Kickstarter

A Communal Art Grant through Food

http://www.feedtheartists.net

We seek to advance a new meme at Burning Man, “Radical Collaboration,” where theme camps work with Feed the Artists to connect with and host artists and their crews for dinner during Burning Man and at other Burning Man Regional events.

Since we began in 2007, we've operated only during set-up week, when artists need the most support. But this year, we're spreading our program out to regional burns and in to burn week! Guided by the principles of Gifting, Immediacy, Civic Responsibility, and Communal Effort, we hope to create an archetype from the simple gift of a nourishing, heartfelt meal to inspire.

Raising these funds is imperative to help cover the costs associated with food and beverage, transportation, refrigeration, infrastructure & logistics. Everything goes toward our ability to make this happen, and we're all volunteers.

As principles and practical obstacles meet, our focus on community is never left off the table:

• The Burning Man community’s existing resources are leveraged to provide support to artists
• Artists and theme camps who are new (or not so new) to Burning Man have opportunities to meet and interact with more experienced burners in a casual, nurturing environment that promotes collaboration and sharing of resources
• Theme camps and their members have an opportunity to really get to know some Burning Man artists and learn the detail, history, and motivations behind the artists’ works
• Community support for Burning Man artists evolves to become more direct and participatory; civic responsibility in a perfect form.

We accomplish this in two ways:

We make the connections BEFORE the playa. We spend countless hours keeping track of artist groups, their numbers, dietary preferences and restrictions. Then we connect them with theme camps that can handle the task and deliver the tasty, tasty goods. We keep in tight contact with all the moving pieces and make sure the artists know where to go for dinner and when, and that their hosts are expecting them.

And, we make connections ON the playa. Once we arrive on the playa, we work hard to ensure that plans haven’t changed, and if they have, unexpectedly, that we can make alternate arrangements for the parties involved. And this year, we hope to build a central meeting place where artists and theme camps can be matched up for meals together during burn week!

This is our raison d’être. This is why we do what we do. And in 2010, we did it beyond anyone’s wildest imagination, organizing 50+ Theme Camps who stepped up and hosted over 1500 artists for dinner before the Opening Fire Ceremony!

And now that we have achieved this goal at Burning Man, we want to spread this concept throughout the world, first through the BM regional network, and then beyond so that eventually, we are facilitating Feed the __________ (fill in the blank, Teachers, Firefighters, Disaster Relief Workers, etc.) collaborations between groups in communities all across the globe and a largely forgotten expression of appreciation and gratitude will have been reintroduced to the world.

We always aim to improve: Not wanting to rest on our laurels, we’re already dreaming about what’s next: mobile food gifting. The idea to expand artist meal service through mobile food gifting came from observations made in 2010. Much as it helps for artists to take a break and go to a hosting theme camp for a meal, some simply can't tear themselves away from their projects and have to remain on-site at their installations. These artists can be best served by having the theme camp bring the meals out to the artists at the installations. We saw some brilliant examples of this last year, and are inspired by the knowledge that many more artists can be fed if they can receive the gift of nourishment on-site.

And with mobile food gifting, we will be able to make sure their desert-battered bodies get the nourishment they need.

So, clearly we are aiming for new heights in 2011, but we need to raise money now to accomplish our mission of Feeding the Artists and creating Community!

www.feedtheartists.net.

Bon Appétit!