Organized by the Tarble Arts Center and Coles County Arts Council, SOUPRIZE is an annual soup dinner that crowdfunds microgrants for arts and community initiatives in Coles County.
Attendees pay $10 (cash only) at the door for a bowl of soup and a ballot to vote on 5-minute proposals given by those seeking funds for initiatives that support art, creativity, and community. Votes are tallied and one winner takes the proceeds of each event to fund their creative idea.
Got an idea? SUBMIT A PROPOSAL! Email a one-page pdf proposal no longer than 250 words for your creative or community-oriented project to colescountysouprize@gmail.com with the subject line PROPOSAL by May 1, 2024.
Your project must have an outcome or presence in Coles County, though you do not have to reside in Coles County to pitch a project. If you have questions about proposing a project, email them to colescountysouprize@gmail.com with the subject line: QUESTION.
Five projects will be chosen to compete for the SOUPRIZE on Saturday, May 18. If your project is chosen, you will prepare and present a presentation that is 5 minutes or less and pitch it to the soup-slurping crowd. All those who purchased a ticket at the door will vote on their favorite project, ballots will be counted, and the winner takes the pot.
SOUPRIZE is inspired by Sunday Soup and SLOUP—two soup-based, art-loving, micro-granting initiatives in Chicago and St. Louis, respectively. Sunday Soup was a community fundraising meal project initiated by InCUBATE (Abigail Satinsky, Bryce Dwyer, Roman Petruniak, and Matt Joynt) and others in the Chicago art community. It was in operation from 2007–2010 as a grassroots project to generate funds for artist initiatives and community projects through a grant raised by the meal. It inspired over 60 chapters across the world, all doing their own variations of the soup model. One such model was SLOUP in St. Louis, which was active from 2010–2015 and became active again since 2020.
