FEAST 06 grant winners

Congrats to The Mass Arrival Project, winners of the FEAST Project Grant, and Humboldt Magnussen, winner of the Student Grant sponsored by XPACE.

Photo from Canadian Art online

About The Mass Arrival Project:

"Mass Arrival is a critical re-enactment of the so-called mass arrival of Tamil migrants in Canada via freighter ships in 2009 and 2010. On the anniversary of one of these arrivals, Mass Arrival collective will interrupt Toronto’s downtown with an open-air ship, docked in a public location, carrying with it, hundreds of white-identified Canadian-subjects.

Engaging hundreds of participants, on-lookers and gallery visitors in this staged arrival, artists Farrah Miranda, Vino Shanmuganathan, Graciela Flores-Mendez and Tings Chak will demonstrate that while some [white] arrivals form the basis national creation stories, others form the basis for fear, hysteria and the tightening of border controls.

Mass Arrival melds street theatre, public spectacle and community organizing, putting art into action. Inspiring political dialogue via Toronto’s arts community, the project uses sustainable tactics to question dominant narratives of citizenship and belonging, and is inspiring and mobilizing a large number of contributors.

Responding to an online survey of over 1,000 Canadians, which “found that 48 per cent of those polled would deport [Tamil] passengers... even if the refugee claims are found to be legitimate and there is no discernible link between the migrant and a terrorist organization” (Fong 2010); we will construct a visual marker to challenge such viewpoints."

Winning $300, here's Magnussen's project proposal:

"The project I will present will be a documentary film in which I will interview queer people on the subject of their voice, paying particular attention to people that have a stereotypically “gay” voice – that is, a voice that others would characterize as belonging to a gay person. I will conduct research and talk to academics that have completed research on the acoustic properties and social perception of “gay” voices. I am interested in queer people's relationship to their voice as an aspect of their identity, whether positive or negative. During this time, I will document myself going to a speech-language pathologist in an effort to have my self-described “gay accent” removed. During the speech therapy process, I will reflect on the process while discussing my own exploration of identity in connection to my voice. I hope the film will celebrate/question queer voices in Toronto."

 

FEAST (Funding Engaging Actions with Sustainable Tactics) Toronto is a series of community dinners and micro-funding events. During each dinner, artists, designers and groups are invited to present proposals for art- or design-based projects. Everyone attending the dinner votes on which project they would like to fund, and the project with the most votes is given a grant from the money raised from the ticket sales. The grant winner(s) will be invited back to the next FEAST to present their completed project
.
We are looking for proposals for the next FEAST, edition 06, taking place on Sunday, July 28, 2012 at Xpace Cultural Centre, 303 Lansdowne Avenue, Toronto.

FEAST 06 proposals should include:
A Project Summary (1), and the answers to the following questions:
(2) How will you use funding to realize your project?
(3) Why is this project critical to the FEAST community (e.g. why would the FEAST community be interested in supporting your project)?
(4) The names and contact information for all of your presenters

IMPORTANT! You must be able to attend the FEAST event on July 28^th in order to apply.  Project presentations are given in-person by the presenters to the gathered guests over dinner, and then everyone gets to vote on which project they would like to fund.  The money raised from the dinner (estimated at $700+) will go to fund the project with the most votes.  We will also have a separate student grant of $300 donated by Xpace Cultural Centre.

Each section of the proposal (1-4) should be no longer than 100 words.  Remember these will be short presentations, so keep it brief and to the point!  In order to be considered for FEAST funding, you must be able to attend the event. Tickets for this locally- sourced, vegetarian dinner will be $20-30, and $10 for students.

+ Proposals are due by Monday July 8^th, 2013.
+ Email your complete proposals to info@feast-toronto.com with the subject line: FEAST 06 Submission. Please indicate clearly on your proposal if you are applying for the student grant.
FEAST Toronto was founded by Amber Landgraff, Deborah Wang, and Lisa Myers. This event is volunteer-run and co-presented by Xpace Cultural Centre. See www.feast-toronto.com for details, photos and sponsors of previous FEAST events. If you would like to support feast with a donation of any amount, please contact us at info@feast-toronto.com.