Du Maurier Arts Ltd
The Du Maurier Arts Ltd. (French: Les Arts du Maurier Ltée ) was a funding agency of the Imperial Tobacco Co. that existed from 1971 to 2003 .
history
It was founded in 1971 by the Houston Group , a public relations firm in Toronto , to nurture talent and promote public interest in the arts. She financially supported the Canadian Opera Company , the Opéra du Québec , the Calgary Opera , the Shaw Festival , the Toronto Symphony Orchestra , the Orchester symphonique de Montréal , the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra .
From 1977 to 1984 she sponsored a competition from which the Gerald Danovitch Saxophone Quartet , Desmond Hoebig , Loreena McKennitt , Gwen Hoebig , Sophie Rolland and Marie-Josée Simard emerged as award winners. From 1985 she supported the Beaches International Jazz Festival in Toronto.
Between 1981 and 2003, the company spent over $ 60 million on a total of 675 cultural organizations, including the renovation of the Harbourfront Center in Toronto.
With the ban on tobacco advertising in 2003, the agency was dissolved.