Empty Bowls of Albany is a joint outreach that provides funding for the Albany Area Arts Council's Southwest Georgia Regional Fine Arts Competition and the Sowega Council on Aging's Home Delivered Food program that provides home delivered meal for senior citizens in the region. Since its inception in 2012, the event continues to sell out each year.

Local restaurants donate soups and other foods to the Empty Bowls event, and area artisans create unique bowls that go to each ticketholder. The bowls symbolize the empty bowls of citizens in the community who often go without meals. Money from the event is used to help fund the Council on Aging’s Home Delivered Food program and programs sponsored by the Arts Council.