Dinners with Curt

Dinners with Curt is a project based around a series of dinners with Lucy Hollier, Curtis Fowlkes, and friends. Curtis, now a lifelong friend, was Lucy’s first trombone teacher in middle school, having been introduced by Roy Nathanson, Lucy’s music teacher and Curtis’ best friend. As the focus on care and community (and care of community) that was felt during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic has dwindled, this project is an attempt at finding ways to make time for people, especially those outside of family and closest friends. It considers care as an ongoing process with as much failure as success, an attempt at unlearning the misrepresentation of the dichotomy between carer and cared-for, and a rejection of care as an individual act, as duty, as burden, instead as joy and nourishment and an essential part of life. The dinner series’ outgrowths included a video piece made with audio recordings of the dinners, poetry created in conjunction with video, and a live public gathering with food and a music performance by Lucy, Curtis, and Roy. This project is ongoing.