Food brings comfort to the body and soul. Art comforts the disturbed. What more could we ask for when the two come together hand-in-hand? The Neighbourhood Curbside Canvas Project in New York City is a neighbourhood relief effort that pairs local restaurants and bars with local artists. The force behind this project is Bill Tsapalas, a long-time residence of the Tribeca neighbourhood in NYC. Growing up in a restaurant family Bill is aware of the difficult times restaurants and bars are going through during the pandemic times. As a creative director and marketer himself, Bill pairs up restaurants with artists. Targeting outdoor dining spaces, artists helped turn makeshift plywood dining structures into curbside street art installations.
Restaurants get hit hard by the pandemic while artists also go through various struggles with the shutting down of art galleries and cancellation of exhibitions and activities. With this Neighbourhood Curbside Canvas Project, local artists are provided with platforms to perform and showcase their creativity. The vibrant outdoor dining spaces create visual interests, enhance dining experience and bring life back in the neighbourhood.
Here is how the ‘matchmaking’ works:
The Neighbourhood Curbside Canvas Project is a volunteer-based project. Local artists voluntarily work with the restaurants while restaurants feed the artists and pay for the supplies. The Dark Horse was the first restaurant/bar to participate in this project. Six weeks after the pilot project, 2o volunteer artists had transformed 13 restaurants’ pop-up patios into street art. Check out more artists in action here!
Artist Tato was paired with Weather Up TriBeCa, a craft cocktail bar on Duane Street:
