Celebrating Canadian photography and child and youth advocacy in Toronto

Butterfly Ball, Toronto

Boost Child & Youth Advocacy Centre, known as Boost CYAC, has, for nearly four decades, provided services such as trauma therapy and court preparation for children and youth in Toronto who have experienced abuse and violence. An impressive $720,000 was raised to support Boost on May 24 at the 21st annual Butterfly Ball, the organization’s key fundraiser and a staple on Toronto’s spring social calendar. Daniela DeGasperis, vice-chair of Boost’s board of directors and wife of Metrus Properties Inc. president Robert De Gasperis, returned as chair of the event, this year marking her sixth and final in that role. Actor Yannick Bisson and his wife, Shantelle, served as honorary chairs of the gala, which drew about 400 big-givers, a handful of whom were festooned with butterflies for the occasion. Toronto Police chief Mark Saunders was front and centre, seated with Mrs. DeGasperis, and the Honourable Peter MacKay, who chairs the Boost CYAC board of directors and spoke before the heated live auction, lead by Christie’s Canada managing director Brett Sherlock.

Scotiabank New Generation Photography Award winners’ exhibition opening, Toronto

On display through June 17 in Toronto at the Ontario College of Art and Design’s Onsite Gallery is the work of Elisa Julia Gilmour, Meryl McMaster and Deanna Pizzitelli. The three women are Canadian creators to watch, and all were recipients of the inaugural Scotiabank New Generation Photography Award, a partnership with the Canadian Photography Institute, which aims to support the careers of Canadian lens-based artists 30 and under. Attached to the prize is $10,000 and opportunities for the artists to exhibit their work at both the Canadian Photography Institute PhotoLab, located at the National Gallery of Canada (on display though Aug. 19) and during Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival, where on May 17 a party was given to launch the exhibition at Onsite Gallery.

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