Dancers, musicians, a female impersonator, sewing machines and an abandoned warehouse all play a role in a local fundraiser this weekend.
"Abandoned Arts" is a performance, dance party and fundraiser presented by the Pop-up Project and SoundCorps to benefit both local nonprofit arts organizations as they strive to benefit local artists.
If you go
› What: Pop-up Project and SoundCorps present “Abandoned Arts,” a fundraiser to benefit local performing artists.› When: 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 12.› Where: Warehouse at 1612 Cowart St.› Admission: $10.
"Abandoned Arts" is a performance, dance party and fundraiser presented by the Pop-up Project and SoundCorps to benefit both local nonprofit arts organizations as they strive to benefit local artists.Key missions for both groups are to give local artists more opportunities to showcase their talents and to get paid for doing so. They will compensate all the artists involved in Saturday's event, which takes place inside an abandoned warehouse on Cowart Street.
"It's going to be really fun," says Pop-up Project co-founder Jules Downum. "We have nine dancers coming in from all over the country. We have local musicians. We have a host who is a wonderful drag queen locally. It's going to be an amazing, fun, awesome night that includes performances, visual arts and a dance party.
Admission is $10. The event will also raise money through a silent auction, raffle and general donations.
For Downum and Stratton Tingle, executive director of SoundCorps, the goal is to pay artists a fair wage for their talents.
Downum says more people don't financially support professional artists because they haven't been exposed to them. She says usually people only come to dance shows when someone they know is performing, but the situation is starting to change. And Pop-up Project and SoundCorps are change agents.
By hosting performances in places like abandoned warehouses instead of a theater or other performance hall, filming the shows and posting the shows online, more people are being exposed to the performing arts. Having a show in a theater may draw 200 people, but posting a show online can get about 10,000 viewers, says Downum.
"We're trying to expose the community more and more and make it as accessible as possible," she says.
The fundraiser, billed as an anti-gala, will kick off with cocktails and desserts, followed by a performance at 8 p.m. The dance piece features an original composition by local musician Carl Cadwell and original choreography created by the Pop-up Project co-founders, along with seven dancers from all over the United States and Canada.
Downum, co-owner and director of Zanzibar Studio in Chattanooga, teaches bellydance and has studied contemporary, hip-hop and jazz dance.
Fittingly for the industrial site, the music, titled "This Machine," was composed from sounds made by sewing machines. Textiles by designer Maggie Pate will be incorporated into the performance. Her fabrics are hand-dyed with food waste and foraged plants from the Tennessee mountains in her Chattanooga studio, Nade.
Local videographer Tim Cofield will produce a video of the performance, which will be shared at no charge on social media, according to a news release.
Contact Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6431.
Pop-up Project hosts a performance in downtown Chattanooga.