SMALL GRANTS FOR BIG IDEAS

SITE Santa Fe's SPREAD is a micro-granting initiative that provides small grants for innovative projects conceived by New Mexico-based artists. SPREAD is a recurring public dinner designed to generate community-driven financial support to fund artistic innovation.

HOW SPREAD WORKS

At a large community dinner, diners pay a sliding scale entrance fee (starting at $15), for which they will receive dinner and a ballot. During dinner, the SPREAD audience will hear short proposals from up to eight artists for innovative and yet-to-be-realized new projects. Diners will then cast their votes for their favorite project. At the end of dinner, the artist whose proposal receives the most votes will be awarded all the funds collected at the door to realize their project.

The inaugural SPREAD event, held on March 18, 2011, raised $7,722 in proceeds from the door, which was then given to the winning artist group, Meow Wolf, to support their installation The Due Return at Center for Contemporary Art. SPREAD 2.0, held on October 28, 2011, raised $8,015 which was awarded to filmmaker/artist Jason Jaacks for his Reel Youth Stories project.

For more info on this year's finalists and their proposals, visit www.spreadsantafe.com.