When ARTcetera was first held in Boston's City Hall in 1984, "even the most optimistic of the organizers never dreamed they'd make the $90,000 they did," says Bernard Toale, who has been involved with ARTcetera since its inception and is now its chair. The 11th edition of Boston's ARTcetera, an art auction that will be held Saturday in the city's huge, domed Boston Center for the Arts Cyclorama, will benefit the AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts, New England's oldest and largest AIDS service organization. The last two ARTceteras raised $500,000 each. The goal for this year's event is again a half-million dollars. But Toale knows that in this economic clime, reaching it will be tough.

Over the years, Toale says, artists have given more than $2.5 million in art to the event, which has evolved into a Boston-based community endeavor. "We're not as concerned as we used to be with having artists with national names," he says. A hard-working acquisitions committee, primarily gallerists, chooses the pieces in the auction.

This year's event is also linked with a grassroots AIDS organization in Botswana. A gifted painter from that southern African nation, Stephen Mogotsi, has donated his "Woman with Child," a large figurative expressionist canvas. Proceeds of its sale -- estimated value at $3,000 -- go to the Coping Center for People Living with HIV/AIDS, which serves people in Botswana, where 38 percent of people have HIV. Tickets to the black-tie event, which starts Saturday at 5:30 p.m., are $125 each. Telephone 617-450-1575 or visit www.artcetera.org for more information.

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