Linda Goode Bryant
Artist, Filmmaker, and Founder of Project EATS
Linda Goode Bryant is an artist, filmmaker, activist and Founder of Project EATS who believes every community should be able to grow their own food, live healthily, and thrive right where they live. So, in 2009, she created the first Project EATS farm in partnership with Help USA’s Help New Horizons, under the leadership of Anthony Graham, and Teachers Preparatory High School.
For fifteen years, Project EATS has transformed 25 vacant lots and rooftops into vibrant farms, empty spaces into gathering places, and neighbors into family. We believe that food isn’t just sustenance—it’s a powerful force for change. Every farm we tend, every meal we share, and every skill we teach is part of a larger vision: a city where everyone has access to fresh, healthy food and the power to shape their own food story.
Before launching Project EATS, Linda was an independent filmmaker of documentary and experimental films. Her film “Flag Wars,” co-produced and directed with Laura Poitras received a Peabody Award and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2023. Prior to filmmaking Linda started Just Above Midtown Gallery (JAM) in the 1970s.
JAM was the first gallery to exhibit the work of African American and other artists of color in New York City’s major gallery district during the 1970s and early 1980s. Before and during that time, galleries and museums were not viewing or exhibiting work by black and brown artists. A number of JAM artists went on to become major artists in the U.S. and internationally. During JAM’s work and its influence after closing in 1984, the number of black and brown artists shown in national and international galleries and museums has increased significantly. The exhibition, “Just Above Midtown: Changing Spaces” at the Museum of Modern Art presented the artists, history, and impact of JAM.
Linda has received numerous awards as an artist, curator, and filmmaker that include numerous awards including an Anonymous Was a Woman, Berresford, Guggenheim Fellowship. A bibliography of her work has been included in publications, news articles and magazines. In 2024, she was inducted into the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.
She has a BA degree from Spelman College and a Master’s in Business Administration from Columbia University.
