Fredericton’s Connexion ARC kicked off the holiday season bringing artists, art critics and art enthusiasts together to enjoy a delicious meal and pitch projects.
The third-annual Art Kitchen was hosted at the Charlotte Street Arts Centre on Oct. 27. The money raised from the event’s ticket prices and donations was given to one lucky and talented project out of the three that were pitched that night.
After hearing each artist present their past work and explain their new project, the audience voted for their favourite.
Eric Hill and Matt Carter and their project, lowercase capital, won the most votes and funding.
“What we’re looking to do is to establish an aesthetic of looking at Fredericton’s alternate spaces, things that maybe get overlooked, and we want to describe them in photography and poetry, and then let other people describe it in the medium that they’re involved in,” said Hill.
Considering Hill and Carter both see themselves as “dabbling artists” they said they were shocked by the win.
“It feels great to present these ideas to a group of what I would consider a lot of practicing artists and to be supported by them. That means a lot. We’re inspired by a lot of people in this city that create on a regular basis,” said Carter.
The two had planned on carrying through with their project regardless of whether they had won, but they said the grant will make this task much easier.
The exact amount of the grant has yet to be determined. Previous grants have been between $500 to $700, said Connexion ARC.
Hill said the money allows them to be more free with how they will present the project, like being able to do large format printing.
Four artists, including Carter and Hill, presented their work in hopes of receiving funding. Nicole Saunders, a 3D felt artist, wants to create interactive dioramas of scenes from books to encourage literacy. Ysabelle Vautour, a visually-impaired painter wants to create a website and festival where disabled artists can display their work and bring awareness to disabilities. Arrow Amor, a wife-husband muralist duo, work with communities to create murals that represent the community.
The organization’s director Kelly Hill said there are many different levels at which you can engage with art and the projects that were presented reflected that.
“The projects that we saw today were kind of unique compared to ones that we’ve seen in past years in that they’ve all really focused on some sort of a community outreach aspect.”
She said the idea for the Arts Kitchen came from a centre in Chicago and went on to be adopted by other groups and centres, including Connexion ARC.
“The idea of this event is to get around that and let people choose what they want to see happen in the community,” said Hill.
