About this project
About This Book
This coffee-table book, Counter Culture, collects food histories from the kids we work with at Lifting Voices, a non-profit that runs writing workshops with 200 kids in under-served DC communities. We believe that all young people, regardless of their circumstances, have something to say and deserve the opportunity to be heard. For this writing project, we picked 10 of our amazing kids and put them to work writing about their favorite meals. Their essays are moving, thoughtful, full of life.
An amazing cadre of photographers is capturing vivid images that give visual dimension to the kids’ essays. These images show our kids in their homes and on the streets of their neighborhoods. They show our kids being funny, warm, delightfully human. These remarkable photos show that our kids are, well, kids!
We also are honored to have written contributions from culinary masters who share their food memories and why food is so important to them, including from José Andrés, Spike Mendelsohn, Robert Egger, and more to come.
Food unites people. You have a favorite food, and so do I. So do all the kids in this book. I hope that this book will be a gathering place for readers and the kids we serve. Counter Culture will be a beautiful, lasting testament to kids who deserve to shine.
Description of the Book
Counter Culture will run to approximately 150 pages in a hardcover coffee-table book. The book will contain 10 kids’ essays, essays from culinary masters, incredible illustrations from Gaia, and gorgeous photographs of our kids in action. We will also publish a limited-edition volume which will serve as an artifact on the shelves of collectors.
Counter Culture is a labor of love, and we want to thank the creative team that is sleeplessly working to bring it to fruition:
- Martha Benyam: Editor-in- Chief & Creative Director, Counter Culture; Executive Producer, Project Video
- Oliver Lukacs: Director & Executive Producer, Project Video
- Gaia: Artist and illustrator
- Josh Cogan, John Healey, Yacouba Tanou, Nicole Wolf, Josh Yospyn: Photographers
- Daoud Emam: Graphic Designer
Design
Here is a partial layout from Tyla's "Warm & Cozy" story. Please note: production is still underway, so this is a work in progress--edits continue.
How Funds Will Be Used
Most of the funds will be spent on production and printing costs: we plan to print beautiful, hardcover books. A majority of the creative professionals we’re working with have donated their time and are working pro bono, which is both a gift we’re grateful for and an indication of how much they value the project. However, we do need to pay for some production and creative services.
FAQ
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on April 29, 2011.
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Access to email updates on progress of full project, and a heartfelt thank you.
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Your name listed on the donors page of the book as “Commis.”
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Your name listed on the donors page of the book as “Commis.” One child’s essay from the book, autographed and illustrated by its author.
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Your name listed on the donors page of the book as “Chef de Partie.” Digital copy of the book + one child’s essay from the book, autographed and illustrated by its author + slice of pizza or hamburger at Spike Mendelsohn’s We the Pizza or Good Stuff Eatery.
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Your name listed on the donors page of the book as “Aboyeur.” Hardcover copy of the book + one child’s essay from the book, autographed and illustrated by its author.
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Your name listed on the donors page of the book as “Aboyeur.” Hardcover copy of the book + one child’s essay from the book, autographed and illustrated by its author + signed 8 X 10 photo print from the book + entrance to book release party.
Pledge $200 or more Pledge $200 or more
Your name listed on the donors page of the book as “Sous Chef.” Signed, limited-edition hardcover copy of the book + one child’s essay from the book, autographed and illustrated by its author + entrance to book release party.
Pledge $500 or more Pledge $500 or more
Your name listed on the donors page of the book as “Sous Chef.” Signed, limited-edition hardcover copy of the book + one child’s essay from the book, autographed and illustrated by its author + entrance to limited-access as well as general book release events.
Pledge $1,000 or more Pledge $1,000 or more
Your name listed on the donors page of the book as “Chef de Cuisine.” Signed, limited-edition hardcover copy of the book + one child’s essay from the book, autographed and illustrated by its author + entrance to limited-access as well as general book release events + recognition at book release party.
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Please contact us directly for more details on sponsorship opportunities.
Project By
Connected
Lifting Voices teaches critical thinking through writing workshops to 200 kids per year. We facilitate 22 workshops per week in under-served communities of Washington, DC, reaching kids through after-school programs, a domestic violence shelter, and a youth court program of the DC Superior Court. Our work has been recognized with a ChangeMaker Award from Ashoka.
My name is Reba Elliott, and I am the executive director of Lifting Voices. I founded Lifting Voices as an answer to a call to service. I spent about 10 years of my life in violence, lived out of my car for a while, spent time as an intravenous drug addict . . . you get the picture. My life had hope because I valued myself and was valued by the people around me.
So I’m telling you about this book because I know there is something good in it.
For more information, please visit our website and watch a mini-documentary about our work:
