Using art to raise awareness for brain research

The donor: Steven Nederveen

The gift: Helping raise $1-million

The cause: Baycrest Foundation

The reason: To support brain research and patient care

When artist Steven Nederveen was asked if he was interested in producing some artwork for a Toronto fundraising event called the Brain Project, he eagerly agreed.

The annual event raises money for Toronto’s Baycrest Foundation which funds the Baycrest Health Sciences, a specialist in brain research and patient care, and it includes works from around 50 artists. The pieces are displayed around the city in July and August and then auctioned off.

“I’ve got relatives who suffered from Alzheimer’s, so I’m happy to do anything I can do to contribute funding to research. It’s quite close to my heart,” said Mr. Nederveen, a landscape artist based in Toronto. “Art has always been an expression of identity and culture and connection, and these are the things that we lose with brain disease. So I kind of feel like art is a really an appropriate medium to express this awareness.”

The event, sponsored by Yogen Fruz, is into its third year and Mr. Nederveen produced pieces in the first two years. He’s a curator this year and helped select the entries. Around 100 pieces went on display in various locations on July 4 and they’ll come down on Aug. 31 for a later auction. So far the Brain Project has raised $2.3-million in total and organizers hope to raise $1-million this year.

“When you hear numbers like that, you think immediately of people you know and relatives. It feels like you are making a difference,” he said.