Surfrider Foundation Benefit: ‘Art for the Oceans’

I’d like to take a little break in my tech blog here to put in a plug for an art auction benefit coming up September 17 in NYC, for one of my favorite organizations: The Surfrider Foundation. I’ve been a member since inception (1984), and one of my best friends has been executive Director for the past couple of years — Jim Moriarty, whom I met through our common involvement in the tech startup community. But that was before the Surfrider Foundation was lucky enough to snag him. Jim’s really been doing great things to grow the Foundation and increase its impact, worldwide. And I think this art benefit is an insanely great idea. Kudos to you, Jim!

Any of you lucky enough to be in the Big Apple on September 17 should get yourselves over there, have a good time, and bid on some surfboard art!. It’s at the XChange, a cool, new event space you you can read more about here. I hope some people upload Flickr pix of the event — and I’d love to see some blog reports, too! (Because, unfortunately, I’ll be getting ready to leave for San Clemente right about then, which is ironically the Surfrider Foundation’s home base — so I’ll be rooting from the other coast.)

Again, this is the second annual “Art for the Oceans.” The first event was a big success, as Surfline reported here: Surfrider’s Art for the Oceans raises over $300,000 in NYC. And here’s how Surfrider’s annual report summed up that original event:

Nearly 700 people, including celebrities, New York socialites, and a host of East Coast surfers descended upon Milk Studios in New York City’s Meat Packing District for the Surfrider Foundation’s first-ever “Art for the Oceans” Auction. Master shaper Al Merrick created a whole school of 6’2” fishes, then gave them to artists to have their way with them. Some of the work was done by surfing artists and some was handled by artist surfers. Among the contributors were Thomas Campbell, Raymond Pettibon, John Van Hamersveld, Drew Brophy and Gus Van Sant. In addition, Herbie Fletcher and Gene Cooper each shaped 10-foot plus Hawaiian guns for the auction. Herbie’s was adorned by Julian Schnabel with his much heralded “Blind Girl Surf Club” motif, and the board took the honor of the highest bid, raising $75,000 from an anonymous donor. Following the auction, the crowd was entertained with an hour-long musical set by Citizen Cope.

I’m sure Surfrider is expecting even bigger attendance and attention this year. Right on, guys! I hope you raise tons more than $300k this time — gazillions! Because you’re doing great work, and surfers and beach lovers everywhere support you….

By the way, for more on the Surfrider Foundation, in addition to their great web site, also see their YouTube page.