 Hi, welcome to Portland Media Center, member highlights. I'm Leslie McVane, and my guest today is Alice Spencer from Tempo Arts. Hi. You've got a lot of exciting things coming up right now. We haven't talked for a little while, because you've been preparing all this. And it's a little different from the last things that Tempo Art has done. And maybe let's talk a little bit about what Tempo Art is for people who are watching, who may not quite know. OK. Tempo Art and the logo is Temporary Portland Art. So not everybody gets that, but that's what that stands for. Temporary Public Art is art that comes and goes. It appears in different spots all over the city. We use the city's public spaces, because we have an agreement with the city. They have a review process for our work. It can deal with current issues with ideas. It's not expensive. It doesn't use taxpayer money, which is good. So it's a wonderful form of energy for a city like ours. And you send out a call for art, usually. We do it different ways. We can invite an artist that we want to create a piece. We can have a competition. We can have an RFP that's a general call to the state, to the region, to the nation. To the world. To the world, sure. Just our funds are limited. So if anybody from Japan applied, they'd have a little expense getting their piece here. We try to look for people from close by. And it's absolutely wonderful. I think the worst thing about it, though, is when you take it down. Because we all really get used to seeing it. And it's wonderful how it brings people together and just dialogue begins. And that's a big thing about this upcoming show. Right. And in general, our projects are intrinsically linked with programming, with outreach, with kids' education program. We are mainly in the summer. Our programming is in summer. So we join forces with Mayo Street Arts, the Telling Room, Oak Street Studios. This year, a new children's program called Love Lab Studios. So we always have programming that disseminates the ideas beyond just the piece itself and takes them into the community. And I'll tell you when we get to it what we're doing to further the story we're telling this summer when we get to that point where I'm telling you about our piece. So the piece this summer is premised on the discovery that all of us of Portland, we have a large, robust, wonderful immigrant community here, and none of us know each other. People say that it takes 10 years before you and I actually have a meal with anyone in our community. And so this project this summer addresses that issue. So we're doing two things. We have commissioned Daniel Minter, who's a well-known Portland artist. Up in lights everywhere these days to do a public art piece. And he's doing five very large 10-foot statues or structures. They all have faces that will be brightly colored, be imprinted with images of food from here, from all over the world. A combination of African and Latin American and what people eat around the world. And he'll have a workshop to make those prints and make those images, a public workshop ahead of time. Those images will be applied to the sides of these five pieces. And then he'll take them back to a studio and he'll integrate all of them using his wonderful linear patterning that you probably are familiar with. And then they'll be put where we're partnering with Portland Trails. So the pieces are right at Fox Street and the trails. And it's a center. It's sort of a nexus of activity in town. It's an East Bay side. And there's a soccer court. There's a basketball court. There are breweries. There are art galleries. The immigrant housing is very close by. There's a lot going on down there. And it's a good spot. We always try to find a place that has energy and people passing through. And where different cultures are naturally coming together. Exactly, exactly. So it's a good spot to be installing these pieces. And then partnering with the installation. Oh, the installation is called Mother's Garden. So it's about nurturing and about food that nurtures us. And that's where there are some public gardens down in that area. There is a public garden that's actually going to be, hasn't been created there. But Boyd Street Gardens, right around the corner, which are very active gardens in that community. So the second part of the project is called Welcome Feast. And we will be serving meals to over 200 people in three different dinners, one in June, one in July, and one in August. The groups we will be inviting are half immigrants and half people have been longtime mainers. We are pairing immigrant chefs with restaurant chefs to create fusion meals. I think we have a Colombian chef that will be with, say, Luke's Lobster. We have the Kale's chef who will be with another one. So they will create the menus, and those will be served at the meals. And then what I wanted to tell you is that we're in the fall, we'll gather all the recipes that have been created and put them into a cookbook. Oh, lovely. And in this way, we can continue the project and bring it into people's homes and kitchens. And I'm also hoping that we will have sort of ingredients listed so people will get familiar with going into ethnic grocery stores, which I find a little intimidating myself, because I don't know what things are used for. How do you do this? So it will kind of demystify and make us able to be more sort of find our way in spots like that. Oh, it sounds terrific. And what better way to bring people together than around a table with food? That's how we all eat. And we all are comfortable with our food and our people on that table. We have a young woman, actually, a graduate of Bowdoin, who went on to the Fletcher School of Diplomacy and learned about culinary diplomacy, which is the oldest form of diplomacy, of course. I mean, it's been used through the ages to bring people together. But it's also sort of an art and a science that's used now. And she knows how to do this. She knows how to bring together people and set them across the table from each other and have them connect. I see a major problem with this, however. There are going to be so many people who want to come to those meals. I know. Well, we have a lottery system. Oh, terrific. If they're very successful, I'm sure we'll take a look at doing something beyond what we've done. Maybe an annual meal feast. Do you have dates for these events? I think I'm right in thinking the first one is the 20th of June. The second one is the 17th of July. And I believe the last one is the 18th of August. But we'll have them. We have a site we're putting up for people to sign up for the lottery. And if they go on either our Facebook page or our website, tempoartmain.com, they can find out. Or to sign up. Well, I'm going to go sign up. Oh, good. Thank you so much. You do some of the most exciting things for the community, bringing artists and ideas and dialogue about issues all together and bring it to the whole community. And I thank you so much. Thank you for having me.