Fabulous VIP Gala held for the 5th Annual Telus MOSAIC Festival

On Tuesday July 6, 2010, ANOKHI Magazine was proud to be a part of Telus Mosaic opening night gala, as they kicked off their fifth year celebrations with an elegant eveningt at the Art Gallery of Mississauga.

Gala attendees included dignitaries from all stripes including Mississauga Mayor,  The Honourable Hazel McCallion, Liberal Candidate for Mississauga-Erindale, Omar Alghabra, Mr. and Mrs. Ali Naqvi, President of Mississauga Arts Council, Mr Bohdan Schelawich, President of Art Gallery of Mississauga  Anne Kennedy, Curator and Executive Director of the Art Gallery of Mississauga Rob Freeman, as well as Carolyn Vesely, Bushra Junaid and the Chair of Ontario Arts Council, Marta Durdien.

Our very own Raj Girn and Gerald Laing were also part of the VIP gathering as well as Chris Kiskunas, Rizwan Ahmad, Usman Wasi Khan, Shekher Puri and Imtiaz Seyid who all represented the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC). Mr Ashish Gandhi, Venki Raman of CIBC, Harschal of HSBC, Badar Shamim of TD were also present.

Awards of Excellence in Arts were presented to Dr. Atul Tolia and Mr. Sohail Rana for their contributions as patron and service to arts. The awards were presented by  The Honourable Hazel McCalliond and was announced by Mr. Shekhar Puri of RBC and Miss Ivy Ackerman from Telus. 

Mr. Joel Peters from Toronto Tourism mixed and mingled along with Toronto Tourism's, Mississauga-Toronto West Office, Robert Kawamoto as they were recognized for their support to the festival.

Mayor  McCallion in her speech commended the organizers and the board of Canadian Community Arts Initiative on completing five years of Mosaic Festival. She also discussed the infrastructure development plans and informed the organizers that their much sought after venue of Civic Square will be complete for Mosaic Festival in 2011. Festival Director and the Chair for Canadian Community Arts Initiative, Asma Mahmood, expressed her gratitude to the City of Mississauga, the corporate sponsors and government agencies who all supported the festival. Ms. Mahmood specially acknowledged the role of Mississauga Arts Council and Art Gallery of Mississauga for the ongoing help and support to the festival. The festival founder and Director of CCAI Arshad Mahmood thanked the media and noted that the festival is the most widely publicized South Asian festival in Canada made possible by the on-going support from Toronto Tourism and the South Asian media in Canada.

The gala event was the precursor to TELUS Mosaic 2010 which started with events on July 8th and carries through July 11th. The festival and all its components are completely free and free parking is available at the Square One Mall. 

Please visit www.mosaicfest.com [1] for more information and don't forget to enter their online draw for a return ticket to South Asia courtesy of  Etihad Airways.