The 19th edition of Charlottesville SOUP was held on Friday, February 28 at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. Marie Tatti Aqeel, Hafsa Ramay, Amanda Finn, and Ceejay Renner-Thomas were chosen by a community selection panel made up of Dr. Andrea Douglas, Leslie M. Scott-Jones, and Tobiah Mundt to pitch their creative projects in need of funding. Each artist presenter was guaranteed a $250 honorarium. Learn more about each artist and their project below.
On February 28, after enjoying a delicoius dinner and hearing from the artists, attendees voted to give the $5,365 grant to Ceejay Renner-Thomas, a local artist planning to make glassblowing more accessible with workshops focused around community and creating through his studio, Milk Glass.
This grant was the largest-ever awarded at a Charlottesville SOUP event. Since the first Charlottesville SOUP in 2013, a total of $52,627 has been awarded to 22 artists working on 19 different projects.
SOUP is a community dinner series to create a crowdfunded grant for an artist in the Charlottesville area. At each SOUP, attendees give a $10 donation and in return they receive a meal and a vote. During the meal, artists make short presentations about their creative projects in need of funding. At the end of the meal, each attendee enters a voting booth to cast their vote for which project to fund with the money raised from the meal that night. We’ll award the grant right then and there. Consider SOUP an experiment in civic engagement and a chance to play a role in supporting creativity in our community.
Winter 2025 Charlottesville SOUP
At our event on February 28 join us at the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center to get to know Charlottesville artists, vote on your favorite creative project, and enjoy a delicious dinner featuring soup and salad from Pearl Island, bread from Rocky Hollow Bakery, and dessert from bakernobakery.
Thanks to the generosity of community members, this event's grant will exceed $3,000! All artist presenters are guaranteed a $250 honorarium.
Meet the Presenting Artists
Following a competitive application process, four artists were selected by a committee made up of Dr. Andrea Douglas, Tobiah Mundt, and Leslie Scott-Jones to pitch their creative projects at the February 28 meal:
Marie Tatti Aqeel: A performance artist using her debut album to commemorate her late friend, V, with a live Charlottesville concert event incorporating excerpts from V's forthcoming poetry book.
Hafsa Ramay: An artist exploring and foraging invasive plants in the local landscape to create dyes for a series of interpretive tactile rugs.
Amanda Finn: A video artist creating Little Window, a residency program designed to be a transformative, creative and short-term artist experience.
Ceejay Renner-Thomas: A local artist planning to make glassblowing more accessible with workshops focused around community and creating through his studio, Milk Glass.
Attend
A $10 ticket gets you dinner, dessert, and a vote! Tickets to this event are now sold out. Join the waitlist to be notified if tickets become available. Questions? Email Lindsey.
Thank you
Charlottesville SOUP is a program of New City Arts. The Winter 2025 SOUP dinner is made possible by generous sponsors including the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center, the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation, Hello Comics, Eventide Event Rentals, The Smiths Photography, The Caplin Foundation, Rachel Baker and James Burnett, The AV Company, Nest Realty, WomenAdvancing, and anonymous donors.
