In past years, the Power Ball—held June 3 at the Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery—has adopted themes like "Decadence," "Revolution," and "The Seven Deadly Sins." This year, event organizers dubbed the benefit “Power Ball 12: The Ball That Started It All" and remixed the best of previous fund-raisers for a party of new twists on old favourites.
“For our twelfth year we’re looking back in time and really pulling out the successful art and entertainment ideas. It’s a contemporary arts take on the circus,” said Tracy Briggs, major events and donor programmes coordinator. “There’s going to be a lot of performance art throughout the evening."
At the V.I.P. reception, Derek Liddington translated the Roy Orbison song “Only the Lonely” into German and Italian for an operatic performance featuring two singers, clad in all black, tied to either side of a faux brick wall surrounded by a white picket fence. Another installation called the "Panda Singles Bar" saw bartenders in bear costumes serving cocktails while video footage of fornicating pandas played on television sets. (Pandas made an appearance at Power Ball 10 in the "Panda Orgy" installation by Katie Bethune-Leaman.)
The dance floor, also introduced at Power Ball 10, returned this year with organizers filling one of the four indoor spaces with mirror balls and silver furnishings. In a nod to a previous installation in which an entire room was filled with red balloons, organizers created a red balloon canopy in the hallway leading to the patio, where Steam Whistle Brewing set up a beer garden and attendees participated in a silent disco.
In addition to playing up the history of the event, the fund-raiser included a number of firsts. The party featured musician Fritz Helder's solo debut (without his band Fritz Helder and the Phantoms), and the party’s V.I.P. cocktail reception, held in the Karma Lounge, included the Canadian debut of the Fisker Karma—the world’s first luxury plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. The event, which drew 1,750 guests, also sold out in advance this year, another first for the party.
Hugo Boss returned as the lead sponsor, and Fisker of Toronto supported the event for the first time. This carnival-themed lineup included works by contributing artists like Keith Cole, Jess Dobkin, Luis Jacob, Katie Bethune-Leamen, Kelly Mark, Mary Messhausen, produzentin, Seth Scriver, Fiona Smyth, and Daryl Vocat.
Sponsors included Wildeboer Dellelce L.L.P., ScotiaMcLeod, Adgar Investments & Development Inc., DundeeWealth, Hello! Canada, National Post, NOW Magazine, and Proud FM 103.9.
