Dear Arts Patrons, Aficionados and Supporters,
We hope that everyone is doing well, staying safe and remembering to relax as we continue dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Embracing Arlington Arts has continued our efforts to assist arts and culture organizations deal with the shutdown, remain visible with patrons and supporters, initiate projects to help the industry overall and more. Read on for the latest details.
Calendar of Arlington Arts Organization Online Productions/Events
7/9-9/7 – “By Proxy” exhibit (and several special events), Arlington Arts Center, Info here.
8/8 – “Bike America”, a play by Mike Lew, Prologue Theatre, (2pm) Info here.
Continuously streaming
Visual Arts:
The Arlington Arts Center has several classes, workshops and activities to do at home online.
Online Gallery of Art, Arlington Artists Alliance, View
“Artists and Poets Response to the Pandemic”, Arlington artists, View
“The Divine Feminine”, Arlington artists, View
Dance:
BalletNova has several dance classes available online, Watch here.
Bowen McCauley Dance Co., Live Virtual Classes for Parkinson’s Disease, Watch here.
Dance Classes, Jane Franklin Dance, Find schedule here.
“Best of 30 Years,” Festival Argentino, Watch here.
Children’s Theater:
Encore Stage & Studio is offering classes and camps online. Details.
Educational Theatre Company offering online camps and classes. Details.
Opera:
Opera Nova streaming “Celebrating African-American Opera Singers: Past and Present” Concert”. Listen.
“Why Is Eartha Kitt Trying to Kill Me?”, Urban Arias, Watch here.
Performing Arts/Theater:
Synetic Streaming Various Productions and Events, Buy tickets
Music:
Summer Concert, Washington Balalaika Society, Watch here.
Poetry:
“Written in Arlington,” Arlington Poets, Read the poems here.
Embracing Arlington Arts Starting Strategic Plan/Thanks Arlington Community Foundation:
We are excited to report that Embracing Arlington Arts’ Board of Directors has begun drafting a Strategic Plan for the organization. A lot has changed during the three years since our inception, and the Board wants to ensure that Embracing Arlington Arts is set to continue serving and representing the arts and culture industry effectively over the next several years.
We want to send out a special thank you and acknowledgement to the Arlington Community Foundation for supporting this initiative with a grant, recognizing our unique role and mission of enhancing the vibrancy and health of arts and culture in Arlington County. We also want to thank Nancy Murphy and the CSR Communications firm for leading us through this planning process.
ZOOM Calls for Arts Organizations:
In July, we thought it was time to host a call to help arts organization staffs deal with the stress and anxiety associated with the pandemic, the shutdown, the unknown about reopening and any other issues keeping them up at night. We welcomed the Founder of HR Sage Wendy Luke to walk participants through various exercises to help them de-stress and cope with their anxieties.
Due to vacations, summer camps, ZOOM fatigue and other reasons, we have decided to put our ZOOM calls on a brief hiatus during the month of August. BUT we start up again in September with a very exciting guest speaker. As many of you know, the Barrington Stage Company is going to be one of the first theater venues in the nation to begin offering live performances again starting this month. Learn about their experiences, lessons learned, pitfalls and opportunities and much more from the organization’s Artistic Producer Branden Huldeen. If any of our Update readers want to join the call, simply send us your name, title and organization and we will send you the ZOOM details.
Corporate Sponsor of the Month:
Our corporate sponsor of the month is Mindcubed. This company is an ABA 8(a) certified information technology software and services company. The staff there excels at delivering creative solutions quickly and cost effectively in the areas of big data analytics, mobile apps development, systems engineering and the ever-important cybersecurity. In addition, Mindcubed’s software enables organizations to understand trends, predict outcomes and make data-driven decisions. Whether you are a large corporation or a small business, Mindcubed could help in your business operations.
“Embracing Arlington Arts Talks“ Podcast:
We had a busy month for “Embracing Arlington Arts Talks” podcasts. We began with Actor and Performing Arts Teacher Amelia Nickles who talked about her career and her new pre-professional coaching company – “Acting with Amelia” – for young actors. The next week we heard from Beth Amann, the Managing Director of Monumental Theatre who updated us on their plans for the fall and the myriad of ways they have been staying visible and keeping folks entertained during this pandemic.
We added a special episode this month featuring the Artistic Director of Arena Stage Molly Smith who gave us a sneak peek into their reopening plans and some of the unique online programming they have been offering during the shutdown.
We went behind the scenes for our subsequent interview with Scenic and Costume Designer Deb Sivigny. Anyone who has seen a play in DC has probably seen Deb’s fantastic work. Learn her design process, how she gets some of her ideas, as well as insight into the Helen Hayes award-winning play she wrote “Hello My Name Is….” We rounded out our theater interviews catching up with the Artistic Director of Prologue Theatre Jason Tamborini who gave us all the details about their reading of the play “Bike America” and their very interesting virtual challenge project in conjunction with this reading.
Our month ended with a very uplifting podcast with a Co-Founder of the organization Sound Impact Danielle Cho. This organization uses music as a platform for change in marginalized communities, as well as offers lessons and instruments to these residents.
To listen to any of our interviews, follow this link.
BroadwayWorld published an article about our “Embracing Arlington Arts Talks” podcast interview with the Artistic Director of Arena Stage Molly Smith – one of the leading theater companies in the DC region.
Embracing Arlington Arts published a Community Post column with ArlNow announcing the organization’s upcoming podcast series entitled “Diversity and Cultural Equity: On Stage, in the Audience and in the Boardrooms.”
Our arts organizations continued to take advantage of our subscription with ArlNow during this month. Prologue Theatre published a column about their readings of the play “Bike America” as well as their virtual challenge to patrons to travel the same route via bike or walking.
If you would like to support the work Embracing Arlington Arts by making a donation, here’s how:
* Make tax-deductible contributions online.
* Tax-deductible contributions by check: check made out to Embracing Arlington Arts and sent to Embracing Arlington Arts, 754 North Vermont Street, Arlington, VA 22203
Every dollar helps us help the arts organizations in so many ways. Thank you in advance!
Embracing Arlington Arts 