Funding Emerging Arts with Sustainable Tactics (FEAST) is an ingenious project. It seamlessly combines the joys of art and food by hosting public dinners designed to raise money for artistic projects. It’s run by a group of individuals sharing a vortex of skills and is hosted by The Lutheran Church of the Messiah across the street from McGolrick Park.
Basically, you pay a sliding scale fee to enter, eat some amazing food prepared by Molly and David, and vote on a number of submitted proposals by artists working in a variety of creative disciplines. At the end of the evening the votes and monies are counted and the artist with the most votes receives the bag of cash. The proposal is to be realized by at the next FEAST event.
I attended the first FEAST dinner a few weeks back and had a blast helping out washing dishes and chopping garlic. I chatted and mingled with a few of about eighty guests that attended, ate some amazing soup and veggies and dessert made by Tracy of Sweet Tooth of the Tiger, freaked out in my indecisiveness in getting the vote in, drank some beer, and met some really awesome people.
The proposal with the most votes was submitted by Dan Funderburgh who plans to take the $700 plus that was raised to “beautify north Brooklyn with renegade wallpapering.” Watch out for mailboxes and garbage cans clad in ornate decorative patterns.
I was so proud to be involved in such a community-consciousness-raising endeavor and I know this is sprucing your appetite to be involved too. No matter if you’re a cook, an artist, or munching speculator, there is room for everyone to participate.
Submit your proposal ASAP as the deadline is this Saturday March 21st. Submission guidelines can be found here. FEAST is also looking for volunteers to help in all parts of the organization process, more info here.
The next event will be help Saturday April 4th at The Church of Messiah on 129 Russell Street, no rsvp required, no one turned away, make sure to bring all your friends and vote to show your support. I’ll be there with baked goods in tow and probably washing more dishes. More info on attending here.
You can join their facebook group here, listen to the wnyc coverage here, see pictures from the event here, and read my report on my blog here.