Andersen Press – along with project partner Wild in Art – has revealed the most recent Elmer’s Big Art Parade auction raised £312,750 for the Heart of Kent Hospice – this means the amount raised for charity has crossed the £1 million mark since the project started in 2019.
The auction – held on 9 September – was the culmination of an almost three-year project in the Kent town of Maidstone following the trail’s postponement in 2020.
51 sculptures based on David McKee’s character Elmer were decorated by a variety of artists, and formed a free public trail over the summer, before being auctioned off in aid of the hospice charity.
The biggest lot was local artist Ralph Steadman’s piece ‘Elly-do, Elly-don’t, Elly-dance!’ which took inspiration from the Elmer book and his iconic art for Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas by Hunter S. Thomson. The piece was sold for an incredible £15,500 at the auction.
“When we set out with our friends at Wild in Art to stage Elmer’s Big Art Parades we could have only dreamed of raising these incredible amounts of money,” commented Paul Black, PR and brand director at Andersen Press. “To cross the £1 million mark in Maidstone was a brilliant achievement, and we hope we can continue to raise lots of much-needed money for charities as the art trails land in towns and cities all over the world.”
The project continues into 2022 with the recent announcement that Northern Ireland Hospice in Belfast will create the next trail, with a colourful herd of Elmers hitting the streets of Belfast in summer 2022, all in aid of the hospice.
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