Project #20: BLUEPRINTstl

Nat Zorach plans to make "cool things happen in abandoned buildings. Think of it as a hybrid of a collaborative arts project, a community engagement exercise, and a marketing campaign for vacant and city-owned real estate. Architectural charette mixed with real estate venture mixed with dance party. It is about using abandoned buildings as a forum for dialogue and cultural engagement. And figuring out how to renovate those buildings.

BLUEPRINTstl develops a figurative road map as well as physical, architectural drawings to essentially market underappreciated buildings and show how dope they could be with a little love. We are not a real estate developer but we aim to encourage development.

We have the blessing of the SLDC and the LRA, whom we met with earlier this year about this (after the Open/Closed vacant property summit) and who own about 3,000 buildings and think it would be really cool to get some of them moving. Plus those folks, there are thousands more privately owned homes with owners waiting for the right moment to do something cool with the spaces. We’ve got the organizational/building part of it, now we just need some creative minds who want some serious license. Who’s in?

WHO: Me and a couple of architect-designer-carpenter-artist-musician-St. Louis enthusiast friends. Any and all residents who want to join in. Oh, and you. Hit me up.

WHAT THE MONEY WILL BE USED FOR: A small marketing and events programming budget, starting with our kickoff event, hosted in a semi-finished space to assemble some preliminary ideas about the project. We want to inspire and to be inspired, engaging new ideas and energy from community members and creative minds. This is about integrating integrating individual creative product with a collaborative, community endeavor. Our first event will outline some specific goals and sketch out some potential first projects, and the building arts part of the project will detail some renovation plans being worked on by our collaborators."

To get in touch with Nat with questions or thoughts about his project, you can email him at nathaniel.zorach@gmail.com. Also, please check out our proposal archive to see who else proposed this month and feel free to send ideas and energy their way too! (The archive suffers from a huge-ish gap, which we plan to remedy soon soon.)

This was our smallest Sloup ever!! 10 folks, 100 dollars. After recalibrating, we could feel the hugeness of 10. And it felt cozy to hang out with John Perkins in a gorgeous space (Thanks CAM!) while eating many bowls of the smoothest most warmingest tomato soup imaginable. We like making the most $$$ we can for the brave folks who propose, but we also like learning from the unique character of each event. And since we're starting to strategize for making Sloup in 2012 stronger and stranger, shoot your ideas to sloup2122@gmail.com. We're also going to be putting out a big time call for collaboration in the next month or so, please keep checking back.

NEXT SLOUPS (mark yr calendars plzzz, these soups will be steamy):
October 30: Halloween Sloup at Fort Gondo Compound for the Arts (wanna make the soup?)
November 27: Caravan to Moonlight Farm in Arnold, MO for a Farm Sloup (pear cider!)

RIGHT NOW.

Sloup number twenty is going to happen at the Contemporary this afternoon. This very two o'clock. It is so so sunny on their patio, and the little silver chairs and tables are positioned for maximum sun on your sweet soft face. John Perkins just whipped the richest butter into the last tomato soup of summer. He'll drive it over here in a few minutes. I bet his windows will be rolled down. There are three artist's proposals in a cozy packet for you to read and love, and they are all so well written. They are all such charmers. We are all so charmed. So charmed we're a little sleepy. Come on over. It's nice out.

Project #19 Bus Songs

Barron Johnson and Paul Fehler will use this month's Sloup Grant "for the school year of 2011/2012, we want to record kids rapping on buses. We want to hear what they say, record it, and preserve it for posterity. We think that this is an important step in safeguarding our culture, and that without efforts like these our identity as “St. Louisans” will be increasingly threatened. We believe that it’s imperative that steps be taken to prevent our city, as we know and experience it now, from being imperfectly understood by future generations."

Congratulations guys!

Well - thank you Eric & Maggie from Firecracker for hosting us this month. Totally great energy and a lot of new folks this time.

We had two delicious soups (a frijoles charro soup and a secret sopa vegetales) this month from Carniceria Latino Americana - maybe if we ask really nicely, they will put those soups on their menu....hmmmmm?

So. Next month we'll be back at the Contemporary for Sloup #20 - we'll have to drum up some fun for CAM for sure.
And- what's new with you? We wanna know - Drop us a line sloup2122@gmail.com

Stay tuned for more for September and up-coming fall Sloups!

Update: Sloup #19

For those of you who thought it was too late to submit a proposal this month - now you can!
Sloup is taking proposals until midnight tonight - hit 'Send' on that email kids. See you tomorrow - gonna be great - it's all coming together Sloup Style.

Sloup #19 Firecracker Press

Hey Hey Sloupers - Sloup #19 will be hosted this month by Firecracker Press 2838 Cherokee Street
Saint Louis, MO 63118. Our (two!) soups will be provided by Carniceria Latino Americana.

Regular Sloup time this month 6-8 pm - we're bringing the cornbread - you're bringing your wonderful selves and friends - and friends of friends of course.

$10 will get you soup and a vote.

Project #18 Los Caminos

Why do we [Los Caminos] need a Sloup grant?
"For the past nine months Los Caminos has presented a diverse array of exhibitions featuring local and national artists. Because Los Caminos is neither a commercial gallery nor a 501(c)3 non-profit, we do not have the capabilities of generating income like other art spaces. While these factors inhibit us financially, they also give us complete freedom to allow artists to experiment. The space has been self-funded by Co-Directors Cole Root and Francesca Wilmott. With our first year coming to a close we are now faced with the expenses of continuing our ambitious programming through the summer and into the fall.
Sloup funds would be used for a variety of purposes in addition to general
operating expenses: installation and equipment costs for our upcoming summer and fall programming (this involves preparing the space for video installations), annual fees such as our domain renewal for our website which helps showcase the St. Louis art community on a global level, and shipping for our upcoming group exhibition which features artists from St. Louis, New York, and Chicago."

Congratulations Los Caminos - the sizable grant of $940 goes to you!
Very exciting - almost overwhelming Sloupers - this last Sloup at the Contemporary Art Museum St Louis was awesome! Thank you Alex Elmestad for hosting us and thank you Clara/Local Harvest for the delicious summer soup. So good to see so many new faces! Please come back next month at Firecracker Press for Sloup #19! Stay Tuned for more details about August and beyond!