Empowering the Community: Art Gumbo interview with Paula Neuhaus and Megan Starr

“It was Megan’s birth child, and I got shanghaied,” said Paula Neuhaus about Art Gumbo Dubuque, an innovative grassroots art fundraising project that she co-founded with Megan Starr. One year ago, Art Gumbo sprang to life at Voices from the Warehouse Gallery, and on Thursday September 29th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., the event will return to Voices for its first birthday celebration.

Grassroots art fundraising

The idea took shape after Megan heard an NPR story about St. Louis’ Sloup, a meal-based fundraiser where people pay $10 to vote on local art projects. She learned that under the unofficial umbrella of the Sunday Soup Network, similar initiatives are sprinkled across the country. “Each dinner is totally autonomous and can do it separately and how they want to,” explained Megan.

The concept of community-driven grassroots fundraising was attractive to both women. “We’re non-profit warriors. That’s what we do for a living,” said Paula. Compared to the complexity and bureaucracy of non-profit grant writing and fundraising, “How freeing to have the opportunity for an alternative funding source.”

“We can do this,” Megan recalled thinking at the time. “We don’t have to be a non-profit. We can give away money at the end of the night and not ask for permission to do so.  It was refreshing. Everybody brings 5 bucks, or 10 bucks, we get our friends to make soup, and we make a night of it.” They were also motivated by their frustrations with bar-based nightlife. “It was an opportunity to create another social space in Dubuque, outside of the bars.”

Empowering the community to support art

The Art Gumbo vision is simple: “What I really want to see is people sitting down at a place setting, sitting at tables and discussing a project, eating and talking to each other and having it be a little more intimate,” said Megan. And rustic simplicity carries advantages: “Not having a board, really only having to answer to ourselves and the community.”

The broader goal of Art Gumbo Dubuque is to empower the community. “As Dubuque is moving toward this explosion of destination in the Midwest, those of us who choose to attend that dinner can make the choice what comes next,” said Paula. “As a consumer, your money is power. When you’re coming in with your money to that soup dinner, you’re getting to choose what’s going to enhance our art community next. Which comes next? Which awesome idea? We get to choose which one gets funded.”

The collaborative nature of the project transforms ordinary people into art patrons. “I don’t have $500 to walk into an art gallery and invest in a painting, but I do have $10 to say, ‘I can help this person make this painting.’ So to me it’s a cool idea of community empowerment.”

“I consider myself a non-artist,” admitted Megan, “but I’ve always been very socially invested in the community art world, so it’s an opportunity for reciprocity between patrons and artists or creatives.” For $10, dinner attendees “get to be part of this cool project,” with one vote to cast for the proposal of their choice.

Winning proposals

The September 29th dinner at Voices from the Warehouse will be the fifth meeting of this quarterly event. Thanks to the first ever Art Gumbo Dubuque, prize winner Gene Tully, director of this year’s Voices Gallery, rented the equipment to hoist his metalwork sculpture of Warehouse Grotesques to the roof of his studio.  The four raptor-like birds rise over Dubuque’s Historic Millwork District on East 9th Street, guardians against the four vices of hate, greed, violence, and addiction.

“It was great that Gene Tully won the first Gumbo since the piece is so public,” said Megan. “The 50 or so people who were there that night funded the cranes to put it up.”

“It’s a public, flagship piece,” agreed Paula. “The power of that being there in 5 years when the Millwork District is a thriving cultural district… that’ll still be there.”

At the second Art Gumbo Dubuque, the winning concept was a then-and-now photography project by Tim Olson. He proposed to revisit the same Dubuque locations that had been visited by an unknown photographer in 1912. Using the same angles, he would re-create the same images through a lens 100 years distant.

The following quarter, Tim presented a slide show of his work to date. “That’s part of that very loose responsibility,” said Paula. “The patrons are holding artists responsible. There’s no official final report, but what we ask the winners is to provide volunteer support at a subsequent event.”

In the third installment of Art Gumbo, the winning proposal was The Great Draw, a sidewalk chalk art competition held  this fall on September 17th at Dubuque’s Cable Car Square. Its mission was to seed a scholarship for a local graduating high school senior. “I really liked their project,” said Megan, “because it was in the spirit of Art Gumbo. They did the pay-it-forward thing. They took that money and grew it again.”

Explosive growth

Since the beginning of Art Gumbo Dubuque, the grassroots funding project has grown and changed. “At the original Art Gumbo, the first one we did, my goal was to get 30 people in the room, or 30 voters. Our first two Art Gumbos were in the $500 range, and then it doubled.”

“It exploded,” clarified Paula.

“It started feeling too big. It felt like the prize money was too big. And we want to keep it approachable and small enough that people feel like ‘Yeah, a couple hundred bucks to help me get my project going.’” So the two founders decided to put a cap on the winnings. At the September incarnation of the event, the creative group with the winning proposal will be awarded a maximum of $750, with any extra funds being rolled over to the runner(s) up.

The founders are steering Art Gumbo back toward its rustic roots, hoping that dinner attendees will “sit together and break bread, have soup, and discuss what’s in front of them… really explore art and choose together what the community might want. We never want it to be a popularity contest where you’re buying votes.”

Even those who don’t win funding for their proposals can benefit by competing at Art Gumbo. “If you don’t win, you still have the opportunity to get your face, your name, and your project in front of art investors in the community, and many are heavy hitters,” said Paula. She recalled one proposal from a previous Art Gumbo that did not win, but which found private funding from one of the art patrons at that night’s dinner. “That’s what we were hoping for. Get ‘em in a room, shake it up, and talk about it.”

The successful runway hair show, Emergence of Spirit, presented at Voices Gallery on September 18th, was initially conceptualized by organizer and stylist Michele Chillook for the summer Art Gumbo, but failed to receive funding. Chillook took the idea and ran with it anyway, gathering volunteer support and giving Art Gumbo credit for inspiring her live art event.

Down to the last minute

As of one week before the event, this quarter’s Art Gumbo had received five eligible applicants. “It’s typical that we will get them in the last twelve to two hours,” admitted Paula. Is it the nature of the artistic temperament to wait until the last minute? Those five applicants will compete for funding on Thursday September 29th at Voices Gallery.

At alternate incarnations of Art Gumbo Dubuque, the competition is open to proposals by organizations or groups. For example, if a musician, a sound engineer, and a designer were to come up with an idea where the musician will play music, the sound engineer will record it, and the designer will create an album cover, that’s a collaborative project. “So it could be a non-profit group, like a theatre group. Anyone who wants to collaborate. It doesn’t have to be ‘artists’ — it can be creative ideas.”

What about a collaborative painting group like Minneapolis-based Rogue Citizen, who showcased their live art at the Voices Gallery opening reception? Although it’s possible that an outside group could win funding if the application shows that the project will benefit the local community, eligibility is limited to Dubuquers. “The key is, impacting the Dubuque community.” Non-eligible applicants will not be allowed to compete.

Artist responsibility

What obligation do winners have toward Art Gumbo? “We’re asking artists to acknowledge us like they would any other granting body,” said Paula. For instance,  Dubuque artist Katie Duffy, winner of the summer Art Gumbo grant for her Voices installation proposal, is scheduled to present an informal follow-up report at this quarter’s event.

“Because we’re in the same venue that her installation is in, she has the best opportunity to offer a gallery talk,” said Paula. “I think Katie has already shown the Dubuque community that she is a valuable, self-motivated creative who’s going to continue to give energy and work back to the community.” As part of her responsibility as a winning artist, Katie must also provide volunteer help at the dinner.

As the co-founders evaluate what works and what needs improvement, the Art Gumbo application process has evolved from its beginning concepts. For this season’s Voices event, some rules have changed. For instance, proposals are limited in number so that the attendees aren’t overwhelmed by reading, and the verbal portion of the evening will receive more emphasis.

In the past, applicants were limited to a written presentation only, in order to create a level playing field. “We didn’t want a cult of personality, looking more glossy to give you a leg up,” said Megan. “So, it was simply, how can you shed light on your project with words?”

Now, in addition to the written proposal, competitors have an opportunity for a more extended verbal presentation as they compete for a mini-grant of up to $750. “It’s going to allow a verbal pitch where you can get up there, like a poetry slam, and slam your project. You can pitch it and persuade your audience through your speech, through your pitch. It’s not just paper.”

Delicious food

What’s on the menu for Art Gumbo? “It should be good, and I might make bread,” said Megan. The meal itself will be a collaborative project, with the financial burden shared between many people to make it affordable for all, as in “We need three people to buy kale, we need four people to buy potatoes….”

A delicious vegetarian soup will be created using locally-grown foods by the non-profit organization Green Dubuque which works to protect the ecosystem by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting smarter development.

A few local growers will donate their produce for the event, and other ingredients will be purchased at the Dubuque farmers’ market. Soup cookery will happen at the commercial kitchen in the Dubuque Rescue Mission, and then the soup will be transported to Voices at 10th and Jackson for a rustic meal in the Warehouse Gallery.

Happy Birthday, Art Gumbo Dubuque!

When asked about how they feel about the first anniversary of their innovative grassroots funding idea, both women were optimistic. “This will be the fifth, and it’s certainly not the final,” said Paula. “It’s important that we’re turning one, but to me, what’s most important is the work that we’ve achieved in one year.”

The upcoming event will result in the fifth Dubuque-oriented art proposal to shine under the Art Gumbo spotlight. “The response to this on a local level has tripled. It’s starting to be more visible than ever, and that’s exciting.”

And it’s all connected to the community-oriented goals of Voices which provides a unique annual venue for outstanding local artists. “To me, the marriage of Voices and Art Gumbo is innate, and it’s not just because of the power of that room or the power of that project, or our attachment to working on that project. Voices has turned the table in Dubuque for how people approach art.”

“I’m glad that we’re going to be able to keep it going,” agreed Megan. “It’s exciting to be able to return to Voices, back where we started, for our one-year anniversary.” Continuing longevity of this project depends on the help and support of other people in the community.

“I think, as with anything that’s volunteer-driven, the more people that are owning it, sharing the ownership of it, as a collective, it’s always more powerful than one or two individuals driving the bus.” To make the upcoming Art Gumbo a success, people with a desire to eat a delicious meal while supporting the arts must attend the dinner to cast their vote. Get involved!

For complete information about Art Gumbo Dubuque, including rules and the application process, visit artgumbodubuque.blogspot.com

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