Mr. Jefferson would be proud.
A group of students formed a contracted independent organization earlier this fall based on the conversation dinners he hosted at Monticello. Modern times, though, call for modern twists on traditional ideas. Instead of meeting to discuss the intellectual ideas of the day, the Supper Club is a social gathering for music lovers to discuss their passion during a meal.
The setup is similar to dinner clubs at other universities, such as Princeton, Supper Club President Lise Kvan said. The only major difference is the University’s club focuses conversations on music.
“It’s really just a club where people can get together and feel comfortable as who they are and have fun and meet new people,” Kvan said. “I think there’s a lot of opportunities at U.Va. to meet new people, but not in this kind of setting.”
Why music? Kvan and Vice President Michelle Liv had several explanations.
Liv pointed out that in the myriad of CIO options, she could not find one that adequately satisfied her desire for a social music club. Kvan said she agreed.
“We’re all about supporting music and just getting to know people at U.Va. whom you might not meet in some of your classes,” she said. “If you’re in the [Commerce] School and you really love music, but you’re not in classes with an art major or a music major ... you’re missing opportunities.”
Even though the club focuses on music, Liv emphasized its laid-back nature.
“We’re not going to be like, ‘You’re talking politics — stop,’” she said.
And don’t forget the food, either.
“I guess you could say that our club is a social, cultural, food club,” Kvan said.
So far, the Supper Club has hosted an interest meeting and one formal meeting over a meal. At first, Kvan, Liv and the other founders envisioned buying groceries with money collected as dues and cooking meals for club members, but the logistics became messy, Liv said.
To follow that route, potential members would have had to pay dues before the first formal meeting over a meal. The club leaders thought adding a financial obligation to a club some students may not be sure they want to join would deter potential members from attending meetings.
To solve the problem, the first dinner was a potluck-style event, which was quite successful, explained Kvan, who volunteered her apartment for the event.
“I’ve literally never had so many people in my apartment before,” she said. “It was hard to move; there were so many people.”
Kvan said about two dozen people attended, and most students brought a dish to share.
“There was really good food — people at U.Va. are good cooks,” Kvan said.
With good food and good company, the conversation moved smoothly without much intervention from the founders.
“We just kind of let it roll at the first supper ... because there were so many people, and it was kind of hard to mediate conversations,” Kvan said.
Although 24 people attended the first meeting, Kvan noted that about double that number are on the Supper Club mailing list, a feat she said is significant for a new club that started out as a gathering among friends.
“The majority of the people in the club are people I’ve never met,” she said.
Growing membership brings new issues for the founders as well. Kvan’s apartment is only so big. Liv emphasized, however, that the club has no intentions of capping membership.
In fact, the club’s intentions are focused on growth. Kvan said she hopes the Supper Club can help revitalize the Charlottesville local music scene in the future.
“Two major music venues in Charlottesville have been closed recently within past two or three years, and I think that’s put a damper on Charlottesville local music,” she said. “We wanted to revive that and see how the Charlottesville community could work together with the University community and rebuild ... but I think so far we’ve got to start on University level first, and solidify the base here, and then expand.”
For now, club leaders are working to solidify membership — and planning their second supper, of course.
Along with music and food, keeping the club’s roots true to Jefferson’s conversation dinners is important to Kvan.
“I wanted to be able to bring that to the University community because I don’t think there’s anything similar,” Kvan said. “I wanted it to be more students getting together because that’s really important — and music, of course.”
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