SOUP, a seasonal public dinner series to support creative projects in Charlottesville, returns on Monday, May 2 at Second Street Gallery (located at 115 2nd St SE, Charlottesville, VA 22902). Doors open at 6:30 PM. At each SOUP dinner, attendees purchase a $10 ticket and in return receive soup, salad, bread, dessert — and a vote.

What: SOUP, a public dinner to provide a micro-grant for a creative project

Where: Second Street Gallery (115 2nd St SE, Charlottesville, VA 22902)

When: Monday, May 2, 2016. Doors at 6:30 PM. Meal starts at 7:00 PM. Applications due Monday, April 4th. Tickets to the meal available at noon on Monday, March 28th.

During the meal, community members make short presentations about their creative projects in need of funding. Attendees participate in a dialogue about the proposals over a nourishing meal with local ingredients in handmade bowls by local artists.

Then, each attendee will enter a voting booth to choose one project to fund with the money raised from the meal that night. We’ll award the grant to the winner of the most votes at the end of the event. Consider SOUP an experiment in civic engagement and a chance to play a role in supporting creativity in our community.

Proposals for the next SOUP are due on Monday, April 4th, 2016. Applicants can seek funding to cover any creative costs, whether it be covering your rent while your band goes on tour, to pay the tuition for a class you want to take, or to pay for framing your work for an exhibit. The only other requirement is that your project is shared with the Charlottesville community in some way.

Visit https://newcityarts.org/vocation/charlottesville-soup/apply for more information.

Each of the five Charlottesville SOUP dinners have sold out in a number of hours, and the most recent dinner sold out in 15 minutes. These five successful Charlottesville SOUP dinners held between January 2013 – May 2015 awarded a total of $7,425 in micro-grants to five local artists including a Charlottesville textile co-op, photographer, string quartet, a theatrical community organizer, and a fashion designer.

Similar efforts to Charlottesville SOUP are taking place around the country. Charlottesville SOUP was inspired by our friend Kate Daughdrill, a former resident of Charlottesville who helped found The Garage and went on to start Detroit SOUP.

A limited number of tickets to the meal will be available online in advance. Tickets to the May 2016 SOUP dinner will be available at https://newcityarts.org/ vocation/charlottesville-soup/attend at noon on Monday, March 28th, 2016.

Charlottesville SOUP is a program of New City Arts and made possible by generous community sponsors: Albemarle Baking Company, A Pimento Catering, Arley Cakes, Champion Brewing Company, City Clay, Feast!, Festive Fare, Fossett’s Restaurant at Keswick Hall, Revolutionary Soup, Second Street Gallery, Tavola, and Ting.

–Elly Roller