“Field School is proud to announce that its 5th Annual Speakers Series on Friday, January 28th will feature Oliver Kuttner, CEO of Edison2. A Charlottesville resident and a commercial real estate developer, Kuttner recently turned his full attention to his lifelong passion with automobiles and founded Edison2. The team won the $5 million dollar prize in the Progressive Insurance Automotive X Prize in September with its Very Light Car. Kuttner was also honored recently by The Hook as their Person of the Year.
The talk will start at 7 p.m.. Tickets ($20 adults, $10/kids) are available at Maupin’s Video in Crozet or at Greenberry’s Barracks Road.
The event is sponsored by the Hook, Field Camp, and Blue Ridge Swim Club.“
… via email
and the $20 ticket supports what?
The event is a fundraiser for the Field School Scholarship Fund. The school is a 501-c-3 that is proud to meet 100% of the demonstrated financial needs of students through events like these and other fundraising activities.
A noble cause no doubt, but soliciting public support for a private institution isn’t good form. Possibly a large philanthropic commitment from Mr. Kuttner would fill the coffers….
Mr. Trolley,nnI cannot follow how publicizing a fundraiser for a 501-c-3 non-profit institution supporting education is not “good form.” Field School is a “private sector” school that does not receive any taxpayer dollars or support whatsoever. We stage events like this in order to raise money, to provide good speakers for our community and to promote awareness of our school and its interests. This is our fifth annual event, and this is the first time I can recall anyone being critical of us for opening our events to the public. On the contrary, I would think you would be inclined to be critical if they were publicized after the fact and not open to the public (I am aware of that happening in town at times). I can imagine someone arguing that it is “bad form” to promote an exclusive school or exclusive event in a public context, but this is clearly neither an exclusive school (we have been able to support a wide variety of families and students coming to us the past four years both educationally and financially) nor an exclusive event. I was very happy when Kuttner, who has not ties to the school, agreed to do the speech for us. This is notably the first of these events that someone has done gratis, and frankly, the price tags for decent speakers are often very steep. When someone does something really nice for our efforts at school, I am not inclined to ask him for a “large philanthropic commitment to fill the coffers.” I am sure that those who are there will appreciate the fact that we have opened this event to others.