Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation’s benefit dinner and auction succeeded in raising considerable funds

Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation held a benefit dinner and auction of donated artworks on Friday November 18th. More than 300 people attended this event. In the beginning, Arash Mytouei’s band played a few pieces of Mr. Mytouei’s own productions. This was followed by a brief speech in which Mr. Bijan Darehsouri, one of Iran’s earliest conservationists, expressed his deep concern over deteriorating conditions of Iran’s natural environment. Dareshouri mentioned direct action by private citizens as the only panacea for environmental problems. He also expressed the view that he cherishes high hopes for young people of Iran who show enthusiasm for this country’s environmental problems and are willing to take action to ameliorate these problems. Mr. Houman Jowkar, of Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation, was the next speaker. In a short video presentation, he gave an overview of our projects all across Iran and explained how donations made by responsible citizens and socially responsible companies are being spent for conservation purposes. Once our conservation message was conveyed to the audience, the auction began. In this auction some of the artworks which were donated to the Persian Wildlife Heritage Foundation were auctioned and in a lively competition they were all sold for very reasonable prices. Other donated works were displayed and offered for sale as a benefit in a different section of the building. The finale was a drawing in which some paintings were given to the participants in the event. The presence of art lovers and sponsors of Iranian art in this event was quite discrete. We had the benefit of support and sponsorship by the following organizations and businesses: Parsonline Group of Companies, Pishahang Tarabari (PTC), MACO, Monsoon Group, LOEWE, Sadeghi Furniture, Globex, Candlestar, Nader Gallery, Cutler and Gross, Home and Kitchen Company, Golnar Polvandeh Jewelry Designer, Assar Art Gallery, Brass Workshop, Éclair Patisserie, Minoudasht Company, Tea drop, and Rayan Makan System. Mr. Fereydoun Ave, a prominent Iranian artist, who had not taken part in the event due to illness, sent a message in which he expressed the view that "artists are always the first on the list to be asked to help" in different events. This, according to him, has to do with the fact that "they are more sensitive and optimistic," and follow up their good intentions with action. Ms. Pantea Rahmani, another prominent artist, generously permitted us to give prints of one of her works to our guests as a present. Artists who generously contributed to this event are the following: Mohsen Ahmadvand, Fereydoun Ave, Mostafa Darebaghi, Mohammad-Hossein Emad, Hadi Fadavi, Mohsen Fouladpour, Narges Hashemi, Hossein Irandoust, Alireza Jodey, Emil Lazar, Nazar Mousavinia, Arash Nazari, Afshin Pirhashemi, Golnar Polvandeh, Saeed Rafiee Monfared, Pantea Rahmani, Masiha Rashedi , Mehdi Saeidi, Peyman Shafiee, Sadegh Tabrizi, Shideh Tami, Parviz Tanavoli, Ali Zanjani, Amir-Hossein Zanjani Photo caption: Male Parishahrokh-Female Parishahrokh. Artist name: Emil Lazar