Monday night, the boys of Phi Delt hosted gallivanting hipsters and Whartonites armed with neon spray paint and glitter sticks, respectively. What cause brought these disparate groups together? Why, providing shoes for impoverished children in the Third World, of course.
TOMS, a fashionable yet affordable shoe line based out of L.A., brought its Vagabond tour to Penn’s campus. This tour sees reps from TOMS travel to colleges across the nation promoting the organization’s philanthropic goals by supplying pens and paints for students to decorate their newly-purchased kicks. For each pair sold, TOMS donates another to a child in need. Since May 2006, TOMS has given over 70,000 pairs of shoes to children around the world.
College senior Bill McCrossan, Penn's rep for the Vagabond Tour, and his brothers happily converted the Phi Delt poolroom into something that resembled the arts-and-crafts cabin at summer camp, where students scribbled furiously and showed off their creations to one another. McCrossan put a spin on the event by inviting his friend, fellow senior and creator of Digs Gallery, Josh Daniels, to display some photographs and graffiti art in the space. Daniels started Digs as a way of getting young local artists to meet one another and explore current social issues through their work. Explaining the meaning of his gallery’s tag line, Daniels noted, “People are ready to enjoy art, not just appreciate it” and that most galleries create a division between the art and the viewer. In his shows, Daniels attempts to topple the elitist tenements of the traditional art scene by rendering the experience interactive.
The line between the artist and the patron vanishes at Digs events. “Everyone is an artist,” said photographer Doug Geraghty — a point that was well illustrated by the students decorating their shoes at the TOMS table. He further explained that, in an upcoming show later this month, there will be a live band playing. The audience will be encouraged to jump on stage and perform with the group. And who knows, maybe they'll even be rocking their TOMS while doing so.
For more information on TOMS and Digs Gallery, check out www.tomsshoes.com and http://digsgallery.weebly.com.
