Jean-Luc Murray, director general of the Musée national des Beaux-Arts du Québec (MNBAQ); Grégoire Baillargeon and Geneviève Turbide-Potvin, co-chairs of the fundraising cabinet; Pierre Lassonde, founding member of the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation, and Kim Thomassin and Christiane Germain, also co-chairs of the fundraising cabinet; pose for photos at the end of the announcement about the MNBAQ Foundation’s $170-million target, the biggest fundraising campaign in the history of cultural philanthropy in Quebec. At the campaign launch, held at the museum on Sept. 26, BMO announced it is donating $1.5 million to the Fondation du MNBAQ. It was also announced that Claude Bigras, president and CEO of GDI, and his wife Andrée Lafleur have donated $500,000. According to the foundation, the ambitious objective of $170 million will cover not only the construction of the Espace Riopelle, but also the creation of the MNBAQ’s education through art centre, a “unique, inclusive creative laboratory” to be installed at the heart of the Charles Baillairgé Pavilion. During the event, philanthropist and collector Lassonde, who conducted the major fundraising campaign for the pavilion that bears his name on Grande Allée, urged members of Quebec’s business community to “step up and contribute to this new fundraising campaign to enable the MNBAQ to achieve its ambitions and Quebec art to broaden its influence at home and abroad.” (SN) (Photo by Shirley Nadeau)