W

-Megan & Paula

elcome to ART GUMBO, an alternative way to

invest in your arts community. In these pages you will find the next wave of innovative ideas from local creatives who plan to impact Dubuque through their work. YOU will cast your vote to help decide who should win the funding collected at the door tonight. Two winning projects will split the proceeds in a 70/30 fashion. We invite you to grab some soup, read the proposals, chat with your neighbors, engage in a brief Q&A, and then cast your VOTE. Now, lets go fund some ART.

DECEMBER 2012

 GAIL CHAVENELLE Haiku and Sculpture in an Original Social Media Arts Book Project summary describe the specific project you would like to accomplish with these funds. Include collaborators, medium (s), and what you intend to accomplish. (200 words max) How it works: I will create and print a 20-page book of my sculpture images and Dubuque haiku. Using the free access of Facebook, I will invite all members of the Art Gumbo group, Chavenelle Studio Metalworks likers, and friends to participate! Each person can go to my Facebook page to review an album of sculptural photos that I have posted for inspiration. Choose a photo and leave your haiku as a comment! OR leave your original haiku to inspire a new sculptural masterpiece. I will choose three and respond in sculpture. How does a Haiku get chosen for the book? This is on FACEBOOK, so just as with any comment, click LIKE. The haiku with the most likes will be included. Ask your friends to like your haiku! I volunteer to coordinate this project, events, and posts. Funds will support book layout time, printing and sculpture materials. One hard cover copy will be printed for the Public Library. Each selected haiku contributor will receive a copy of the Arts book. Copies will be available for purchase. Profits support Art Gumbo. I want to give each submitting writer an honorarium. I will engage Kate Lydon, Social Sense, Facebook Expert to assure smooth operation. How will your project impact the Dubuque community? (100 words max) Writing is the least visible and supported art form within the Dubuque Community (per private and city funded project grants). My book will feature Dubuque poets. Like Voices From The Warehouse, which has made Dubuque a physical Art Stop, my project will make Dubuque an online Art destination! Writers in our community need support. Besides a physical book, I could create a PDF available for download. I can share a series of events and daily postings in April to celebrate National Poetry Month. A reading and reception at the library or Nash Gallery would give added impact to Dubuque citizens. If awarded, how will you present your accomplishments at the next ART GUMBO in 3 months? (60 words) I will hold a short reading, photo and sculpture exhibit during the meeting. Attendees would be invited to the April Poetry Month activities culminating the project. If possible, books would be available for order-profits supporting Art Gumbo.

 If awarded, how will you use funding towards the realization of your project? Please include details of how the grant will be used. (100 words) The level of funding awarded will determine the production level of project. High Funding: Hard cover copy to Library Selected haiku contributors given a book Honorarium- all submissions Kate Lydon, Social Sense engaged Original book layout and design funded Sculpture materials Book PDF download version April- Reading/ Reception costs Medium Funding: Soft cover book for Library Contributor books- at cost No honorarium Single Review - Social Sense Template Book Layout Model Sculpture only Book- PDF version Reading with no refreshments Low Funding: An online project only no print book Screen captures of pics and haiku in PDF Series of Facebook posts during April Reading at Art Gumbo One sculpture model

 CAROLYN SCHERF Driftless Driftless Project summary describe the specific project you would like to accomplish with these funds. Include collaborators, medium (s), and what you intend to accomplish. (200 words max) The Driftless Region is a 24,000 square mile area located in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Eastern Iowa not glaciated during the last Ice Age. Its hills and winding waterways provide unique geographical and agricultural resources. Home to one of the largest concentrations of organic and Community Supported Agriculture farms in the country, which often exist immediately adjacent to conventional agricultural operations. Few realize the extent of the pollutant-use by conventional operations better than the farmers unwittingly Drifted by them. Drift refers to the exposure to chemicals either accidentally sprayed, or carried off-target to neighboring crops, homes, and persons by the wind. My project is to make an audio tour of the Driftless Region guided by the voices of sustainable farmers who have been drifted. I propose to interview the farmers who have transitioned from chemical to organic systems, or voluntarily moved away from using genetically modified seed and their accompanying chemical inputs. I will capture the frustrations, fears, and hope in this region at this point in history and allow these voices to be heard and interpreted in a public context. The completed project: Website with photographs + audio stories Voice + environmental sound Free + Downloadable

My hope: These recordings provide subjective material, to humanize the informationdriven campaigns of activist groups like the Pesticide Action Network and Food and Water Watch. How will your project impact the Dubuque community? (100 words) As Dubuque builds its local food system, the Driftless Driftless project will serve to bring an increasing awareness to one of the issues that effects the availability of organic, local food, and in turn, empower individuals to think and speak out about the modification of their environment. My hope is to broaden the definition of community, to consider Dubuque as part of a larger system: The Driftless. If awarded, how will you present your accomplishments at the next ART GUMBO in 3 months? (60 words) Within the next three months, I will have a basic web design created, URL established, and some initial recordings archived on the website. The domain name will tentatively be driftlessdriftless.com

 If awarded, how will you use funding towards the realization of your project? Please include details of how the grant will be used. (100 words) I will use Gumbo Grant funds to buy a Zoom recorder, which will allow me to obtain quality audio recordings. If there are remaining funds after that, I will make simple promotional materials, such as flyers to be distributed to activist groups, citizens, and policy makers.

 PAUL OPPERMAN Art on the Foot- Handmade shoes and boots from around the United States Project summary describe the specific project you would like to accomplish with these funds. Include collaborators, medium (s), and what you intend to accomplish. (200 words max) Host an art show featuring handmade shoes and boots. The show will consist of an opening night boot display and slide show of the shoemakers constructing the boots in the show. The following afternoon will be a short talk on the process of making handmade boots with time for questions and answers with the artists. Ideally the show will have 10 artists with 2 to 4 pairs of shoes/boots each. Currently I have 4 artists signed up and am in contact with several others. All artists in the show will be 1 person business where the artist designs and makes the shoes by hand. There will be a range of styles represented from funky casual to high-heeled sculptural shoes to western boots. Location for the show will be either the Nash Gallery or the Dubuque Museum of Art. Doing this show will help to establish an example for pulling fashion and art together. By producing this show and documenting it well, it will travel to other cities and help start more discussion of the blurred line between fine craft and art. There is already interest from a gallery in Holyoke, Mass. to host the show in the early fall. How will your project impact the Dubuque community? (100 words max) All fashion shows Ive seen in Dubuque feature retail clothing made elsewhere or locally made costumes intended to make an artistic statement. This show would give our community to see high-end, handcrafted footwear, learn about the shoemaking process, and interact with the artist craftsmen directly. If awarded, how will you present your accomplishments at the next ART GUMBO in 3 months? (60 words) Give an update with the exhibiting artists and promotional poster. Have a display with pictures of the boots by the artists. If awarded, how will you use funding towards the realization of your project? Please include details of how the grant will be used. (100 words) Funding will help cover promotional material like posters and post cards and ideally have some left to help defer the cost of the opening.

 JAY JUBECK Jubeck World Brewing Co. Project summary describe the specific project you would like to accomplish with these funds. Include collaborators, medium (s), and what you intend to accomplish. (200 words max) Jubeck New World Brewing Co. plans to open a small Community Supported Brewery (CSB) in Dubuque, Iowa in 2013. Operating with a CSB model, similar to CSA farms, members would receive weekly growler fills or pints at the tap room. Jubeck Brewing plans to utilize a Kickstarter campaign as a membership drive and to raise funds for startup costs. To help prepare for startup, Jubeck Brewing plans to use ART GUMBO funds to purchase a brew kettle, which would be used in the future brewery, and will be used immediately in recipe-test batches. I have been home brewing for 5 years, but so far only on a very small scale (5 gallons/batch). With a 55-gallon brew kettle, I can begin to learn and test my recipes on the production scale that the CSB would require. This grant would allow Jubeck Brewing to get a head start on producing great craft beer while we work to secure additional funds to get up and running on a commercial scale. How will your project impact the Dubuque community? (100 words max) One of the most exciting aspects of the CSB concept is creating a community through establishing a brewery. For us, beer is more than just a product to be consumed. Its a catalyst for deeper connections between members of our community. With our CSB model, well be open only one night each week for our members to stop by and pick up their growler, and perhaps have a pint or two. This environment will immediately create a community of members who see each other and socialize every week ... a place that they can feel is their own! If awarded, how will you present your accomplishments at the next ART GUMBO in 3 months? (60 words) In three months, we plan to have tested many new recipes, and launched and completed our Kickstarter campaign. After a successful Kickstarter fund raising campaign, well have the resources necessary to purchase additional brewing equipment, do complete build out of a facility, and apply for the necessary brewing licenses. We would present our accomplishments through a slideshow highlighting the steps of the startup process. If awarded, how will you use funding towards the realization of your project? Please include details of how the grant will be used. (100 words) As stated before, the AG funds will be used to purchase a brew kettle. This piece of equipment is the heart of the brew house. Not only could we use the brew kettle right away to test recipes in conjunction with other home-brewing equipment; well be able to use this same kettle for commercial operation once we have the rest of the equipment required to produce beer at a commercially viable scale.

 RYAN DECKER Commedia dellArte Mask Set Project summary describe the specific project you would like to accomplish with these funds. Include collaborators, medium (s), and what you intend to accomplish. (200 words max) The Italian Commedia dellArte was a 16th century form of masked theatre, the ancestor responsible for modern day improv and sketch performances. The characters 14 characters (13 masked) represented fixed social-types, or stock characters, including the dispossessed immigrant worker (Zanni), the un-swaggering military officer (Capitano), and the roles I studied as the prince of numskulls (Arlechinno). Each with his/her own iconic prop, walk, and physical buffoonery (lazzi). Professional actors and actresses (comici) of the traveling Commedia troupe spent nearly their entire careers perfecting their specific mask and stock character role. The Commedia dellArte, or comedy of craft is just as funny and impressive today as it was in 16th century Italy if you get the chance to see it. This project is to create a complete set of Commedia dellarte stock character masks. My goal is to then use these masks in performance (and actor style training) and for them to accompany educational workshops, presentations, or exhibits. As an actor (and mild theatre historian), I will be teaming-up with local artist Jon Little to learn how to and these create masks. How will your project impact the Dubuque community? (100 words max) I would like to utilize these masks in educational workshops and performances. The masks would have a built-in historical context in addition to artistic and production value. They could be utilized by area colleges and high school theatre productions, or displayed in art or history exhibits. In my work as a freelance teaching artist having worked with the Iowa Thespians Society, Sturgis Youth Theatre, and Great Midwestern Educational Theatre Co. (Frogwarts Camp) I would love to use these mask in teaching young people about characterization, acting styles, history, as well as human capacity. Mask work have a wonderful, intrinsic value when it comes to releasing un-useful inhibitors, realizing potential, and promoting the urgency of life. Eventually, I would also like to use these produce a Commedia dellArte version of Hamlet with Dubuques found-space theatre, Trainwreck Productions. The goal of such a production would be to present a unique take on the Shakespeare piece which helps the audience to see the humor. It would also aim to excite an audience about classical language, speaking, and storytelling. If possible, it would make a statement about societys distance to tragedy, even when its right in front of us.

 If awarded, how will you present your accomplishments at the next ART GUMBO in 3 months? (60 words) I will be able to display the finished to-date masks with pictures of the process on research on specific characters. Also, if desired, I would be able to perform a brief, authentic Commedia dellArte sketch. If awarded, how will you use funding towards the realization of your project? Please include details of how the grant will be used. (100 words) All funding for this project would be used for the creation of the mask set (ideally, at least 13). Right now, the plan is to create masks with plaster, paint, and cords as I work with Jon. If possible, leather could possibly replace the plaster for a more historically authentic work. While it is not anticipated that funding will surpass the expense of a complete set, hypothetical surplus funding could then create the stock characters individual properties.