ELEPHANT PARADE COMES HOME FOR ITS LANDMARK 10th ANNIVERSARY

A decade since its very first public exposition in Rotterdam, Elephant Parade will be returning to the Netherlands – its exposition birthplace, to celebrate its 10th anniversary this summer. A brand new exposition is announced today for Laren, Netherlands, which will see Elephant Parade working in collaboration for the first time with the Singer Laren Museum and Concert Hall.

Launching on 18^th June and running until mid September 2017, dozens of decorated Elephant Parade art statues will take over the streets of Laren for a special outdoor exhibition. In addition to a showcase of stand-out designs from Elephant Parade’s international artist community, 10 new artists and performers will create new art pieces for the occasion.

After the exhibition, the 10 new elephant statues will be auctioned in the new theatre of Singer Laren. Funds will be donated to Elephant Family, a registered charity, dedicated to investing in the future of the Asian elephant.

Elephant Parade is committed to raise awareness and funds to support elephant conservation worldwide – and this homecoming event is one of a number of Elephant Parades scheduled for its landmark 10^th anniversary year. Other Elephant Parades will also be launching this year in Sao Paulo Brazil and India.

Mike Spits, Elephant Parade Founder commented: “Elephant Parade is proud of its achievements for elephants in the past 10 years. We have helped raise millions to support front line conservation projects and connected many millions of people worldwide with conservation issues through art. We are also delighted to have attracted the involvement of so many celebrities, top artists and public figures including Tommy Hilfiger, Claudia Schiffer, Sir Richard Branson, Bryan Adams, The Prince of Denmark, Paul Smith, Hardwell, Katy Perry, Diane Von Furstenberg, Jan des Bouvrie and Ans Markus.

“Despite the many successes we have achieved with our partner sponsors and charities over the years much still needs to be done to secure a bright future for pachyderms. Over 95% of elephant habitat has been lost and a 90% population decline, placing them as an endangered species. These magnificent animals are heavily threatened by the constant loss of natural habitat, poaching for ivory and human-elephant conflict. Action and awareness is still needed.”

The colourful life-size baby elephants first debuted in Rotterdam Netherlands in 2007 – an event crowned by the then mayor as the "most photographed exhibition ever." A decade later, over twenty exhibitions have taken place worldwide, visiting the UK, the USA, China, Italy, Germany, Singapore, Hong Kong, France, Luxemburg, Brazil. The return to the Netherlands crowns a decade of exhibitions and conservation campaigning for a country that has also served as Elephant Parade’s European headquarters.