In February Vice President Mick Davies was invited to Tokyo to open the Minerva 2019 exhibition for Qualiart – our Japanese sponsors.
This year there were 228 ‘Honorary Guest Members’ who all attended the special dinner to coincide with the opening of the show. It took place in a large country hotel built in traditional Japanese style and Mick was the Guest of Honour. Following the meal he gave a speech and shook hands with everybody – which included having 228 individual photos taken!
During the dinner, Mick presented Mr Kushida, Qualiart’s CEO, with a Fellowship Diploma on behalf of the Society and he, in turn, presented the Society with an additional £3,000 as sponsorship for next year’s RBA RISING STARS Exhibition.
The following day Mick opened the Minerva exhibition which took place in The Tokyo Imperial Museum. He selected three prizewinners and discussed their works individually with 228 very keen artists. In the evening he was taken to another celebratory dinner in one of Tokyo’s top restaurants before returning very tired but happy to his hotel.