Dinner club startup BirthRe will throw a launch party the night before Krewe du Vieux, January 22, 7-10pm at the Foundation Gallery, 1109 Royal Street in the French Quarter, featuring live painting and other works by Jackson-based visual and performance artist RahLeeCoh J. Ishakarah.
The launch party is a warm up event for the BirthRe Conversation Dinner Club starting in February which will consist of once-per-month Friday night events that introduce profound, relevant conversation topics over dinner and libations, followed by an after party.
BirthRe founder Micheal Crumpler started the BirthRe dinner club to bring to the same table a diversity of minds to discuss immediately relevant topics so that their stories are shared and understood, hopefully encouraging transparency and accountability across sectors through human-centered decision making rather than the “guilty conscience” bandwidth drain of an auditor or source of funding. In her journey, Crumpler has started a local chapter of Beautiful Brown Girls meetups in Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina.
When the entrepreneurial-minded Crumpler moved to New Orleans in 2012 she engaged in dinners for an existing social meetup group, and organically, without much intention, found herself inviting others and hosting dinners outside of the group at her home. Crumpler is a lifetime foodie, lover of local food, and has volunteered for Hollygrove Market and Our Garden, a Black Pearl-based garden project that develops gardens in underserved areas.
“BirthRe is more than a dinner club,” says Crumpler. “It is an experience curated for the soul, to allow participants to make authentic connections and truly relish the moment.” She explains that some nights out, if the set and setting are just right, we can count on having a meaningful experience. “When working with the Human Connections team, they inspired the idea that we can always have a good time if everyone’s minds are in the right place.” Crucially, apart from the food, BirthRe dinners are strategically formulated to provide a non-small talk conversation platform for participants to experience meaningful connections.
“Opportunity, Privilege, and the Other” is the topic of the dinner in February, which is Black History Month, followed by the “Loneliness of Social Media” in March. These are hard to discuss, but very important conversations. With reference to “the Other,” society has a looming conversation on its treatment of the gender-sexuality spectrum that it has helped construct. [In addition,] recent studies show a measurable injury by social media on well-being, implicating psychology or even personal or public health.
In addition to quality conversation, BirthRe dinners are sure to have excellent food. Chef Jarlyn Sol, BirthRe’s in-house chef, has cultivated a sense of taste influenced by her travels through Central America, the Caribbean, and West Africa.
BirthRe dinner events can be attended by paying for a single event or for just the after party, or by buying a membership option for free admission to three, six, or 12 months of events.
About the author: Antonio Alonzo is the Designated Agent of Licensing and IP at TurboSquid, a StartingBloc fellow, Louisiana Food Fellow, and passionate proponent of community based food systems.
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