Philantropic Weekend in Marbella

Eva Longoria’s Solidarity Weekend makes the most of its resources. The first “ecological gala” in Spain only needed 24 hours to produce a spectacular assembly.

Marbella, 25th September 2012: The Philanthropic Weekend, hosted by the city of Marbella last August, which included Eva Longoria as Honorary Chair, managed to raise 127,000 euros in funds.

Thanks to the donations and registration of the people that participated in the Dynamic Walk-a-Thon on Saturday 18th of August, more than 6,100 euros were raised, an amount which initially

belonged to The Eva Longoria Foundation and The Cesare Scariolo Foundation, but in the end was devoted entirely to the latter.

The rest of the money raised during the Philanthropic Weekend (about €120.900), among which includes private sponsorships, auctions and various contributions, will go to The Cesare Scariolo andThe Malaga Football Club Foundations and The Eva Longoria Foundation, after covering the costs of production and execution of the two events.

Ecological Gala

During the project, the production – carried out by Fox Group, Manda Events and the Hotel Gran Meliá Don Pepe – decided to place the tables on the swimming pool of the hotel, to use the central fountain as a stage for presenters and to mount the main stage on the other side of the pool, linking both spaces by a floating walkway above water.

In 24 hours straight the entire assembly of the infrastructures was carried out, with a total of nearly 50 tons of material and the technical support of almost 40 people.

After the gala, at around 2am they began the dismantling of all the infrastructures, leaving the swimming pool clear at 8am on Monday morning. In just 6 hours the pool became available to customers. In total it took 12 hours to clear the site completely.

In this sense, in addition to its charitable purpose, the gala was characterized as being the first in Spain of an ecological nature, distinguished under the category of “Green Gala”. This is because

Wysiwyg Performance R28 was used for its assembly, a software from the Canadian company Cast Lighting, capable of minimizing power consumption. “They held an assembly at the Hotel Gran Meliá Don Pepe of such magnitude that without Wysiwyg, it would have required 6 days to accomplish, and we did it in 24 hours”, said José Rojo, lighting designer from Fox Group, the company responsible for the organization, design and development of all technical and visual

aspects of the Philanthropic Weekend.

As reported by Fox Group they were working during the months leading up to the gala – along with the organizers María Bravo and Alina Peralta – on a virtual assembly, designed to be identical to the real assembly, so that once the installation was made they did not have to do any final tests. “In this way we have saved materials, time and human resources, and have used a lot fewer electrical resources,which has led to significant savings of CO2 released into the atmosphere. Instead of consuming millions of watts in numerous tests and thus wasting energy, we have only consumed the electricity that a computer uses”, pointed out the technician from Fox.

Already numerous events have been made worldwide using this work plan thanks to Wysiwyg, such as the London Olympics, Eurovision 2010, Elle Fashion Gala 2010, the inauguration of Obama, etc.

Currently – following the international rules that took effect this summer in Europe and which oblige you to create virtual 3D designs for major projects in Spain – there are only four people with Wysiwyg AWT licenses, among which only José Rojo works in Andalucía, a warranty that consolidates the Global Gift Gala as an ecological, supportive and also environmentally friendly event.

Guaranteed Success

Similarly, something that was instrumental in the success of the Philanthropic Weekend was the fact that many celebrities, from both the national and international scene, wanted to support this

humanitarian cause that favors children with cancer and their families.

Among the most popular faces that paraded down the red carpet at the Hotel Gran Meliá Don Pepe, include the presence of the Honorary Chair, Eva Longoria; together with the organisers María Bravo and Alina Peralta; the national basketball coach and president of the Cesare Scariolo Foundation, Sergio Scariolo; the winner of the Humanitarian Award 2012, Vicente del Bosque; the Ambassador of the Málaga Football Club Foundation, Julio Baptista; former basketball player, Fernando Romay; American actors Amaury Nolasco and Terrence Howard; the model and presenter Mar Saura; the international spiritual leader, Deepak Chopra; the models María José

Suárez and Sylvie Van der Vaart; the swimmer David Meca, guest auctioneer; María Pineda and designer Carola Toca; Beatriz Trapote, José Manuel Parada; the young actress, Ana Fernandez; as well as the chefs Dani García and Diego del Río from Marbella, in charge of the menu for the Gala; the manager of the Hotel Gran Meliá Don Pepe, Saad Azzam; and Victor Garcia of Cyan Process, etc.

As well as all of these we must take into account the huge participation from Spanish music stars such as Diana Navarro, Pastora Soler and Chenoa. Furthermore, the pianist Diego Amador played alongside Bruce Vaps and Terrence Howard, who delighted attendees with his innovative musical side.

The Philanthropic Weekend, organized by Manda Events in collaboration with the fitness center Dynamic Marbella, had a large team of professionals who made this project of hope a reality for

many children and their families.

The organization has already predicted that the next edition of The Global Gift Gala will take place on Saturday 3rd August, 2013 at the Hotel Gran Meliá Don Pepe in Marbella.

Committed partners and sponsors:

The firms that collaborated so extraordinarily, ensuring that all proceeds, both from the Dynamic Walk-a-Thon and the Global Gift Gala, go to children and their families that form part of the three

beneficiary foundations are:

* Dynamic Marbella, Sports Centre of Marbella, host of the

Dynamic Walk-a-Thon.

* Adidas, official supplier of the Dynamic Walk-a-Thon (DWAT).

* El Naturalista, DWAT sponsor.

* Les Roches, DWAT partner.

* Nikki Beach, Philanthropic Weekend sponsor.

* BMW Guarnieri, official cars of the Philanthropic Weekend.

* Cyan Process, official printing of the Philanthropic Weekend.

* Hotel Gran Meliá Don Pepe, hotel sponsor and host of the Global

Gift Gala.

* Restaurant Calima (Dani García) and Restaurant El Lago (Diego