The Hon. Sir Joe Bossano (in his capacity as Patron of Calpe House) opened the #sitforcalpehouse photographic portrait exhibition on 1 October 2019 at the GEMA Gallery in the presence of invited guests, including His Excellency the Governor (Lieutenant General Edward Grant Martin Davis CBE), the Hon. Steven Linares (Minister for Culture, the Media, Youth & Sport) and trustees of the Calpe House Trust.
The exhibition celebrated a project delivered by the Gibraltar Youth Service (which sought the Gibraltar community’s personal and diverse interactions [photographically captured] with a specially commissioned throne sponsored by EY Gibraltar) and which has raised £9,442.49 so far for the Calpe House Trust.
436 people ‘sat’ for the project, from which 50 portraits were chosen at random out of a hat to display in the exhibition.
Joyful Riot (the Gibraltar Youth Service community choir) treated everyone to a few songs at the launch of the exhibition, one of which was ‘Our Home’, the original song written and recorded by local band Afterhours as part of the fundraising efforts relating to the purchase of the new Calpe House premises at Norfolk Square.
The Chairman of the charity, Mr Albert Poggio, thanked the Youth Service for their wonderful undertaking and, in particular Charlene Figueras for taking the initiative in creating this incredible fundraising activity. Mr Poggio pointed out that not only had the campaign raised the impressive sum, it had also increased awareness of the work of Calpe House among the Gibraltar community.
A ‘tour’ portion of this project also saw further funds raised by the following local businesses taking the throne to their premises (in exchange for donations) for further interactions by their employees and customers:
- EY Gibraltar
- Janice hair and beauty
- The Look hair and beauty
- Blands Travel
- Mayfair on Main
- Gibraltar University
- Bistro Point
- Classic Cuts hair and beauty
The throne will be on its way to the Calpe House in January 2020, where it will proudly sit along with a coffee-table book including the photographs of all 436 participants.
A big thank you to everyone who has supported this project in any way. You can still help us get to £10,000 and beyond by booking the throne for your business (in exchange for a donation) before it leaves for Calpe House at the beginning of next year.
The exhibition shall run until Friday 11th October and the GEMA Gallery is open Monday to Friday between the hours of 11-3pm and late openings on Tuesday and Thursdays until 6pm.
For further information please contact the Gibraltar Youth Service on m.zammit@gibraltar.gov.gi
