Dear Arts Patrons, Aficionados and Supporters,
Happy spring! Embracing Arlington Arts remains busy on the Performing Arts Center project, as well as continuing our podcasts, media outreach, update our “Health Benefits of the Arts” library and more. (NOTE: If you come across any new studies about these benefits, please send us the links. We are currently updating our library so no studies are more than 5 years old.)
2022 Arlington Arts Groups Performances and Events
Calendar of Live Events (Subject to Change)
March – May
2/1-3/20 – “Daphne’s Dive,” Signature Theatre, Info and tickets here.
3/1-4/24 – “She Loves Me,” Signature Theatre, Info and tickets here.
3/3-3/26 – “Ada and the Engine,” Avant Bard Theatre Company, Gunston Arts Center, Info here.
3/5-4/24 – “Creature Comforts,” by artist Mary Anella Frank, Fred Schnider Gallery of Art, Info here.
3/19 – “Beloved Baroque Masters,” National Chamber Ensemble, Gunston Arts Center, Info and Tickets here.
3/19 – “Through Troubled Times Concert,” Arlington Chorale, Westover Baptist Church, Info here.
3/25-4/10 – “The Tarot Reading,” The Arcanists, Theatre on the Run, Info here.
4/6-4/24 – “The Servant of Two Masters,” Synetic Theater, Tickets here.
4/26-6/12 – “The Upstairs Department,” Signature Theatre, Info and tickets here.
4/28-5/22 – “The Revolutionists,” Prologue Theatre, Info and tickets here.
4/30-5/8 – “Why I Live at the P.O.,” UrbanArias, Keegan Theatre, Info and tickets here.
5/6-5/21 – “[title of show],” Dominion Stage, Gunston Arts Center, Info here.
5/22 – “Marvelous Mozart and Mendelssohn,” National Chamber Ensemble, Gunston Arts Center, Info and Tickets here.
5/26-6/27 – “Suddenly Last Summer,” Avant Bard Theatre Company, Gunston Arts Center, Info here.
To view the entire calendar, click here.
Update on the Langston Arts Center (LAC)
Many of our readers know about the Langston Arts Center (LAC) – a fully equipped studio for artists working in ceramics and printmaking. The Center also houses a mini-gallery with rotating exhibitions of visiting and resident artists, and offers master workshops throughout the year. When the COVID pandemic hit, the County was forced to shut the Center’s doors, leaving the artists with no access to the art making equipment. When the number of cases started to go down, the County in February reopened the doors, but with reduced hours. The LAC artists usually host a holiday sale where patrons can pick up beautiful pieces of art as gifts for friends, family or themselves.
Over the last several years County leaders have expressed concern about the building itself and the high cost of repairs that would have to be expended to keep the building open. While it is open now, the assumption is if something major breaks (i.e., HVAC), the County would be forced to again shut it down. The artists have been asking if there is a plan in place by the County for a potential closure and the movement of the expensive equipment to a new site immediately. In addition, Arlington County adopted a benefits-based cost recovery philosophy more than a decade ago with a cost recovery pyramid guide for execution. The County programs and services that have the most widespread public benefit receive the greatest public subsidy, whereas cost recovery goals are larger for programs and services that have more of an individual benefit.
Under the Manager’s proposed budget, the LAC Studio program is budgeted to fully recover all expenses beginning in the (FY) 2023 year. These increases are more than double what they were the artists were paying before.
We are asking our readers, arts patrons and residents concerned about these artists and their livelihoods to contact the County Board in anticipation of their consideration of the County Manager’s budget proposal. Here are some questions you might raise in your letters:
Is there a formalized plan to address a possible closure of the Center with respect to moving the equipment, outfitting these artists with studio space, and other logistics? Can this plan be shared with the artist stakeholders so that they can better prepare?
What is the communication plan to let the artists know what is happening with the Center?
Is there room to negotiate the large fee increase to make it more affordable – perhaps over several years? (NOTE: Perhaps a less steep increase might work or attract a larger number of artists to offset the costs.)
Your letters can be emailed to the County at this address: countyboard@arlingtonva.us. Please bcc janetk@embracing-arlington-arts.org so we also have a record of your correspondence. Thanks in advance for providing support and concern for our local artists.
Corporate Sponsor of the Month
Our corporate sponsor of the month is JBG SMITH which owns, operates, invests in, and develops a dynamic portfolio of mixed-use properties in the high growth and high barrier-to-entry submarkets in and around Washington, DC. Through an intense focus on placemaking, JBG SMITH cultivates vibrant, amenity-rich, walkable neighborhoods throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Over half of JBG SMITH’s holdings are in the National Landing submarket in Northern Virginia, where it serves as the exclusive developer for Amazon’s new headquarters, and where Virginia Tech’s under-construction $1 billion Innovation Campus is located. JBG SMITH’s portfolio currently comprises 17.1 million square feet of high-growth office, multifamily and retail assets at share, 98% of which are metro-served. It also maintains a development pipeline encompassing 16.6 million square feet of mixed-used development opportunities. JBG SMITH is committed to the operation and development of green, smart and healthy buildings and plans to maintain carbon neutral operations.
“Embracing Arlington Arts Talks” Podcast:
Our February podcasts hit on several different art forms and genres. We started the month in the theater world with an exciting discussion with Playwright/Actor/Podcaster Iyona Blake who told us about her world premiere of the play she wrote entitled “Girls of Madison Street” that focuses on family dynamics, dysfunction and healing.
Switching gears we welcomed back to the show the co-founders of 9th Street Chamber Music Liz O’Hara Stahr and Matt Richardson who talked about the many exciting events and concerts coming soon. We then went back to the theater world for a chat with The Artistic Director of Pinky Swear Productions Karen Lange about what is coming down the pike for the theater company and their production as part of the Capital Fringe Festival.
Finally, we ended the month with a very interesting discussion with the lead singer and co-founder of the Bedrocks Band Ray Ficca who gave us all the details about their new EP, including how the single “Lonely Dreamer” came about.
To listen to any of our interviews, follow this link. And if you have not already done so, please follow us on Apple Podcast, Spotify, GooglePodcast, and now Amazon Music so you don’t miss any episodes.
Media Hits
The SunGazette interviewed Janet Kopenhaver, President of Embracing Arlington Arts, about how theaters are still being adversely impacted by the COVID pandemic.
Using the Embracing Arlington Arts subscription, Encore Stage & Studio to provide a sneak peek into their premiere of Riley O’Brien and the Lost Leprechaun! Signature Theatre also ran a column giving all the details about their current production of “She Loves Me.”
If you would like to support the work of 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 send it to Embracing Arlington Arts, 754 North Vermont Street, Arlington, VA 22203
* Make Embracing Arlington Arts your AmazonSmile charity and shop with this link.
Every dollar helps us help artists and arts organizations in so many ways.
Thank you in advance!
Embracing Arlington Arts 