Agency - English program:.Pacific and Yukon Centre. Agency:.Produced by the National Film Board of Canada in co-operation with the National Arts Centre and the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards Foundation.

Writer, Carl Bessai ; director, Carl Bessai ; cinematographer, Carl Bessai ; producer, Selwyn Jacob ; editor, Mark Shearer ; sound recordist, Jeff Carter ; sound design, Gael MacLean ; makeup, Erin Froese ; executive producer, Tracey Friesen.

Participant, Barbara Adams, Rick Arora, Marilyn Arsenault, Deidrir Ballard, Peter Burris, Jane Butler McGregor, Desiree Chan, Renae Choo, Patrick Corrigan, Hugh Davidson, Terry Farmer, Jill Gibson, Neville Gibson, Marcus Handman, Sandy Henderson, Rob Hunter, Shirley Hunter, Michael Litwixi, Jessica Lucas, Elka Nowicka, Pamela Owen Flood, Joey Pietraroia, David Shepsieu, Hugh Sinnott, Juliann Sinnott, Bob Sochowski, Bruce St. Pierre, Dianne Taylor, Timothy Vernon, Jim Zoellner.

Recorded 2008.

Eric Charman is the life of the party, and not only because he's usually the person organizing it. As a lifelong patron of the arts, Charman has raised money for the Victoria Symphony, the Pacific Opera Victoria, and, most significantly The Victoria Conservatory of Music. The life of a bon vivant is not nearly as effortless as it seems. Over the past forty years, Charman has presided over 400 charity auctions. "My view is that if I'm going to raise money, I want people to have fun in the process," he says. Director Carl Bessai captures this effervescent man in his element, doing what else, throwing a party. Within the elegant environs of the Empress Hotel in Victoria, the champagne flows and the flowers and confetti fall like rain. Charman is, as his friends say, "a force of nature," and a benevolent hurricane who whips people into a joyful frenzy of generosity. But behind the parties and the celebrations, there is a deeply democratic principle at work. As a child, Eric Charman wanted to take piano lessons. "Well, after my third lesson, I ran out of money..." he says. He has since devoted himself to making music available to everyone, not just those who can afford the price of a lesson or a ticket.

Mode of access: World Wide Web.

Description based on online resource; title from title screen (National Film Board of Canada, viewed 2023-08-10).