The idea for this group came to Anton and I while we were soaking up SXSW Interactive 2007 and were inspired by a panel on design hosted by Jim Coudal and Brendan Dawes. Brendan showed off a number of web toys that he created for the sake of creation. His idea was just make something - don’t worry about what it is for, or if it was valuable.

The idea was exciting and invigorating, but the light-bulb really came on when we visited a Steampunk themed party hosted by the EFF. The party glommed together amateur robot builders, vaudeville performers, Make/Craft magazine table, and interesting people in amazing steampunk costumes in a fantastic mix that made for one hell of a party.

Anton and I were already involved with the SA Photo Safari and I have been involved with the Short Ends Project which is a film making group in San Antonio. There are all of these great groups, but they are all separate little pools of talent.

We know musicians, artists, actors, knitters, etc - why not bring them all together and see what happens?

So we decided to do exactly this: periodically, we’d get a variety of artists (of every conceivable discipline) together in the same room to show off something they had been working on over dinner.

We’d borrow an idea from the Wednesday Night Dinners. You get a great dinner and better company, but you have to perform for your dinner:

• Artists - show off something you painted/sculpted/assembled/etc.
• Photographers - show off a photo that you did something really special with
• Musicians - perform an original song or composition
• Actors - perform a monologue, show off a video clip
• Filmmakers - show off a short film
• Hackers - show off a cool new tool, bit of software, gadget, gizmo, or website you created
• Crafters - show off something cool you crafted/knitted/hammered together

See you there. Bring something awesome.