Press Releases

Budapest, April 9, 2009 15:00

A special exhibition will be opened at 11 a.m. on Friday, April 10 in Magyar Telekom's headquarters. Paintings jointly produced by children of varying age with Down syndrome and contemporary artists will be exhibited. The paintings will later be sold at auction. The purpose of the unusual exhibition and auction is, in addition to raising awareness in the society, to contribute the revenue of the auction to the creation of an Early Development Center in Northern Hungary.

The exhibited pictures were painted by children with Down syndrome with the contribution of renowned contemporary artists, among others István EfZámbó and András Wahorn, at the World Down Day event held on March 21 in the Comedy Theatre. The paintings will be sold at auction on April 23, the amount received will be donated for financing the construction of an Early Development Center in the North-East region of Hungary.

Magyar Telekom is supporting the construction of this center also by offering the space needed for the exhibition and the auction free of charge to the organizer, Down Association and by selecting the Association as the beneficiary in May and June of the Telekom Donation Line (1788) that is now in its seventh year of operation.

In Hungary annually about 160 children are born with this chromosome disorder. With an early development program these children could live similarly to healthy children. They can learn to write, read, calculate, can work when they grow up, and can be integrated into the society.

The free exhibition will be open from April 10 to 23 at Magyar Telekom's headquarters (1013 Budapest, Krisztina körút 55).The opening will be attended by Magyar Telekom's Communication Director Mihály Varga, singer Klári Katona who is the face of Telekom Donation Line, President of the Down Association Károly Kisari, aesthete András Réz and guest of honor of the opening Barbara Hegyi.