ELEPHANT PARADE ANNOUNCES LIVE AUCTION IN LAREN

Over the summer months, 53 Elephant Parade art statues have made Laren their home in celebrating the social enterprises tenth anniversary – a worldwide public art exhibition, whose story started in the Netherlands in 2007. As the tour draws to a close, at the beginning of October, some of the elephant statues will prepare to visit another city, others have been bought and will have new homes, whilst 12 will be staying in Laren for a live auction event.

The auction will take place on Saturday 30^th September in the newly built theatre Singer Laren Museum. Proceeds will be passed to three charity organisations – Singer Laren, Elephant Family and Papageno Huis. Elephant Family is Elephant Parade’s global charity partner, an organisation dedicated to investing and sustaining the Asian elephant. Papageno Huis is a local charity committed to helping children with autism in and around Laren.

The Elephant Parade exposition in Laren has drawn engagement from tens of thousands of people and helps to raise awareness of elephant conservation issues through striking and original art. Nine of the twelve Elephant Parade art pieces also been designed by well-known Dutch artists, including: Gitte Spee, Jan des Bouvrie, Marcel Wolterinck and Wouter Stips.

For ten years Elephant Parade, inspired by the plight of Thailand’s Mosha, has been committed to raising awareness and funds to support the conservation of elephants around the world.

Mike Spits, Founder and CEO of Elephant Parade commented: “This year has been one of celebration for us here at Elephant Parade. Not only have we been supporting elephant conservation for over a decade, we have also been nurturing the world’s artistic talent. It is wonderful to celebrate our 10 years of relentless touring and public arts expositions by returning to our European home, the setting of our very first parade in Rotterdam in 2007. We hope the people of Laren will take part in our auction and help us make a positive difference to the future elephants.

“In spite of our success in raising millions of euros since our launch, with the help and support that we receive from our partners, sponsors and supporters, there is still so much more that needs to be done to tackle the plight of the elephants around the world. The loss of habitat and poaching are just two of the many reasons as to why these magnificent mammals are now vulnerable and endangered. It is humans that have caused this crisis and it is people who must fix it – and we are proud to have created a movement of like minded people around the world that want to be part of that change.”

More than 250 people are expected to attend the live auction event, with pre-bidding finishing on the 29^th September : Entrance is free, those wanting to book a last minute ticket or businesses wanting to sponsor can obtain more information via veilinglaren@elephantparade.com.

Elephant Parade art pieces in the auction:

Gallery images from the exposition visit: http://www.elephantparade.com/singer-laren-pre-bidding/

1.Gentle by Jackie Sleper

2.Turn around the world by Chalee

3.Billy by Paul Smith

4.In het paradijs by Gitte Spee

5.Help us by Jan des Bouvrie

6.Asian Pride by Marcel Wolterinck

7.Je suis Éléphant by Wouter Stips

8.Time to Turn by Studio Kluif

9.Papafant by Maja Boot with Papageno Huis

10.Banana Leaf Elephant by Willemijn de Leeuw

11.Omega Oil Oli by Peter Riezebos

12.Basta by Jean Marc des Bouvrie & Patrice des Bouvrie-Aaftink