"If anything a lot of people will see the cards that I've never met before and didn't know about the project, so either way it's a good night," he said.

Artist Claire Wolf also submitted a proposal. She's the assistant director of the Urban Studio Cafe, a local nonprofit coffee shop and social outreach center.

"All of the profits from coffee and food sales will fund arts programs and community programs for the neighborhood," she said.

If Wolf were to win the grant, she planned to buy a silkscreen printing machine for the cafe. "We're really wanting to market ourselves, but we don't have a lot of money, and I think it will be a really cool way to do our own printing of our own apparel and involve some of the youth in the area."

VOA - D. WeinbergAmelia Colette Jones with her friend, Maggie Ginestra (seated), at the venue where they hold Sloup.

Patrons for a pittance

Enjoying her second helping of carrot leek soup, Annmarie Spitz said that coming to a Sloup dinner was a chance for her to support the arts in a way that she hadn't been able to before.

"I wouldn't consider myself a patron really because I don't have any money, but that was what was great about Sloup was that I felt like I could be a patron with $10."

The day after the inaugural Sloup, the votes were tallied, and the winner, by a very narrow margin, was Claire Wolf's proposal for the screen printing machine.