Katrine Meisfjord «Soups & Stories Project»

“I have my reality because I grew up in that street, with those people.”

Katrine Meisfjord started the Soups & Stories project to create a platform for people to meet across social class, age, ethnicity and background. She wants to create a dialogue which serves as a negotiation concerning what sort of society we want to have.

Katrine participated in the Impact Challenge 2017 with her project and presented it to our members on at our weekly Waffle Pitch to receive feedback and ideas.

Socially Engaged Art

The Soups & Stories sessions are formed based on the individuals which partake. By adjusting the sessions based on interests and personalities she can better reach an outcome which benefits both society and the participants.

A part of the goal is to create Socially Engaged Art as a result of the dialogue between the individuals present at the sessions. Socially Engaged Art is an art form based on social interactions, and the norms of social interactions. The goal is to alter these social norms and behavioural patterns. Meisfjord has experienced that people rarely want to represent a group. They want to represent themselves. Thus, through these conversations they become an individual and not a representation of a group.

A young girl participating in a Soups & Stories session said that “Before I started working with you, I felt that I didn’t have opinions about anything. But after taking part in these sessions many times with you, I now feel that I have opinions about all sorts of things.”

A corporate market

A member pointed out during the Waffle Pitch that here is a market for these within corporations and companies. There are many similar products such as “design thinking” and workshops; however, the companies’ focus is not necessarily social. Their goal is more directed towards efficiency and productivity. Therefore, Katrine understands that in order to find her space in the corporate market, she must form an offer which helps companies to see the value in a healthy social environment at work.

Meisfjord sees the dialogues as a way to reach the untapped potential within individuals. This could be to create art, function better at work, or strive and do better in life as a result of social confidence and learning from talking with others.

You can find out more about the Soups and Stories project on their website and Facebook page.

Would you also like to present your business idea at our weekly Waffle Pitch? Get in touch with us at [email protected]!