Artisphere

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Pentagon City Water Balloon Prank Shatters Windshield — Someone apparently thought it would be funny to throw water balloons at cars leaving the Pentagon City mall parking garage on 15th Street. Perhaps it was funny, up until the point where one of the water balloons hit the windshield of a family’s minivan and shattered it as they were driving. [WUSA9]

Groundbreaking Set for Arlington Mill Center — The ceremonial groundbreaking for the new Arlington Mill Community Center (909 S. Dinwiddie Street) has been set for 10:00 a.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 24. [Sun Gazette]

Burglaries from Secure EFC Parking Garage — Two Cadillac Escalade SUVs had their tires and wheels stolen from the ‘secure’ parking garage under the luxury Crescent Falls Church apartment building (2121 Westmoreland Street) in East Falls Church yesterday morning, according to residents. Police are investigating.

Artisphere’s Shakespeare Co. Gets New Name — Washington Shakespeare Company, which now counts Rosslyn’s Artisphere as its home base, has a new name. The scrappy theater company is now known as WSC Avant Bard. [Washington Post]

Flickr pool photo by Jason OX4

Halloween in August?

By ARLnow.com

The leaves are still green and the air is still humid, but Count Gore De Vol will be donning his white makeup to present a special sneak preview for the Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival this weekend.

De Vol (television legend Dick Dyszel) will be hosting “Spooky Shorts,” a three-hour screening of “thirteen of the wildest short films from around the world,” at Artisphere on Saturday.

The screening starts at 8:00 p.m. in the Artisphere’s Dome Theater. Tickets are $10.

The shorts will serve as an “exclusive preview” for the 6th Annual Spooky Movie International Horror Film Festival, which will be held from Oct. 13-16 this year. Additional summer spooky movie screenings are planned for Aug. 20 and Sept. 3.

Cuba’s Sierra Maestra to Perform Tonight in Rosslyn

By ARLnow.com

Sierra Maestra, a Havana-based, Grammy-nominated band that has been performing since 1976, will be bringing their traditional Cuban sound to Rosslyn’s Artisphere (1101 Wilson Blvd) tonight.

The group is making its only D.C.-area stop here for Artisphere’s Salsa Tuesdays. Dancing lessons start at 7:30 p.m., followed by the band’s performance and dancing from 8:30 to 11:00 p.m. Tickets are $25, discounted to $22 for students, military servicemembers and senior citizens.

Many of the members of Sierra Maestra have performed with the Buena Vista Social Club, the international “supergroup” created by Sierra Maestra founder Juan de Marcos Gonzales.

Tonight’s performance will take place in Artisphere’s 4,000 square foot ballroom.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Late Night For Harry Potter Fans — Hundreds of die-hard Harry Potter fans attended midnight and 3:00 a.m. screenings of the last film in the series — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 — at the Regal Ballston Common cinema last night.

Artisphere Reduces Burden on Tenants — The County Board voted this week to simplify the 15-page legal document that potential tenants of the Artisphere must use if they want to put on a show or hold an event. [Washington Examiner]

Fort Myer Organist Retires — Robert Schaaf has retired after 45 years as the organist at Fort Myer’s Chapel. Schaaf, a Penrose resident, has performed at memorial services for fallen military personnel, Challenger and Columbia astronauts, Supreme Court justices, first ladies and 9/11 victims, among others. [Sun Gazette]

Barbara Favola “Green” Mailer Not Recycled — A mailer sent by Barbara Favola’s state Senate campaign, touting her role in “protecting our environment,” was apparently not printed on recycled paper, according to a political blogger who has endorsed Favola’s opponent. [Blue Virginia]

Photo courtesy Jason Gooljar

Video: The History of Rock in Northern Va.

By ARLnow.com

The video is long (nearly an hour) and the audio is low, but the county’s television channel has posted a video of an fascinating panel discussion on this history of rock and roll in Northern Virginia.

Featured in the video are five men who promoted local concerts in the ’60s and 70s: Derwood Settles, Teddy Bodnar, Michael Oberman, Mike Schreibman, and Bud Becker. The discussion, organized by cultural historian Jeff Krulik, was held in the Artisphere in November.

Report Recommends Increased Arts Investment in Arlington

By ARLnow.com

As officials continue trying to stem the tide of red ink at Artisphere, Arlington’s new arts and cultural center, the Arlington Commission for the Arts sees the need for more art venues down the road.

The commission and its consultants have just released a draft copy of “Arlington Arts 2030,” a report that proposes “a long-range strategy for supporting the arts over the next 20 years.”

The report recommends that the county “pro-actively and steadily move… [from] supporting the arts in a manner appropriate for a suburban community to one of building the arts to support the growing urban community that Arlington is today.” To that end, the report recommends increased investment in the arts, art facilities and the artists themselves.

Among the draft recommendations:

  • Offer low cost or affordable housing specifically for use by artists
  • New “public arts spaces” in Crystal City, Shirlington and the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor
  • Public funding (both bonds and “pay go”) to supplement funds from developers to help build already-proposed projects like a black box theater in Virginia Square, a replacement theater for the 1960s-era Spectrum Theater in Rosslyn and a new cultural center at Courthouse Plaza
  • A new, dedicated facility for dance performances
  • An outdoor amphitheater in the Shirlington/Four Mile Run area
  • Increase the annual art grant budget from approximately $250,000 to $350,000 over five years
  • Set aside 2 percent of the county’s Capital Improvement Program budget for public art projects
  • Spin off the county’s art-centric Cultural Affairs division (currently funded at $2.15 million per year) as its own department, separate from the Parks Department
  • Increase the Cultural Affairs marketing budget and emphasize Arlington as a “cultural destination”

Two hearings will be held to gather public input on the report. The first will be held at Artisphere (1101 Wilson Blvd) from noon to 2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 11. The second will be held from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. on Monday, June 13, at the Shirlington Public Library (4200 Campbell Avenue).

Currently, according to county officials, there are ten individual, publicly-accessible theaters in Arlington, each of which receives some sort of county support. That’s in addition to one county-run outdoor amphitheater. There are also 15 individual visual arts galleries in Arlington, six of which are managed or curated by the Cultural Affairs Division. Two of the theaters and three of the galleries are within Artisphere.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Panel Recommends Building New Schools — An Arlington Public Schools advisory council has come out with a report that recommends new construction to help ease the looming school capacity crisis. The panel recommends building one or two new elementary schools and adding capacity at two existing middle schools. In addition to the construction, they suggest adding as many as 40 classroom trailers. Questions linger as to whether the county has enough debt capacity to follow the building recommendations. [Sun Gazette]

Adopt-a-Cat Month at AWLA — The Animal Welfare League of Arlington (2650 South Arlington Mill Drive) has declared June to be Adopt-a-Cat Month. With the shelter — and other shelters like it —  inundated with homeless felines, AWLA is trying to find homes for its “Desperate Housecats” — cats that have been at the shelter more than four months. The adoption of such cats is free through the end of the month. [Animal Welfare League of Arlington]

‘Art Every Day’ at Artisphere — Artisphere (1101 Wilson Blvd) is unveiling two new murals to the public today. The words “Art Every Day” and “Live For Art,” designed by notable local artist Linda Hesh, will appear on two glass panes within Artisphere. The cultural center will also distribute “Art Every Day” decals to visitors, who are then in turn encouraged to photograph the decals in various locales and situations. “Art Every Day” will also appear on food court tabletops at the tourist-laden Pentagon City mall, which should give a boost to Artisphere’s promotional efforts. [TBD]

Sustainable Art Exhibit Opening at Artisphere

By ARLnow.com

It’s Artisphere’s biggest exhibit yet, and it follows a theme near and dear to the hearts of many in Arlington County.

Tonight is the public opening for “Contain, Maintain, Sustain,” a gallery of contemporary art inspired by sustainability. Among the pieces in the exhibit are beautiful gas cans, inspiring rubbish receptacles, a free-floating trash bag, magazines made into mountains and a box-laden bicycle.

The exhibit — a partnership between Artisphere, the Washington Project for the Arts and the Washington Sculptors Group — features the work of 24 international and locally-based artists.

Tonight’s opening reception is open to the public from 7:00 to 10:00 p.m. The exhibit will be on display through July 17. More photos after the jump.

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Cinco de Mayo at Lunchtime

By ARLnow.com

It’s hard to say whether it was a normal lunchtime crowd or if people were feeling a bit more festive today for Cinco de Mayo, but the Chipotle in Rosslyn was packed to the gills today. A line snaked around three walls of the restaurant as office workers and residents waited patiently for their burrito fix.

Elsewhere along the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor, a healthy crowd sat outside Mexicali Blues in Clarendon, sipping Coronas in the cool sunshine. Santa Fe in Rosslyn, meanwhile, was still doing steady business at 1:15 p.m.

Here CafeBar in Rosslyn’s Artisphere had men in sombreros flashing signs to passersby on Wilson Boulevard, but had a smaller crowd at 1:00 p.m. Just over a dozen patrons were dining in Artisphere’s large WiFi-enabled space. Perhaps the menu — which lists burgers and pizza, but not burritos or quesadillas — was partially to blame.

Does Artisphere Need More Signs?

By ARLnow.com

As we all know, signs are generally frowned upon in Arlington County. That’s why it takes a 22-page staff analysis and a vote by the county board to put some banners up around a construction fence.

But is part of the solution to the attendance woes at Artisphere are few prominently-placed signs telling people where it is?

Doug Galbi of the Ode Street Tribune thinks so. In a blog post entitled “Artisphere needs more signs,” Galbi says that many Rosslyn visitors may be unaware that the multi-million dollar cultural center even exists.

“Artisphere’s large revenue and visitor shortfall may be due in large part to lack of public awareness,” he writes. “Persons traveling through the busy intersection of Wilson Blvd. and Lynn St. could easily be unaware that they are less than 100 yards from the DC-area’s most inviting arts venue.”

Galbi suggests that signs pointing to Artisphere could be added to the Central Space to Central Space public square, across from the Rosslyn Metro. What do you think?

Flickr pool photo by Afagen

Civic Federation Makes Budget Recommendations

By ARLnow.com

The Arlington County Civic Federation will discuss the county and school budgets at its monthly meeting tonight.

At the meeting, the federation’s revenues and expenditures committee will reveal its suggested modifications to the county manager’s budget.

Among the recommendations:

  • A one-time 1.6 cent real estate tax reduction. (The manager’s budget recommends that real estate taxes hold steady at 95.8 cents per $100 in value.)
  • A $250,000 allocation for basic repairs to the Lubber Run Amphitheater
  • Only $400,000 for continued operations at the money-losing Artisphere, half the amount requested by staff.
  • Rejection of $239,000 in school funds for the David M. Brown Planetarium. The Federation calls for the planetarium to be supported with county funds, not school funds.

The meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Hazel Conference Center at Virginia Hospital Center (1701 N George Mason Drive).

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