Posted by Liz and John Attaway, 5/1/19

PONCE CITY MARKET TEAMS UP WITH MUSEUM OF DESIGN ATLANTA TO PRESENT FOOD BY DESIGN EVENT SERIES

Series Will Feature Talks with Leading Designers, Local Chefs & Farmers & Cover Food, Design, Urban Agriculture & More

Atlanta’s iconic Ponce City Market is collaborating with Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA) to present Food by Design, an upcoming series of events and panel discussions covering food, urban agriculture, design, culture and more.

Food by Design will be hosted at The Plaza, Ponce City Market’s BeltLine-adjacent, glass structure. The free events will be open to the public, and all except the Dinner by Design conversation will coincide with the Ponce City Farmers Market held weekly on Tuesdays. Following Food by Design events, attendees are invited to peruse the market’s selection of locally grown produce, products from artisanal food makers and tastes from guest chefs.

Kicking off on Tuesday, May 14, the ongoing series will include:

Food for Thought: Innovation in Urban Agriculture – Tuesday, May 14 at 6pm
Join MODA and Ponce City Market for a discussion on the innovations in urban agriculture currently underway in Atlanta. Food for Thought will explore these efforts through the lens of design and innovation in order to understand how individuals and organizations are prototyping, testing and making the food system healthier, sustainable and more equitable. Upon arrival, guests can enjoy light bites, popsicles from King of Pops and complimentary “The Ivey League” cocktails made by Likewise’s Beverage Director Ben Richardson, who will incorporate local honey from three newly installed beehives at Ponce City Market. Following, Food for Thought will feature a panel of urban agriculture innovators, including:

• Mario Cambardella, the City of Atlanta’s first Urban Agriculture Director. During the event, he will talk about the innovative projects underway by the City of Atlanta.
• John Gordon from Friends of English Avenue Urban Farm, an urban farm on English Avenue that offers 100 percent of its food proceeds to English Avenue residents through a food co-op.
• Nuri Icgoren, Founder of Urban Sprouts Farm, a formerly foreclosed property that’s now a flourishing farm and becoming home to an urban agricultural hub that serves as an entrepreneurial incubator for food and farming enterprises.
• Kim Karris, Executive Director of Food Well Alliance, the organization that co-founded the Food Innovation Network for entrepreneurs, educators and community organizers using food as a transformational tool in collaboration with the Center for Civic Innovation.
• Abiodun Henderson, Founder of the Gangstas to Growers, a program focused on empowering formerly incarcerated and at-risk youth through agriculture, employment and entrepreneurship.

Please see here to register and learn more.

Dinner by Design: A Discussion About Restaurant Design – Saturday, June 1 at 2pm
Held in conjunction with Atlanta Design Festival, Ponce City Market and MODA are bringing together some of the city’s top restaurant designers for a rapid-fire discussion on June 1 at The Plaza at Ponce City Market. Moderated by Doug Henderson, Co-owner of Switch Modern, the event will feature panelists from some of Atlanta’s leading restaurant design firms, who will talk about the role of design in creating an environment that enables and enhances the dining experience. Panelists will include John Bencich of Square Feet Studio, Smith Hanes of Smith Hanes Studio, Dan Maas of ai3, Skylar Morgan of Skylar Morgan Furniture + Design and Tim Nichols of NO Architecture.

After the discussion, attendees will be invited to visit restaurants designed by panelists and housed within Ponce City Market’s Central Food Hall. Please see here to register and learn more.

Talk With Your Mouth Full: Poetry & Stories About Food – September 10 at 6pm
MODA and Ponce City Market are teaming up with Ryan J and Nate Mask, the award-winning, spoken-word artists who tour as “Nobody Likes Us, But We’re Here Anyway,” to curate a food-focused poetry slam and storytelling session. The event will highlight Atlanta poets and storytellers, and feature an open-mic portion, inviting guests to share their stories about food. Nobody Likes Us, But We’re Here Anyway have performed in over 45 cities from coast to coast. In 2018, Ryan and Nate were members of the National Poetry Slam Group Piece Champion Art Amok Slam Team, and both are members of the Art Amok and Java Slam teams. Please see here to register and learn more.

Later this year, MODA and Ponce City Market will host a special Food by Design supper club, where guests can enjoy a seated dinner and discussion highlighting diversity and inclusion in Atlanta’s food scene. Additional details to be announced.

For more information about the upcoming Food by Design series, please visit www.museumofdesign.org.