The D.C. Office of Planning (OP) has awarded a $75,000 “ArtPlace Arts and Culture Temporium” grant to Partners for Livable Communities (Partners) to develop and manage temporiums in underutilized spaces in the Deanwood neighborhood, one of the District’s earliest African American communities.
Under this grant, Partners will develop and manage DeanwoodxDesign, a project that showcases the rich arts, cultural, historical, and green space assets of Deanwood and Ward 7 through a community-wide, intergenerational, and collaborative effort. This project engages artists and a diverse network of Deanwood institutions and stakeholders to cultivate community pride, showcase and create great art, and invigorate the creative economy.
Collaborating partners include:
- Cultural Tourism DC
- Deanwood Heights Main Street
- DC Office of Planning
- East River Family Strengthening Collaborative
- George Washington University’s Event Management Program
- The Fishing School
- IDEA Public Charter School
- Life Pieces To Masterpieces
- Word Beats and Life
- WeACT Radio
During a four-month period beginning this summer, DeanwoodxDesign (pronounced as Deanwood by Design) will feature workshops, exhibitions, and cultural events that reflect the theme of “design” from four unique aspects: community, sustainability, multimedia, and lifestyle. This effort will illustrate how this neighborhood has historically developed and continues to nurture its creative community. (Read more about the historic neighborhood.) Ongoing and special promotion events will provide more than 15 hours per weekend of free activities that are open to the public. A call for artists will be announced in late May.
The project objectives include:
- Stimulate community building and promote neighborhoods through creative placemaking by seeding temporary arts, cultural, retail, entertainment, recreation, education, or demonstration activities in vacant spaces
- Support creative entrepreneurs and provide residents with access to unique arts and cultural activities and experiences
- Showcase the District of Columbia’s creative economy and innovative energy, by building partnerships among private property owners, city agencies, and creative stakeholders
- Highlight the long-term tenanting and creative use opportunities along corridors
- Help realize strategies identified through neighborhood planning efforts, the Creative DC Action Agenda, the Retail Action Strategy, and other citywide programs like Great Streets
Funding for this project was made possible by the D.C. Office of Planning and ArtPlace, an unprecedented new private-public collaboration, www.artplaceamerica.org. ArtPlace is a collaboration of 11 of the nation’s top foundations, eight federal agencies including the National Endowment for the Arts, and six of the nation’s largest banks. The new foundation invests in art and culture at the heart of a portfolio of integrated strategies that can drive vibrancy and diversity so powerful that it transforms communities.
For more information, please contact Jessica Scheuerman, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or visit www.deanwoodxdesign.com.