When the organizing committee for Fandango!, the annual fund-raiser for Bridgepoint Health Foundation, chose an Indian-inspired bhangra theme for this year’s event, it wasn’t just so they could adopt elements of the country’s vibrant culture into the decor. They also aimed to draw a new community of supporters to the foundation’s project, a hospital specializing in chronic, complex disease. “We knew India was a hot country because of things like the success of Slumdog Millionaire,” said Julie Goobie, development associate at Bridgepoint. “But the theme also brought in a lot of new connections and introduced a whole new audience to the charity.”
That audience consisted of members of the local South Asian community, who snapped up a quarter of the tickets to Fandango! Bhangra, held at the Four Seasons Hotel on Saturday. Goobie attributed much of the sales success (tickets sold out a month in advance) to event co-chair Pradeep Sood, who works at the Ontario India Business Forum. Along with boosting ticket sales, Sood and co-chair Ann Kerwin also helped draw a handful of new sponsors to the fund-raiser, including the State Bank of India, Cheetah Beer, and the local shop Kumari’s, which provided pashminas for the gift bags.
Designer Placido Dias of Dias Design chose bright pink and orange decor to evoke bhangra (a style of music and dance in India), as well as a cordoned-off rangoli—an Indian art form that uses coloured powders, dried lentils, and beans to create a pattern on the ground. As guests entered the packed cocktail party, many of them added to the atmosphere by donning colorful Indian formal wear.
The United Kingdom-based bhangra group RDB—who mix traditional Indian dohl drumming with genres like hip-hop—brought plenty of buzz to the event and performed for guests after the live auction, where the big-ticket item was a trip for two to Mumbai. The theme also carried into the evening’s dinner, which included roasted chicken tikka with cauliflower and chickpea salad and spiced molten chocolate cake with cardamom ice cream.
To get the message out about Bridgepoint’s objectives for its hospital project (scheduled to open in 2012), Goobie said the foundation opted to show a five-minute video with patient stories in lieu of speeches.
