Proposal: You're the Expert

Chris Duffy — 1st place $750

Describe your idea.

You’re the Expert is a live show and a podcast which connects the academic community and the artistic, creative community in the Greater Boston area. Each show centers around an expert in a somewhat obscure field, for example microbiology. The show begins with creative and hilarious submissions from comedians, actors, and artists throughout Boston about what they believe a microbiologist does all day. These contributors produce a short piece without doing any research whatsoever on the topic. They just work off what they know on the top of their head. Then they present their work live while the expert and I watch. After each piece, the microbiologist dissects how wildly wrong (or right!) the ideas about his/her field were and then we end with an interview where we find out what a microbiologist actually does all day. It’s funny, it’s interactive, and you end up actually learning something.

How will you use your grant?

I already have a space, experts, and contributors lined up. A Feast grant would allow me to hire a sound technician, to rent audio recording equipment (3 microphones, cables, etc.), and, most importantly, would allow me to pay contributor. I feel strongly about valuing the time and effort of artists in the city.

Why and to whom is your project important?

You’re the Expert is important because we’re surrounded by some of the most important thinkers and innovators in the world. Everyday we sit next to Nobel laureates on the T and don’t even realize it. You’re the Expert creates an engaging and exciting space for academics to share their research with a new audience and for performers to be inspired by groundbreaking new ideas. You’re the Expert is a live manifestation of the amazing creative output that results when left brain thinkers and the right brain artists are brought together.

What is the expected status of your project by the time of the next Feast?

If You’re the Expert receives a Feast grant, we will have three live events (each with 2–3 experts) by the next Feast and we will have put out approximately six 30-minute podcasts.