The Value of Art

Students, faculty raise money for charity.Nigel ChiwayaOn December 4, NYIT students and faculty gathered to help raise money for charity. The event, an auction, was held on the 11th floor of the New Technology building. Members of the NYIT community bid on various pieces of artwork submitted by NYIT faculty.The event was planned by Bear Hug, a new student community service club. Bear Hug worked with the non-profit organization Children International. According to club president Aisha Qureshi, Bear Hug’s goal for the year was to raise enough money to sponsor 10 children for a year. At $22 a month per child, the group needed to raise $220 a month in order to reach its goal. The auction was the second event of the year for the group. In October, members of Bear Hug sold trick-or-treat bags to students in the lobby of the Main Building.The auction generated strong excitement from the NYIT community. According to Qureshi, faculty members were very willing to help in any way possible, from helping coordinate to donating art.The auction was a silent auction, meaning that instead of having bidders yell their bids out loud, bidders were free to walk around the room, sampling the artwork. When they came across a piece of art that they wanted to bid on, the bidder simply needed to write down their bid number and their bid total on a sheet of paper next to the artwork. Artwork was submitted by professors from various departments, from fine arts and communication arts to architecture. Pieces were priced starting at $50, $100, or $300, and bids had to be submitted in increments of $25.Plans for a charity auction actually predated the existence of the club. Jennifer Mitchell, who helped the students coordinate the event, said that Qureshi first approached her with the idea of a charity auction in October 2006. Qureshi, who helped make a documentary about the victims of an earthquake in Pakistan in 2005, originally wanted to establish a partnership between NYIT and the Foundation of Young Intellectuals, the group which created the film. When that partnership fell through, Qureshi looked to other NYIT students. “There were hardly any community service projects going on here,” Qureshi said in an October interview with the NYIT Chronicle, “so I wanted to do something.”The event was open to all members of the NYIT community, even featuring an appearance by NYIT President Edward Guiliano, who stopped by and spoke with Qureshi.From a monetary standpoint alone, the event was a huge success, raising over $4,500. However, the members of Bear Hug say that they do not plan to get caught up in their success. Badrul Rupak, the treasurer of Bear Hug, said “we’re definitely not stopping here. If anything, we’re looking to top this event and raise even more money somehow.” Qureshi said that she received feedback from students who would like to hold another auction, this time featuring artwork created by students themselves. “A lot of professors have suggested making this a semester thing,” Qureshi said, “and students have talked about having a student auction, so we’ll see how it goes.”