Over $125,000 donated to area food banks, one $5 bowl at a time!

Since 1996, students of all ages have created bowls for the festival’s Empty Bowls fundraiser in support of area food banks.

Presented by Veridian Credit Union, students from schools throughout the corridor make ceramic bowls in their art classes, which are then donated and sold at the festival. Area artists also contribute ceramic bowls, along with wood bowls masterfully crafted by Corridor Woodturners of Cedar Rapids.

The Empty Bowls sale is managed by Joshua Gerber, art teacher at Kennedy High School & instructor at The Ceramics Center. If you are an educator whose classroom would like to donate bowls to the 2026 festival, please contact us for information.

Who Benefits?

Empty Bowls is an international grassroots initiative aimed at combating food insecurity through art and community engagement. At the Marion Arts Festival, the project features beautiful handmade ceramic bowls donated by local and regional artists. Attendees are invited to select a bowl in exchange for a donation, with all proceeds benefiting local hunger relief organizations.

Funds raised through the sale benefit local food banks. Over $6,000 was raised last year at the sale! Proceeds from the 2025 project helped to support the Churches of Marion Food Pantry, the Linn Community Food Bank, and Willis Dady Homeless Services.

Our thanks to Veridian Credit Union, whose generous support allows us to reimburse the supply budgets of the teachers whose students used classroom materials – such as clay and glaze – to create the donated bowls.