CREATE: The Community Meal

PROJECT OVERVIEW
CREATE: The Community Meal, from Public Art Saint Paul by Seitu Jones, aimed to lower barriers to making healthy food choices. On September 14, 2014, 2,000 people gathered at 1/2 mile long table in the middle of Saint Paul's Victoria Street for a civic dinner table conversation about Food Access, Food Justice, and Healthy Eating. This socially engaged public artwork was led by artist and Frogtown resident Seitu Jones, in collaboration with a cohort of artists that included paper maker Mary Hark, Ananya Dance Theatre, visual artists Cliff Garten, Emily Stover and Asa Hoyt, poets G. E. Patterson and Soyini Guyton, and spoken word artists led by Tou Seiko Lee and Deeq Abdi. As Seitu noted, all 2000 diners were artistic collaborators as they engaged in an artistic ritual of a meal, spoke words of grace and closing, and shared food stories of the world cultures that comprise our community.