SW ArtsFest

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This fall from Sept. 23 to 25, Southwest will hold its first SW ArtsFest. The Southwest Neighborhood Assembly devoted its July 25 town meeting to this event.  SW ArtsFest derives from a proposal to redevelop the Randall Junior High School, on I Street SW. Telesis Corporation — a mixeduse, affordable-housing developer — has joined with the Rubell family, owners I Street’s Capitol Skyline Hotel and a large collection of contemporary art, in the development of the Randall Project. They call their partnership TR SW LLC. The Advisory Neighborhood Commission 6D had original concerns but has promised to support TR SW’s project in exchange for numerous community benefits, including a free, annual neighborhood arts festival.  The first annual arts festival will take place this September. Its theme is “Discover Southwest.”  At SWNA’s July meeting, SW ArtsFest 2011’s producers previewed their offerings.  TR SW’s John Viglianti described the (e)merge art fair. In the Capitol Skyline, from noon on Sept. 23 to 5 p.m. on Sept. 25, (e)merge will showcase art from regional and international emerging artists and galleries, and include panel discussions with artists, collectors and curators.  Among SW ArtsFest events only (e)merge will charge admission ($15/$10 for students and seniors). The Washington City Paper recently named hotelier Mera Rubell DC’s “Art Messiah,” partly for Skyline’s hosting of (e)merge.  At the other end of Southwest from the Skyline, redevelopment promises a wonderful new waterfront. As Bob Rubenkonig reported, from 6 p.m. Friday to 4 p.m. Sunday, PN Hoffman/ Madison Waterfront will provide music, food, and a sock-monkey art studio at Water and Seventh streets as part of SW ArtsFest 2011. The music and art are free, but you must provide your own socks.  2011 marks the 50 anniversary of Arena Stage’s move to its current home, across Maine Avenue from the waterfront. Desirée Urquhart, Arena’s Director of Government and Community Relations, described Arena’s plans for handdance performances, tours of its new facilities, and family-oriented theater activities, all from noon to 6 p.m. Saturday.  ArtsFest 2011 also brings together events Southwest has hosted before. Across M Street from Arena Stage, St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church holds an annual End-of-Summer fair.  As Virginia Mathis described, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, this year’s End-of-Summer fair will feature face painting, raffles, jewelry, St. A’s famous fried-fish sandwiches, home-baked desserts, music and more.  That same day, from noon to 8 p.m., Westminster Presbyterian Church at Fourth and I streets, will hold its tenth annual D.C. Jazz Preservation Festival. Reverend Ruth Hamilton described Westminster’s offerings of paintings, crafts, clothing, and food.  Westminster shares the Fourth and I intersection with Christ United Methodist Church (UMC). Michael Mack described Christ UMC’s Saturday plans to present a concert by folkmusic legend Donal Leace; art from Art Enables, a gallery for artists with mental or developmental disabilities; and, at the Southwest Library, dramatic readings highlighting Southwest history.  From 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday, at Westminster Church, Christ UMC will co-sponsor a documentary festival which will include films about Martin Luther King, Jr., the Palestinians, the death penalty and a real-life African prince sold into slavery in the antebellum South.  Adding to ArtsFest’s musical offerings, Carrie Dorsey described the Second Baptist Church Southwest’s plans for Saturday performances on Canal Street by choirs, dancers and bands from neighborhood churches.  Finally, for the past decade Southwest residents have enjoyed Cultural Tourism DC’s neighborhood walking tours. At July’s SWNA meeting, Washington Walks founder Carolyn Crouch described the four free, 90-minute walking tours she’ll lead around Southwest Sept. 24 and 25.  SW ArtsFest 2011 also hopes to include the Marctus Creative Art Market, with arts, crafts, and food; and a Second Union Baptist Church flea market.

Arena Stage’s 1961 move to Southwest
first put our little neighborhood on
the world’s artistic map. Over the years
since, we’ve periodically hosted arts festivals: the
Southwest Arts Festival in the ’70s, Riverfest in
the ’80s, Festival of the Arts in the ’90s.
With Southwest undergoing major redevelopment,
the time has come to revive a neglected
tradition. This fall, from Friday through Sunday,
Sept. 23-25, Southwest will hold our first annual
SW ArtsFest.
SW ArtsFest 2011 will bring together nine
different organizations — a cross-section of
Southwest’s cultural community — under the
theme “Discover Southwest.” The festival will
include the (e)merge art fair and the Marcātus
Creative Art Market, performances and children’s
activities at Arena Stage at the Mead Center
for American Theater, the D.C. Jazz Preservation
Festival, the Human Rights Film Festival, an
outdoor art studio for children and more.
Coincidentally, SW ArtsFest 2011 events will
start one day after a simulcast of the Washington
Opera’s Tosca at Nationals Park, Thursday, Sept.
22, part of the opera’s annual free “Opera in the
Outfield.”
Public SW ArtsFest events will start Friday,
Sept. 23 at the Skyline Hotel, with the (e)merge
art fair, open through Sunday. (e)merge will
showcase art from regional and international
emerging galleries and by unrepresented artists,
as well as offer discussions and performances. (e)
merge will charge admission ($15); but admission
to the rest of SW ArtsFest 2011 is free.
Both Saturday and Sunday, Marcatus Creative
Art Market — after spending the summer
at Yards Park — will bring us artists’ tents,
crafts vendors, music and food. On Saturday,
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American
Theater will offer open rehearsals, tours of its
new facility, theater and crafts activities for kids
and performances by the National Hand Dance
Association. That same Saturday, the Wharf
on the Southwest Waterfront will host “Little
Hands Big Art,” an outdoor art studio for kids
and “Sing Out Southwest,” a capella singing by
some of D.C.’s finest vocalists.
The corner of Fourth and I Streets will see
major events all weekend. On Saturday, Christ
United Methodist Church will present visual and
textile arts, dance, a flea market, a performance
of the classic musical God’s Trombones and music
by Donal Leace, a member of the Washington
Area Music Awards Hall of Fame. Westminster
Presbyterian Church will hold its 10th Annual
D.C. Jazz Preservation Festival, featuring D.C.’s
finest “straight-ahead” jazz musicians along with
sales of handmade crafts and food from fried
fish to bread pudding. On Sunday at Westminster,
both churches will co-sponsor the Amnesty
International Human Rights Film Festival.
On Saturday St. Augustine’s Episcopal
Church will hold its annual family-friendly endof-
summer fair, featuring raffles, local musicians,
children’s activities and sales of arts and crafts,
household items, second-hand clothes and food
from hot dogs and barbecue to home-baked pies
and cakes. Also on Saturday, Second Baptist
Church Southwest will host outdoor performances
by neighborhood church choirs, dancers
and bands.
Throughout Southwest all weekend, Washington
Walks founder Carolyn Crouch will
conduct free walking tours.
All SW ArtsFest programming is subject to
change. But one thing’s for sure: This year, for
art, Southwest will be the place to be.
At the Southwest Neighborhood Assembly’s
July 25th public meeting, ArtsFest producers will
further describe their participation in SW Arts-
Fest 2011. Until then, for more information, go
to www.swdcartsfest.org or e-mail ANC6D02@
capaccess.org.

Article originally published in http://www.swdc.org/news/newspaper.htm