Orlando Soup helps fund creative ideas in Orlando.

Posted on by Thor

Orlando SOUP was modeled after the successful Detroit
SOUP, a micro-granting dinner celebrating and supporting creative
projects in Orlando. For a donation of $10, attendees receive soup (made
by Edible Orlando using fresh, local ingredients), salad and bread.
Before dinner is served, attendees will listen to four short community
project proposals covering a range of topics such as art, urban
agriculture, social justice, social entrepreneurship, education,
technology, and more. During dinner, attendees cast a vote for their
favorite project and, at the end of the night, the project that receives
the most votes is funded by $7 from each attendees’ donation. Winners
appear at future SOUP dinners to report their project’s progress.

I went to the Soup crowd funding event on August 13th 2014at East End Market. (3201 Corrine Dr, Orlando, FL). The walls were still covered with my framed sketches. It was great to see so many people in the community room sharing creative ideas. The room buzzed with excitement. I had been asked to work on a mural to cover the front facade of the Fringe offices in the Ivanhoe Village district. Scottie Campbell set up an online crowd source page to try and raise the money to pay me for the project. About $2000 had been raised for the proposed project, but that was less than half of what was needed. Scottie decided to pitch the idea at the Orlando Soup event to make more people aware of the project and raise more funds. His pitch was eloquent and exciting and it helped that my work was visible on every wall. Oddly, though I was in the room sketching, I was never called up to the mic since Scottie covered every base.

Another presentation this evening was by Cole Nesmith who was raising money for The Creative City Project which featured live performances throughout downtown Orlando by local and international arts groups. Cole wants to pay the artists involved but raising the funds needed is a full time job. I wanted to do life sized interactive portraits on the street as my contribution. Unfortunately I was in Australia when the Creative City Project became a reality, so I didn’t get a chance to experience or sketch any aspect of it.  For this Orlando Soup presentation, Cole made a tactical error when he gave everyone in the room a tiny battery and light. The audience became so involved in trying to get the light to work, that they must have missed Cole’s underlying message that it takes everyone’s involvement to light up Orlando with creativity.

Pat Greene gave a presentation about his Transit Interpretation Project (TrIP) and exhibition. He had photographers ride the new Sun Rail trains to take photos of fellow commuters. He needed funds to help hang the exhibit which was at the Gallery at Avalon Island  (39 South Magnolia Avenue, Orlando, FL). This show happened while I was away as well. Patrick got the most votes to help fund the TrIP Project show.

Mark your calendar. The next Orlando Soup is January 20, 2015 from 6:30pm to 8:30pm at East End Market. (3201 Corrine Dr, Orlando, FL). The community room is upstairs. It is a great way to see what creative projects are brewing in Orlando.

Orlando Soup Highlights Community Projects

Posted on by Thor

On May 13th, the inaugural Orlando Soup event was held at East End Market. Modeled after the successful Detroit SOUP that started four years ago,
is a micro-granting community dinner offering local activists,
entrepreneurs and creatives a platform for networking and an opportunity
to win funding for projects.

For a donation of $7, attendees received soup (made by Slow Food Orlando using fresh, local ingredients), salad and bread. Before dinner was served, everyone listened to four short community project proposals covering a range of community improvement topics such as art, urban agriculture, social justice, social entrepreneurship, education, technology, and more. During dinner, attendees cast a vote by placing a cube of sugar into cups representing the different projects for their favorite project and, at the end of the night, the project that received the most votes was funded by $5 from each attendees’ donation. The winner will appear at the next SOUP dinner to report their project’s progress.

Brendan O’Connor pitched a wacky, fun idea of starting a Pop-up University offering college level courses in a bounce house. The simple idea is that people learn fast when having fun. The courses taught wasn’t yet established but I’d love to teach animation principles in a bounce house.  Ricardo Williams was part of a group called Project Rethink that intends to to place “sustainable graffiti” around Orlando that has environmental awareness messages.  Sustainable graffiti is accomplished by picking a dirty wall and using a stencil to spray wash or clean the message into the grime. Over time the message will disappear was the wall gets dirty again. Another method of creating messages would be moss graffiti. The message would appear where moss was encouraged to grow. I love this idea and hope to get out to sketch artists in action.

I sketched Ashley Erin Pollard as she pitched the idea of creating vending machines that offer art. She is an architect by day and hopes this project will help her become better connected to the Orlando Arts community. The idea isn’t entirely new but I’d love to see it brought to Orlando. Ashley was the presenter right after Brendan. I was inspired by how petite she seemed compared to the huge podium. Ultimately my cube of sugar went into the cup for her project. I am all for bringing more art to Orlando.

Jimmy Sherfey presented the Florida Coffee Symposium. This local
miniature conference will celebrate the culture of coffee producers at
origins across the globe. He is
planning the first Florida Coffee Symposium for September 6, 2014.

The winner at the first-ever Orlando SOUP on May 13, 2014 was Project ReThink, presented by Chris Castro and Clayton Ferrara.  They won $500-800 to help fund their project.  My Ivanhoe district, Fringe mural will be in the line up at the next Orlando Soup, TONIGHT 7-9pm at East End Market (3201 Corrine Dr, Orlando, FL)! The tickets were $10 and the event is SOLD OUT. Hope to see you there as you support creativity, social entrepreneurship, sustainability, and community building.