Image: Xan and artist David Chong serving up David’s Brazilian feast for “Acrobat” at Lake Edge Cafe, Lake Purrumbete, October 2022. Photo credit: Ferne Millen Photography.

Food, performance and storytelling have been blended together to create Dining Room Tales, a unique style of social art practice that takes place in people’s homes. Here’s how the art form is impacting audiences and strengthening communities.

“Today, I will share my life experience.” This simple phrase spoken at the start of a Dining Room Tales event signalled a vulnerable story by Ting Zheng-Ting was about to be unveiled.

For Ting, the social art performance held in his home would reveal a personal tale of culture. For members of the audience, the event would be deeply enlightening. Not only were they going to hear what life has been like for the musician and cook of Chinese-Australian heritage but they would eat Ting’s homecooked Sichuan dishes and listen to him play traditional music. As the event unfolded, the audience shared a rare collegiate connection to the strangers in the room, even making dumplings together. Through art, they experienced Ting’s world up close.

“The work we do makes a profound difference to the communities who engage with it.”

“Attending a Dining Room Tale is certainly very different from going to a play,” says Xan Colman from the non-profit ‘A is for Atlas’ that runs Dining Room Tales. “It’s also very different from going to a dinner party.”

Dining Room Tales has been wending its way across rural Victoria and South Australia over the past three years, but its history goes back to 2011. The premise underpinning each of some 125 iterations over that time has remained the same. A group of strangers get invited to a performance hosted by an artist who has cooked them dinner. Over the course of a few hours, the audience find each other through the show, eat together, and learn about the performer’s place in the world.

“The artist may be from a diverse background or have a story that doesn’t get heard very often. By bringing people from different corners of the community together inside a different story, tasting someone’s food, more of us get to share in each other’s humanity.”

Shared understandings and stronger communities

Dining Room Tales aims to facilitate a greater connection between unknown community members and strengthen social resilience. “There are lots of different views in the community and it’s important that we bridge our differences effectively. We’ve all got to find ways to work together,” says Xan.

Recently, an impact assessment was conducted to determine the effect of Dining Room Tales on audiences. The research was supported by funding from Hugh D.T. Williamson Foundation, managed by Equity Trustees.

The data revealed that 80 per cent of Dining Room Tales participants felt the event contributed to a more resilient and harmonious community. “Almost half of participants also told us that Dining Room Tales made them really think about how they can create change or do differently so their community could be better off.

“Even though we’re impacting 20-to-30 people at a time, it’s on an extraordinarily deep level. The work we do makes a profound difference to the communities who engage with it.”

Xan is now deploying Dining Room Tales to build links between rural Australia and rural/remote communities internationally. But to do that, more funding is needed.

“The economics of social resilience is realised long-term, not in ticketing a one-off event. Our work is reliant on others who share our goals: public funding, donations and investment.

“If you’re an artist, host, philanthropist or funder, or anyone who thinks our initiative is great idea, get in touch. There’s so much good we can do together to create more resilient communities here at home, and connected to resilient communities abroad. Please help us do more.”

To find out more about Dining Room Tales, visit @DiningRoomTales on Facebook or diningroomtales.com online.