IMPACT 100 Pensacola Bay Area, a local women's philanthropy group, is conducting our annual membership drive for 2011. The group, established in 2004, has collectively used the $1,000 annual membership donation to give over $2.9 million to local non-profit organizations. Membership is open to all women. Annual contributions are due by March 1. Please join us for refreshments and conversation at our upcoming membership event and learn more about IMPACT 100:


Thursday, February 10th      4:30 p.m. -6:30 p.m.
Pensacola Museumof Art    407 South Jefferson Street  Pensacola   850-432-6247

Thursday, February 17th       4:30 p.m. - 6:30p.m.               
Jackson's Steak House  600 South Barracks Street Pensacola   850-433-2582

One of IMPACT 100's goals is to increase women's philanthropy. By involving members in the due diligence and research process, we hope to raise awareness of the many worthwhile charitable opportunities in this area. With a $1000 donation, your contribution will fund up to 5 significant projects of local importance in Arts & Culture, Environment, Recreation & Preservation, Education, Family, Health & Wellness. 100% of your donation will stay in our area. Why give through IMPACT 100? We get more done,together! Visit www.impact100pensacola.org and join us today.  Please RSVP to info@impact100pensacola.com or 888-992-5646.

The 14th Annual Junior Achievement Mardi Gras Bowl is Friday and Saturday, February 11 & 12 at Cordova Lanes (2111 Airport Blvd.). There will be a Mardi Gras Parade inside the bowling center, volunteers will be tossing a moon pie to each bowler when they make a strike, there will be an amazing Chinese auction, best decorated hat contest, and many other fun activities and contest. The best times to sign up to bowl and form a team of 5-10 of your friends or coworkers are listed below.

Friday, February 11th between 4:30-7:00PM
Saturday, February 12th between 12:00-2:30PM or 3:30-6:00PM (shifts still available)

Five shifts of bowlers, over 500 bowlers will help raise fund's for the Junior Achievement program while having FUN. Teams of five to ten bowlers per team will bowl for two hours, but also will be doing the electric slide, hokey pokey, limbo and watching a parade inside the bowling center. JA provides a morale boosting and team building event for local companies. Now more than ever, it is important that we come together to have a good time and raise funds to help young people grasp the concept of free enterprise. For more information call 850-477-1420 or www.nwf-ja.org.

Join the community of Gulf Breeze as we celebrate the accomplishments of outstanding Gulf Breeze Area Chamber members and volunteers from 2010. La Bella Notte or The Beautiful Night will be an Italian-themed Awards evening with Italian cuisine, silent auction, installation of 2011 Board Members & Officers, 2010 Best Business & Individual Awards and dancing with Boogie, Inc. 

The evening will also feature a special performance of romantic Italian arias & excerpts from the upcoming production of Giacomo Puccinis Turandot by Pensacola Operas Artists in Residence.  Formal attire  is suggested. Tickets are $75 per person. Public is invited. Corporate sponsorships available from $125 to $1200.  RSVP no later than February 11, 2011.

All proceeds benefit the Gulf Breeze Area Chamber of Commerce.

For more information, sponsorship or to make reservations please call: 850-932-7888 or go to: www.gulfbreezechamber.com

In conjunction with the retrospective, Christo & Jeanne-Claude: Prints and Objects, now on display at the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts at Pensacola State College, Christo will present a slide show February 12 at 2 p.m. at the Saenger Theatre in downtown Pensacola. The show will include a private reception and book signing for guests with VIP tickets.

The works for which Christo and Jeanne-Claude are known include:

- The Gates: An installation of 7,503, 16-foot-tall gates with saffron-colored fabric that wound through 23 miles of New Yorks Central Park in 2005.
- Surrounded Islands: A 1983 work that involved surrounding 11 islands with pink woven fabric in Miamis Biscayne Bay.
- Valley Curtain: A work that in 1972 hung a woven fabric curtain across a Colorado valley.
- The Umbrellas: An installation that in 1991 erected 3,100 umbrellas, each more than 19-feet tall, in California and Japan.

Christo, who had his first gallery show in Cologne, Germany in 1961, has exhibited in museums and galleries around the world. Christo and Jeanne-Claudes works were credited to just "Christo" until 1994 when the outdoor works and large indoor installations were retroactively credited to "Christo and Jeanne-Claude."

You see, what is it that we do? he says in an interview on his website, christojeanneclaude.net.We want to create works of art of joy and beauty, which we will buildbecause we believe it will be beautiful. The only way to see it is tobuild it. Like every artist, every true artist, we create them for us.

Being able to bring the Christo and Jeanne-Claude retrospective to our gallery will provide a unique look into the career of two great artists of our time, said Krist Lien, head of the Visual Arts Department at Pensacola State College. Add to that the fact that Christo will presenting a talk about their art and lives and now we have a major event for Pensacola and the region. We are truly fortunate to have this opportunity for our students, our college, and our community.

Hangar Bay One at the National Naval Aviation Museum is now formally accepted by the Navy and is open to the public daily from 9:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m. This new addition, the first in 14 years, houses approximately 35 aircraft and adds 55,000 square feet of exhibit space to the Museum.

The Hangars facade, reminiscent of hangars of old, displays aircraft f the post-World War II era. Among them is the R4D-5L Skytrain nicknamed Que Sera Sera that in 1956, became the first aircraft to land at the South Pole, as well as the P2V-1 Neptune nicknamed the Truculent Turtle that in 1946, established a long-distance record during a flight between Perth, Australia and Columbus, Ohio. In addition, Hangar Bay One will be the future home for the Museums Coast Guard Aviation Exhibit and houses the SP-5B Marlin, the last operational flying boat in the U.S. Navy.

The National Naval Aviation Museum features FREE admission to its over 300,000 square feet of displays and exhibits as well as a full slate of events throughout the year. For a complete list of events, exhibits and attractions at the Museum, visit NavalAviationMuseum.org or call the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation at (850) 453-2389 or (800) 327-5002.