DUBUQUE, IA. - The winter installment of Art Gumbo, a quarterly soup dinner that supports local art projects with community-supported micro-funding, is scheduled for Thursday, December 16, 6-8 p.m. at the Dubuque Museum of Art, 701 S. Locust Street.
Art Gumbo is an independent community-based initiative that funds local arts projects using money collected at quarterly soup dinners. During each Art Gumbo funding cycle, artists and arts organizations are invited to submit a brief project proposal that demonstrates an impact on the Dubuque community. The public is invited to attend and vote for their favorite proposal. A $10 donation at the door entitles the attendee to a soup dinner prepared by Driftless Market of Platteville, Wisconsin and the opportunity to review all submitted proposals and to vote for their favorite. The Art Gumbo fund's nightly proceeds will be awarded to the proposal that gets the most votes. Art Gumbo sessions will be hosted at new locations each quarter featuring soup by a regional food source.
Art Gumbo soup dinners are an independent effort initiated by local arts activists Paula Neuhaus and Megan Starr. The project's mission is to bring artists together with art patrons to explore and fund projects, create working relationships, and build a network.
"This is an affordable way for anyone to become a patron of the arts," says Art Gumbo co-founder Paula Neuhaus, "It serves as an accessible way for artists to get the smaller funding they need to bring a project to fruition quickly."
Metal artist Gene Tully was awarded Art Gumbo's inaugural mini grant during the September soup dinner. Tully used the funding to install four, eight-foot metal grotesques on top of a concrete water tower standard at 801 Jackson Street. This public art piece entitled Warehouse Grotesques: Hatred, Greed, Violence and Addiction, was created for the "Voices From The Warehouse District: Transitions" exhibit and serves, says Tully, "As a testimony to the strength of arts in the district." Tully will present a discussion of his completed project as part of the December 16 soup dinner fulfilling the artist's "final report" portion of the funding program.
For more information visit artgumbodubuque.blogspot.com or contact Paula Neuhaus or Megan Starr at art.gumbo.dbq@gmail.com.
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