In the world of the arts, seeking funding is usually as daunting as seeking the wisdom of one of those gurus rumored to sit atop Himalayan peaks. The process is wrapped up with requirements of particular fonts and page counts, responses to prosaic questions and long-distance divination of the proclivities of judges who may or may not exist.
Artists send off bundles of pages, CDs full of images or music, then await the favor of those rarefied deities whose judgments bestow thousands of dollars or form-letter brush-offs. It’s a disheartening process, and one whose mysteries have created a whole sidecar industry—grantwriting—to aid the befuddled artist in need of cash.
Imagine instead a process in which the grantors are not some mist-obscured pantheon, but are real live human beings, present and ready to talk. Imagine further that those human beings are people from the community who vote, on the spot, for the artists whose work they’d most like to see realized, then hand them the cash with which to complete the project.
If you are an artist, that’s clearly a much less daunting procedure. If you’re merely interested in the arts—and this is as revolutionary as the funding mechanism—it’s a chance to weigh in on what you’d like to see, to take in the sights and smells of real artists and lend them a financial hand. The whole thing, under the rubric F.E.A.S.T, becomes a cool celebration of sorts when you mix in the rogue elements of a guest chef, who concocts a locally sourced dinner, and live entertainment. At the next F.E.A.S.T, the chosen artist(s) returns to report results.
F.E.A.S.T (Funding Emerging Artists through Sustainable Tactics) is an idea that’s already in practice in other places, including Boston, Detroit, Huntington, W.Va., and Jersey City, N.J., among others. Thanks to the efforts of Kevin Devaney, a Sarah Lawrence MFA student in poetry (and former Northamptonite), his Portal Arts Group, and the Valley group Now.For.Art, F.E.A.S.T is arriving in the Valley. The first installment occurs Jan. 22 at The Elevens in Northampton.
Trying to get Northampton involved in the arts may seem like carrying coals to Newcastle, but Devaney puts a finer point on why he believes F.E.A.S.T is a good fit for the Valley. “It’s a hard time right now for artists anywhere,” Devaney says. “Northampton has seen the same cuts in state and local funding of the arts that have been happening all over the country.
“At the same time, private foundations and individuals are more selective about who they are giving their money to. This makes sense for all parties. However, the result is that fewer artists have been getting funded through the government, and the artists and nonprofits who receive money from individuals and grant-makers have had to focus more and more energy on looking competitive to the sources of their funds, and less energy on the actual missions they’re carrying out. Often this results in limitations on the type of work being produced, and in many cases, which artists are even allowed to apply for funding.”
Further, Devaney says, “We really want to push artists to dream up some creative proposals! I would enthusiastically encourage artists to look into the projects that have been funded by other F.E.A.S.T. events around the U.S. to get ideas on what type of projects typically get funded.
“There’s some great stuff out there, between projecting Pong on the side of a building and holding it open for the public to play at night, to bringing recording opportunities into high schools to give students a chance to work with singer-songwriters. It’s easy to access past lists of proposals (great for brainstorming) from these different events through the F.E.A.S.T Nation links on our site [http://valleyfeast.wordpress.com].”
At that site, artists will also find submission guidelines.
A week before F.E.A.S.T, on Jan. 15 at 8 p.m., another Devaney-related project, the Best Damn Poetry Show in Western Massachusetts, occurs at The Elevens, with readers David Winter and Victoria McCoy.
F.E.A.S.T: Jan. 22, 8 p.m., suggested donation $10 or more, The Elevens, 140 Pleasant St., Northampton, (413) 586-9155.