Art vs. Hunger

In the fall of 2004, I approached our city’s largest food bank - Winnipeg Harvest, with an idea.

I had recently attended the National Art Education Association conference in Denver, Colorado where I learned about the art-for-hunger education initiative: Empty Bowls. Before long, Winnipeg Harvest eagerly embraced the concept and 14 years later, the project is stronger than ever. Together with Bruce Michalski, we presented Empty Bowls to over 50 schools those first 5 years. To date, hundreds of schools across our province have participated and over $4 million dollars have been raised to help fight hunger in Winnipeg. Empty Bowls is now Winnipeg Harvest’s largest fundraising event.

The founder of Winnipeg Harvest – Lee Newton, grew the concept even wider to include the: Celebrity Bowl Auction and the Souper Lunch, held annually at the Bell MTS Centre. The Executive Director at the time, David Northcott embraced the project and ensured that Empty Bowls had its rightful place within Winnipeg Harvest for the future.

With Empty Bowls - people create ceramic bowls and learn about hunger education in the process. Once fired, these bowls are auctioned off to members of the community. During the auction, a simple meal of soup is served and the community gathers to learn about hunger education in our own city. Once purchased, the bowl is left empty in the home as a reminder there are many empty bowls in the world.