The Breakfast Club Goes Green
Feb. 12, 2016 — The celebration of the 58th Annual Grammy Awards will bring together music industry elite for an exclusive brunch hosted by award-winning producer Bryan-Michael Cox. The annual “Breakfast Club” event will present guests with an eco-infused experience provided by the Toyota Green Initiative, an environmentally focused program designed to promote sustainability.
Cox, a Grammy award winner notable for his extensive work with multiple platinum-selling artists, hosts the annual brunch as an opportunity to honor industry influencers and groundbreaking artists, such as Sean “Diddy” Combs, Swizz Beatz, Jon Platt, and Chris Hicks. This year’s honorees are songwriter and producer, Kawan “KP” Prather, as well as record label executive and recording artist, DJ Khaled.
The Toyota Green Initiative (TGI), developed by Toyota in 2008, has been a catalyst for promoting sustainability across the country. With a focus on engaging African-Americans, TGI has become an influential voice in educating communities about green living by using unique events to communicate its messaging.
“Aligning with Bryan-Michael Cox, who has demonstrated a commitment to sustainability through his innovative approach to music producing, seemed like a natural fit for us,” says Toyota’s vice president for African-American Business Strategy, Jim Colon. Cox, who has been known to preferably record music in environmentally sound studios, felt the TGI brand would resonate well with his guests. “I really believe in what Toyota is doing through the TGI program, so I wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to make my peers in the music industry aware and more conscious of sustainability as a whole.”
The brunch which will feature exclusive eco-friendly car service in the 2016 Toyota Prius V for special influencers, will also showcase repurposed, mixed media artwork from Los Angeles based artist, Duane Paul. Music will be provided by hybrid artist photographer, filmmaker and DJ, Catherine Ouellette. Guests will arrive on the “green carpet” for interviews with broadcast journalist, Sharon Carpenter.
The Breakfast Club event has also been a platform for recognizing the work of Music & Memory, a program that brings personalized music through digital technology into the lives of people suffering from degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and dementia. Bryan-Michael Cox has been a long-time ambassador for the organization, which has also inspired Toyota to conduct iPod drives with its employees to help Music & Memory fulfill its mission and to also divert electronic waste from landfills.
Follow the @ToyotaShowcase handle and #ToyotaGreenXBMC for live highlights from the Breakfast Club event on Sunday, February 14, 2016.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM), the world's top automaker and creator of the Prius and the Mirai fuel cell vehicle, is committed to building vehicles for the way people live through our Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands. Over the past 50 years, we’ve built more than 30 million cars and trucks in North America, where we operate 14 manufacturing plants (10 in the U.S.) and directly employ more than 42,000 people (more than 33,000 in the U.S.). Toyota operates 1,800 North American dealerships (1,500 in the U.S. alone which sold almost 2.5 million cars and trucks in 2015) – and about 80 percent of all Toyota vehicles sold over the past 20 years are still on the road today.
Toyota partners with philanthropic organizations across the country, with a focus on education, safety, and the environment. As part of this commitment, we share the company’s extensive know-how garnered from building great cars and trucks to help community organizations and other nonprofits expand their ability to do good. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.
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