CANstruction A-CAN-emy Awards & Gala

The CANstruction A-CAN-emy Awards & Gala was last night at Merchandise Mart and it was such a fun event! I attended and wanted you to give you readers a behind the scenes experience… so click away! As you know from our previous entry, CANstruction is a unique charity event that raises donations for the Greater Chicago Food Depository by having teams build amazing creations out of cans and other food items.  It is the largest donation of food in a single food drive in the city of Chicago – pretty impressive!

The A-CAN-emy Awards & Gala was pretty fabulous, I must say. I got there a little after it started so I walked around and got to see all of the incredibly creative can sculptures before it got more crowded. The sculptures were amazing, I had no idea cans could be made into such beautiful works of art (my personal favorite was “InterCANnected”), and the best part was that it was all for a great cause!  The crowd for the gala was pretty diverse, younger & older professionals who came by after work.  There was an open bar service with their very own “CAN-tini” – which was delicious & creative!  Whole Foods provided light hors d’oeuvres and delicious desserts were provided by Cacao Sweets & Treats (the chocolate champagne cupcake is to die for!)

The awards portion of the evening was the most anticipated part of the night!  NBC 5’s Natalie Martinez was the emcee for the evening and there was a panel of celebrity judges who announced winners of various awards.  The celeb judges included Windy City Live host Ryan Chiaverini, Chef Michael Kornick of mk, Chef Jared Van Camp of Nellcôte, Peter Exley from Architecture is Fun, and of course, our very own Billy Dec!  The SmithGroup JJR Team, who constructed “InterCANnected,” walked away with two awards, one for the Make No Small Cans Award and the other, the Structural Ingenuity Award.  The other big winner of the night was the KJWW Engineering Consultants-VOA-Berglund Team who constructed “A Healthy Balance” and walked away the winners of both the juror’s favorite and the crowd favorite; as part of their prize, they will be headed to the National competition in a couple of weeks!  Best of luck to them as they rep Chicago with their awesome design!

To see more pictures of the awards & gala, check out the CANstruction photo album on Facebook!

-Alex Chwastek

Tags: A-CAN-emy Awards & Gala, Architecture is Fun, billy dec, Cacao Sweets & Treats, canstruction, charity, chicago, food drive, greater chicago food depository, InterCANnected, Jared Van Camp, KJWW Engineering Consultants, merchandise mart, Michael Kornick, Natalie Martinez, Nellcôte, Peter Exley, ryan chiaverini, SmithGroup JJR, VOA-Berglund, whole foods, windy city live

CANstruction

Think about all the Diet Coke and beer cans we throw away each day- always thought they were useless trash, right? Wrong! Look no further than the work of local architects, designers, engineers and construction workers who are turning cans into pieces of art right here in Chicago! Not only are these cans art, they’re lifesavers, too! Who would have thought?!

CANstruction is a unique non-profit food charity that holds annual design and build competitions where teams have to construct imaginative, life-size structures entirely out of cans or canned food. By imaginative I mean, pharaoh heads, venus fly traps and even hatching raptors!

Lucky for us, this organization has made it’s way to Chicago’s Merchandise Mart! When CANstruction comes to town, thousands of hungry people are fed- After the 21 competing teams build their crazy designs and a champion is selected, all of the cans will be donated to The Greater Chicago Food Depository (I wonder how many cans it takes to make a giant pharaoh head, hmm).

The grand opening for the CANstruction competition starts tomorrow on the first floor of the Mart. Grab your friends or kids and head over to the event- who knows what weird creations there will be this year!

Admission to the exhibit is free but I suggest you check out the Awards Ceremony Gala on May 10th where an exhibit winner will be chosen by a panel of celebrity judges (including Billy!) and a great party will follow. To enter to win tickets to the Gala, click here!

- Lauren Neuschel

Tags: art exhibit, billy dec, canstruction, chicago, donation, family event, fighting hunger, fundraiser, greater chicago food depository, Lauren Neuschel, merchandise mart

CANstruction for Greater Chicago Food Depository

Tags: architecture, bill zwecker, bravo, canned foods, canstruction, charity, design, donation, greater chicago food depository, merchandise mart, philanthropy, radhika desai, soup kitchens, sun times, top chef