Bollywood 2008

Annual Benefit Event

by Friends of Montessori

Live and Silent Auction

to benefit
Montessori of the Rio Grande Charter School


Saturday, November 15, 2008,

7:00PM

837 El Alhambra Circle NW,

Albuquerque, N.M. 87107

view map

 

Buy tickets for Bollywood

including dinner catered by Taj Mahal

Bellydance show

Attire formal

Costumes encouraged

Tickets to Bollywood 2008 start at $60.00 per person or $100.00 per couple prior to Saturday November 8, 2008. Day of Benefit prices are $75.00 per person or $125.00 per couple. Electronic payments can be made through PayPal or checks can be mailed to

MRGC Development Director, 1650 Gabaldon NW, Albuquerque, N.M. 87104.

Single tickets $75.00
Couple tickets $125.00

Entire table
(seats 10)

$500.00

 

The Friends of Montessori Foundation, the fundraising organization for the Montessori on the Rio Grande Charter School (MRGC), is amidst a monumental journey to create a Lifelong Learning Community, by making Montessori education accessible to all. To do this, we need to purchase the land on which the school is situated, as well as construct new, cutting-edge, energy efficient facilities. Bollywood marks the start of our Capital Campaign to raise $7.2M.

To meet our financial goals for Phase I funding, we need to raise about $1.5M. We have already raised over $450,000 from the support of parents, local businesses, private foundations, various grants, and the State Legislature.

The MRGC is built upon a diverse student population from neighborhoods all across Albuquerque, and from a diverse demographic. Currently, MRGC enrolls 155 students. Of these students, 40% are Hispanic, 11% are Native American, 6% are African American, 1% is Asian American, and 42% are Caucasian (of these 11% meet Special Education criteria).

To emphasize the importance of the Diversity of our student population, we have selected Bollywood as our Annual Diversity Benefit.
So what is Bollywood?

Bollywood is the name given to the Mumbai-based Hindi-language film industry in India. When combined with other Indian film industries (Tamil, Telugu, Bengali, Malayalam, Kannada), it is considered to be the largest in the world in terms of number of films produced, and maybe also the number of tickets sold.

The term Bollywood was created by conflating Bombay (the city now called Mumbai) and Hollywood (the famous center of the United States film industry).

Bollywood films are usually musicals. Few movies are made without at least one song-and-dance number. Indian audiences expect full value for their money; they want songs and dances, love interest, comedy and dare-devil thrills, all mixed up in a three hour long extravaganza with intermission. Such movies are called masala movies, after the spice mixture masala. Like masala, these movies have everything.

The plots are often melodramatic. They frequently employ formulaic ingredients such as star-crossed lovers, corrupt politicians, twins separated at birth, conniving villains, angry parents, courtesans with hearts of gold, dramatic reversals of fortune, and convenient coincidences.
Sponsorships of entire tables are $500.00 per table. Donors of Auction items over $500.00 will receive two complimentary Bollywood 2008 Benefit tickets.

Corporate sponsorships of the Benefit are also being sought, and interested Corporations should contact Peter Kim Phipps, Director of Development, 505.453.5028.

The Friends of Montessori Foundation is a 501c(3) charitable organization and donations qualify for tax deductions.

To learn more about the foundation, the capital campaign and to donate, click here.

To see the school web site, click here.

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