Dinner in the Desert Kitchen: Reflections on Experiential Learning Through Food, Art, and Social Practice

Abstract

Socially engaged art (SEA) is inherently experiential in nature, and the realm of art as social practice has a history of using food as a means to achieve both social connection and critical commentary. For this reason, my collaborators, community partners and I have chosen food as a catalyst to enact learning around topics ranging from race and social equity to immigration and sustainability. Since the 2014 formation of Desert Kitchen Collective, a loose collection of artists, educators, students, and advocates across Dayton, Ohio, my students and I have partnered with local food-related organizations in the creation of artworks that raise awareness of food justice in general and Dayton’s food insecurity in particular. My chapter will detail an annual student-organized, multidisciplinary event that uses project-based and community-based EL to produce Dinner in the Desert Kitchen, an art exhibition, fundraiser, and dinner performance that raises money for local food organizations, including a foodbank and a member-owned grocery cooperative in a food desert. I will briefly situate the project within current SEA theory and criticism while also discussing our particular transdisciplinary and pedagogical approaches. I will address key challenges and successes within and beyond the classroom, which include establishing collaborations across academic disciplines, managing course assessment, and sustaining equitable partnerships with individuals and organizations outside the university.