Arts Focus

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This column is written and sponsored by Arlington Arts / Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development.

By Michelle Isabelle-Stark, Director at Arlington Arts

2018 included many positive changes to Arlington’s economic and cultural profile, most dramatically the Amazon decision to bring its HQ2 to “National Landing” (Crystal City, Potomac Yard and Pentagon City).

The arts in Arlington are also experiencing many changes and Arlington Arts staff used this year as an opportunity to evaluate our mission, programs and our organization. Our take-away was a clear message proclaiming our main contribution to Arlington as “creating, supporting and promoting the arts, by connecting artists and community to reflect the diversity of Arlington.”

This mission embodies our new innovative arts delivery method with more emphasis on bringing artists and resources directly to you in the places you live, work and play.

We were excited to launch the Arlington Art Truck mobile artist-in-residence program, funded by the National Endowment for the Arts, and introduce our Award Winning First Fridays: Groovin’ on the Pike Concert Series at Columbia Pike Branch Library.

Over 6,000 people interacted with our Arlington Art Truck artist activations, creating unique artwork in parks, schools, farmers markets and festivals. At each activation, County and nonprofit partners were paired with the artist to provide the public with important information about services that were in some way connected to the content of the art project, establishing the Arlington Art Truck as a new method to increase and diversify civic engagement.

In 2019, we’re expanding our model of artistically enhanced civic engagement by continuing to pursue an affordable housing initiative for creatives with Artspace. The Arlington Art Truck will partner with the Solid Waste Bureau and EcoAction Arlington to raise community awareness about conservation and consumption issues.

We will undertake several ambitious public art projects, including commemorating Arlington’s civil rights past, placing public art along the National Landing transit corridor and further integrating public art into civic and private projects with a revised Public Art Master Plan.

I encourage you to check out the debut issue of our quarterly Arlington Arts e-Magazine. The four articles celebrate Arlington Arts success in connecting arts and community through our support of resident artists and ensembles, including Arlington Arts Center and the Arlingtones.

Arlington Arts has also been successful by collaborating with local businesses and residents through our partnerships with organizations such as the Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization and the Rosslyn BID.

Arlington Arts programs book artists for major events such as the Columbia Pike Blues Festival and the Rosslyn Jazz Festival. This years Jazz Festival featured Grammy award winning and nominated acts such as Cory Henry & the Funk Apostles and Cuba’s Orquesta Akokan.

You can read my full article and learn more about the arts in your community in the Arlington Arts e-Magazine!

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This column is written and sponsored by Arlington Arts / Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development.

What better way to kick off the New Year than a heads-up about the upcoming schedule for the Groovin’ On the Pike: After Hours at the Library dance party series which was recently recognized with an Arlington County Manager’s Excellence Award!

This award is given to an individual or team in each department to recognize a suggestion, invention, superior accomplishment, productivity gain or other personal or team effort that contributes to the efficiency, economy or other improvement of County operations.

Here, the collaboration between Arlington Cultural Affairs/Arlington Arts and Arlington Public Library was noted for bringing new audiences to Columbia Pike Branch Library.

Featuring a diverse line-up of musical groups from near and far, upwards of 200 patrons now come to the library to dance in the stacks and enjoy a brew from the cash bar every first Friday of the month at 7 p.m.

Here’s a quick look at the schedule when it resumes in February:

February 1 — Little Red and the Renegades

Blues, zydeco, funk, R&B, country, gospel, pop, compas direct, latin, jazz and carnival flavors from all over the world have been blended and distilled into the Renegades’ sound.  This is party music, best served with good friends, food, drink and lots of dancing.

Check out their recent video of a performance at D.C.’s The Hamilton Live!

March 1 — Bitter Dose Combo

The Bitter Dose Combo is DC’s premiere gypsy jazz band, playing gypsy jazz and swing standards at social dances, bistros, supper clubs, weddings and special events in and around the District.

The BDC’s sound combines the improvisation and swinging guitar made famous by Django Reinhardt with spirited jazz vocals, Paris musette accordion and upright bass.

April 5 — Los Gallos Negros

From rural son jarocho to urban mariachi styles and contemporary Caribbean rhythms, Los Gallos are an eclectic musical ensemble working to make the modern more traditional and the traditional more modern.

Members of the group hail from throughout the U.S. and all have strong roots in Mexico. Los Gallos perform regularly across the East Coast, including National Mall marches, Smithsonian museums and even the 2016 White House Cinco de Mayo celebration for President Barack Obama.

Come on out and discover another side to your local library! Click this link for free tickets.

As we head into the busy holiday season, artists and creators in all genres are invited to mark your calendars for Saturday, January 12, and sign-up for an Arts Grant Writing Workshop.

Gain a greater understanding of writing a competitive and compelling grant proposal as you get a better grasp of basic grant writing skills for national, regional, and local arts grant proposals!

The workshop is part of an ongoing series presented by the Arts Enterprise Institute, a project of Arlington Arts.

Instructor Glen Kessler is an internationally collected and awarded artist, as well as the founder of The Compass Atelier in Rockville, Maryland. Kessler has an MFA from New York Academy of Art and a BFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art. He has work in the public collections of Prince Charles, Amazon Web Services, Ford’s Theater and Capital One Bank, as well as hundreds of private collections around the world.

He is a 2-time recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Grant for Outstanding Figurative Art, a Prince of Wales Fellow and a Maryland State Arts Council Grant awardee. He has taught at Maryland Institute College of Art, George Washington University, George Mason University, among other institutions.

In 2013 he founded The Compass Atelier in Rockville in order to teach a cohesive curriculum of artistic study of his own design. Check out the video below about the school!

The workshop takes place on Saturday, January 12, from 1-4 p.m. at the Arlington Cultural Affairs Arts Enterprise Institute.

Note: Registration for this workshop will close at 7 p.m. on January 11, but class size is kept small in order to maximize the benefit to the participant, so register now as sessions fill up quickly.

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This column is written and sponsored by Arlington Arts / Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development.

Small Business Saturday is this weekend, but there are plenty of upcoming opportunities in Arlington to shop local for creative, distinctive artist-made gifts for the holiday season!

Made In Arlington Pop Up Shops
Every Thursday (excluding Thanksgiving Day) thru December 20 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sponsored by Arlington Economic Development’s Creative Economy program, Made in Arlington returns just in time for the holiday season!

Visit the Plaza Branch Library (in Courthouse Plaza lobby) for this pop-up retail market dedicated to unique things beautiful, wearable and edible from innovators and artisans in Arlington.

Upcoming pop-up’s include;

• Melanie Lee handcrafts and District Line Clothing — November 29
• bakt by Ingrid and Luna Blu Mar — December 6
• Village Sweet and Diane Felice jewelry — December 13
• Pinup Preserves and Sik Imagery — December 20

Click here for more information.

GRUMP Rosslyn
Saturday, December 1

With 45 unique vendors, free arts workshops and the opportunity for your kids to meet a Yeti or two, GRUMP is a fantastic way to shop handmade and local this holiday season.

Vendors range from Potomac Chocolate, and the popular regional bakery Whisked DC, to inspired textiles by vendors like Scarvelous, Seeing in Fabric and quirky creatures for the kids by TigerFlight! Meet your creative neighbors, all while hanging out in the beautiful SPACES building in Rosslyn, sponsored by the Rosslyn Business Improvement District and Arlington Arts. Click here for more information.

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This column is written and sponsored by Arlington Arts / Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development.

Arlington’s newest spot to catch great music is one you might not expect: Columbia Pike Branch Library!

With nearly 300 people dancing in the aisles for the season two’s opening concert last month, Groovin’ On the Pike: After Hours at the Library dance party continues Friday, November 2 with internationally-renowned West African musician and griot Cheick Hamala Diabate. As evidenced by Diabate’s NPR Tiny Desk Concert (see below), it’s going to be a great time!

A co-presentation between Arlington Arts and Arlington Public Library, the free event represents a partnership across Arlington County Government divisions that broadens the scope of performing arts venues in the County, while also bringing new and different constituencies into the library. The series continues with the New Orleans soul of Funky Miracle on Dec 7, and Little Red and the Renegades on February 1, 2019.

Featuring a diverse line up of musical groups from near and far, guests can dance in the stacks and enjoy a brew from the cash bar every first Friday of the month!

Washington may be chock-a-block with lobbyists and consultants, but only one of them rocks the n’goni, the West African plucked lute covered with animal skin.

Cheick Hamala Diabate advises presidents and the World Bank. He’s played for everyone from a struggling couple trying to save their marriage, to the U.S. Congress. He’s hobnobbed with American string and Blues legends — from Bela Fleck to Corey Harris — and along the way reunited his beloved instrument with its long-lost grandchild, America’s banjo.

While partying at your local library has been somewhat rare in recent years, they have a long history as special event venues. Historically, the Library was often among the more spacious and attractive public facilities in communities both large and small. Today architects and urban planners are increasingly viewing Libraries as ‘third places’: that space between ‘home’ and ‘workplace’ that serves multiple recreational and civic functions.

As detailed in this article in American Libraries magazine, more and more these spaces are being reimagined as “the “living room of the city,” and as such it was less focused on books and more focused on human needs, providing space for performances, meetings, children’s activities, art installations and general public gatherings.”

Come on out and get ‘balanced’ as you sway to the lilting rhythms of Cheick Hamala Diabate — free on Friday, Nov 2 at Columbia Pike Branch Library.

Click this link for free tickets.

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This column is written and sponsored by Arlington Arts / Arlington Cultural Affairs, a division of Arlington Economic Development.

Arlington-based non-profit arts organizations and individual artists, mark your calendars: the FY 2020 Arlington Arts Grants application cycle is about to begin, starting with workshops throughout the month of November to help you put your best foot forward.

In discussing Arlington Cultural Affairs Division’s work earlier this year, WTOP 103.5 FM observed that “Arlington has spawned some of the D.C. area’s most creative and forward-thinking attitudes toward art projects for the past four decades, ranging from music, to community sculpture, to providing creative workspaces for artists.” Central to this growth has been the Arlington Arts Grants Program.

Administered by the Arlington Commission for the Arts, the Cultural Affairs Division’s Arlington Arts Grants Program artists and arts organizations in establishing and maintaining artistic and cultural programs in the County. We do this by providing facilities, financial and technical support; developing a broad base of financial and community support; and enhancing their artistic, technical and managerial competence.

Additional resources available to Arlington Cultural Affairs Division grantees range from discounted access to the Arlington CostumeLab with a 20,000-piece costume library, sewing machines and a dye vat, to the Arlington Scene Shop outfitted with the tools and space necessary to build sets.

All organizations and individuals planning to apply for an FY 2020 grant must register and attend one of the following workshops (click on the date to register via Eventbrite):

Workshops for Organizations

• Monday, November 5, from 1:30-3:30 p.m.
• Wednesday, November 7, from 6:30-8:30 p.m.
• Saturday, November 17, from 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Workshops for Individuals

• Thursday, November 8, 6:30-8:00 p.m.
• Saturday, November 17, 12:30 p.m.-2:00 p.m.

Last year, there were 43 grant applications requesting County support in Fiscal Year 2019. Of the 26 requests for financial support, 15 were from non-profit arts organizations and 11 were from individual artists. Twelve organizations requested performance/rehearsal space and technical services in addition to financial support, and five organizations requested performance/rehearsal space only. Submissions are reviewed by panels of arts experts and committees of Arts Commissioners.

Visit this link on the Arlington Arts website for deadlines and detailed information about the FY 2020 Arlington Arts Grants!

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Supporting entrepreneurs, small businesses and creatives is all part of Arlington’s Creative Economy initiative. With public/private partnerships, growth of these endeavors is an important part of business sector diversity and economic sustainability.

Check here for ongoing Creative Economy listings and opportunities. More Creative economy stories on the blog.

Want a change from a brown bag lunch at your desk? Try weaving.

This week, from October 1-5, Arlington Weaves, Etc. gets in on the fun of Spinning & Weaving Week, a national celebration of spinners, weavers, fiber artists and basket makers from the Handweavers Guild of America, Inc.

With daily activities from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-2 p.m. in the Arlington studio, visitors can stop by and weave a sample, watch a guest demonstration and see the weavers at work. Sign up for a weaving time and get introduced to the process of weaving twill, a type of weave noted for its diagonal parallel ridges and its sturdy quality.

A weaving studio isn’t what you’d expect to find in a public school administration building, but Arlington Weaves, Etc. has never been ordinary. From its inception, the Arlington Department of Human Services has been managing this unique weaving program that is part skill training, part integrated socialization, part social entrepreneurship and full on amazing.

Operated by ServiceSource, Inc. the program supports adults with developmental disabilities by integrating technical skills with improved self-sufficiency. Over time, Arlington Weaves, Etc. has become a feature of Arlington Economic Development’s Made in Arlington Initiative with items stocked at the pop-up shop at Plaza Branch Library.

And if you don’t finish your sample or need to rush back to brown bag lunch, the ArlingtonWeaves, Etc. studio also features a storefront shop where you’ll find tote bags, yoga mat straps, small zipper bags, place mats and scarves all produced on site. The studio and shop are open weekdays from 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.

Event: The Thrill of the Twill
Date: October 1-5
Location: 2100 Washington Blvd., Suite 301
Time: 10 a.m.-12 p.m. and 1-2 p.m.

Sign up for a weaving session here.

Supporting entrepreneurs, small businesses and creatives is all part of Arlington’s Creative Economy initiative. With public/private partnerships, growth of these endeavors is an important part of business sector diversity and economic sustainability.

Check here for ongoing Creative Economy listings and opportunities. More Creative economy stories on the blog.

Creativity drives business innovation and growth. But is it reserved for the lucky few?

In the latest of the Return on Creativity series on October 2, hear Allen Gannett, author of The Creative Curve and Ben Rubin, Director of the Center For Data Arts talk about maximizing the discovery and application of creativity.

Big data entrepreneur Allen Gannett, author of The Creative Curve, overturns the mythology around creative genius, and reveals the science and secrets behind achieving breakout commercial success in any field.
 
We have been spoon-fed the notion that creativity is the province of genius — of those favored, brilliant few whose moments of insight arrive in unpredictable flashes of divine inspiration. And if we are not a genius, we might as well pack it in and give up. Either we have that gift, or we don’t.

But Allen shows that simply isn’t true. Recent research has shown that there is a predictable science behind achieving commercial success in any creative endeavor, from writing a popular novel to starting up a successful company to creating an effective marketing campaign.

Artist and designer Ben Rubin is the Director of the Center for Data Arts at the New School in New York and knows a lot about applying data to creative output. Rubin engages with social, cultural and environmental data to create large scale media installations and performance designs.

His work has been presented at the Whitney, MoMA, the Science Museum, London and he has been commissioned to create permanent installations for the Public Theater, The New York Times Building, Brookfield Place, Calgary among others.

Rubin’s groundbreaking projection design for Arguendo, a play by Elevator Repair Service that played at Woolly Mammoth theater and earned him an Obie Award in 2014.

October 2, 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Marymount University, Ballston campus
Free event, registration is required