looking to build on what we’ve done and would love to see it expand to other communities,” said Pete Favat.
Backstory
It all started when the Favats got together for dinner with Ross and her husband, designer Chris Buzzell. Pete Favat recalled, “Amy had mentioned her volunteer work at SPY, which sparked a conversation. We were eating some pizza, talking and hatched this idea of tapping into the maker community in L.A. There are so many creative people in L.A. who are creating and making arts and goods–not just in creative departments but throughout the ad community. We thought it would be great to bring this community together. I drafted a letter to all the chief creative officers in L.A.–at places like RPA, Team One, Chiat, Crispin, 180, all of them. Their response was immediate and generated a lot of excitement. ‘We’re in’ is what I heard from so many shops. We wanted to maybe get two or three pieces from each company to have on display in a gallery setting. The email circulated around and got to the production community. Melissa Ross was integral in enlisting the support of production and post houses. Directors like Samuel Bayer and Michel Gondry came forward with their art. Companies like Superprime, Brickyard, Lime Studios, Partizan, so many others got involved. The list kept growing and growing.”
Favat said it was gratifying to see how quickly momentum built for the fundraiser. “At that dinner meeting, we decided to try to beat the holiday rush of parties so we set December 7th as our target date,” he related. “The next morning, I send an email out to other agencies and we got the ball rolling. It’s just amazing how it shifted into high gear, how the overall community responded, how we were able to bring this all together in just a few weeks. Melissa’s husband Chris had a vacant storefront in Santa Monica where he planned to open up a business in the spring. He gave us that space which we transformed into an art gallery. We worked through that last weekend, hanging art, curating art, laying it all out for display on Monday, December 7th. The groundswell of volunteers and support was remarkable. It was a perfect holiday event in that the community came together. We may spend day after day competing against each other but at the end of the day we are a community and have to realize how lucky we are to be part of something special, that we can team to do special things, that we can express our gratitude by helping those who need it.”
Favat said that this month’s silent auction was an inaugural event, “We are going to expand on this next year. We will plan a fundraising event 2.0 to again benefit those in need.”
Those interested in donating to Safe Place for Youth, can access their website here or this direct donation link.
