benniesposito.com

[martin esposito]

hi everyone
just wanted to keep you all up to date as to what is happening with all things benni.

we are still planning to incorporate this forum into a full 'benni esposito' web site. wayne (who designed this site) got sidetracked in the summer by getting marrried. so congratulations to wayne and gill!. wayne and i are planning to meet soon to finalise everything. the site will probably feature a biography, some comedy bits and some of benni's paintings. if anyone has got any other ideas for this please send me an e-mail.

jackie anderson's portrait of benni will be on display at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh from December 17th 2005 until 12th March 2006. this painting is part of the BP Portrait Awards 2005 and is really worth a visit. if you cannot get there jackie can e-mail you the painting. she can be contacted via this forum.

the painting itself has actually been sold and we are really really pleased that jackie has donated the £500 she received for the painting to the 'benni esposito awards fund'.

with rergards the 'benni esposito award'. we have been in discussion with staff at duncan of jordanstone, the university of dundee as well as some of benni's friends and colleagues. we have learned that there are a multitude of ways that these awards can be developed but with much thought we have agreed on some of the basics. we are hoping that all the money donated will go into an endownment fund, managed by the university. a yearly prize will be generated from the interest gained from this endownment. we have not decided how the winner will be chosen but but our current thoughts are that this will be a first year drawing and painting student from duncan of jordanstone. this is the course that benni taught on and felt so passionately about. the university are confident that this can be set up for this academic year. none of these details have been finalised yet and we would welcome any thoughts or suggestions from anyone.

the size of the prize will obviously be dependant on how much money we raise. to date we have just over £3000. this has been achieved with with the fantasic help of many of bennis friends, such as jackie donating the proceeds of her painting and all those who helped with the 'benni esposito tribute night'. if anyone is interested in donating any money towards this fund please contact me at martinesposito@hotmail.com and i will give you further details.

there are also some plans to have another tribute night some time next year. we are also keen to have an exhibition at some time in the future. as well as this we are also investigating the possibility of selling prints of benni's work. all money raised would go to the award fund.

as i have already said, we are keen to receive any thoughts or suggestions of how we can honour benni's memory. and many thanks again for all your support over the last year.

speak to you soon

martin x.

[GrahamP]

Great to see how much Benni-related stuff is happening!

Funny how Benni keeps on occuring in life, getting into harder rock lately and just downloaded some Judas Priest, this song 'Breaking the Law', well I remember having nicked the police costumes from some fringe show and my mate's guitar and running round the streets of Edinburgh shouting that very refrain. Didn't know it was Judas Priest then ...

Hope you're well Martin - drop me a line whenever you're in central London, as you know I'm working in Covent Garden and would always be up for meeting for 'one for the road' (another Benni one there).