Art

District Announces Cultural Plan

THE AFRO — District of Columbia officials from three different agencies came together April 4 to present the first ever “D. Cultural Plan” a hearty initiative to invest in the arts community in the nation’s capital.

Published

6 years ago

April 18, 2019

Oakland Post

By George Kevin Jordan

District of Columbia officials from three different agencies came together April 4 to present the first ever “D. Cultural Plan” a hearty initiative to invest in the arts community in the nation’s capital.

The launching of the plan was held at the Anacostia Playhouse, 2020 Shannon Place, S.E., where participants tasted on food from local vendors and businesses.

The plan is a collaboration of three main entities, the Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the Office of Cable Television, Film, Music and Entertainment and the Office of Planning along with Mayor Muriel Bowser and her team.

“This is an exciting moment,” said Andrew Trueblood, Director of the Office of Planning. “It’s really years in the making.”

“It’s the first cultural plan that the District of Columbia has ever done. Arts and culture and our makers and creators are really what give the District of Columbia our heart and soul. This plan is a recognition of all of that.”

The Cultural Plan was pioneered by the D.C. Council via the Cultural Plan for the District Act of 2015, which allowed the Office of Planning to develop the plan across the three agencies and community support.

“Our city is over 700,000 people now,” said Mayor Bowser. “We haven’t been this big since the early 1970s.”

“People are moving and living in places they haven’t before- working and going out to dinner and celebrating the arts in many different ways. They are taking different types of transportation. And the vibrancy that we’re generating from the rich diversity of our city is supported by our wonderful and growing arts and culture in Washington D.C.”

“But we know we have to be intentional about preserving that culture,” the mayor added.

Bowser said the plan had 23 policies and 8 investment recommendations. The overall budget for the cultural plan is $13.3 million, which has been earmarked in the mayor’s FY 2020 budget proposal.

The plan explains, “The District’s Cultural Economy supports $30 billion in annual spending, generates $1.1 billion in tax revenue, and employs 150,000 workers.”

Some recommended investments include:

Creating a cultural innovation and entrepreneurship revolving loan Fund
Expanding capacity building grants through partnerships
Invest in marketing

“The cultural plan addresses issues of affordability, access and sustainability,” Bowser said. “What we hear from arts organizations across all eight wards across the District of Columbia is ‘how can we afford to stay in Washington D.C.?’ And it echoes what we hear from residents across all eight wards of Washington D.C.”

Delé Akerejah of The Dopamine Clinic, who had an interactive live art installation during the launch event hopes the cultural plan will decreasing the siloing of different artists and organizations saying, “I think there needs to be more open channels exchanges of communications between members of the artistic community.”

“I think it’s going to improve the level of synergy. I’m just glad I can do my part.”

To see the full plan go to https://www.dcculturalplan.org.

This article originally appeared in The Afro.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Up Next

Former Memphis mayor eyes those ‘left out of this economy’ as he seeks return to mayor’s office

Don't Miss

PRESS ROOM: New Analysis Finds Leading State-Based Marketplaces Have Performed Well

Oakland Post

1 Comment

Activism

Griot Theater Company Presents August Wilson’s Work at Annual Oratorical Featuring Black Authors

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Published

3 months ago

February 17, 2025

Oakland Post

Late playwright August Wilson. Wikipedia photo.

By Godfrey Lee

Griot Theater Company will present their Fifth Annual Oratorical with August Wilson’s “Half a Century,” at the Belrose on 1415 Fifth Ave., in San Rafael near the San Rafael Public Library.

The performance explores the legacy of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson whose 10-play Century Cycle chronicles the African American experience across the 20^th century, with each play set in a different decade. “Half a Century” journeys through the final five plays of this monumental cycle, bringing Wilson’s richly woven stories to life in a way that celebrates history, resilience, and the human spirit.

Previous performance highlighting essential Black American authors included Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, and Lorraine Hansberry with Langston Hughes.

The play will be performed at 3:00. p.m. on Feb. 20, 21, 22, 27, and 28 at 7:00 p.m., and on Feb. 23 at 3:00 p.m.

For more information, go to griottheatercompany.squarespace.com/productions-v2

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

MLK Day of Service Volunteers Make Blankets and Art for Locals in Need

“Everyone has an opportunity to participate,” said Glenda Roberts, kinship support care program manager at CCYSB. “Our nonprofit organization and participants recognize how important it is to give back to the community and this is serving. As Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. stated, ‘Everybody can be great…because anybody can serve.’”

Published

4 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Photo courtesy of the nonprofit.

By Kathy Chouteau
The Richmond Standard

The Contra Costa Youth Service Bureau (CCYSB) and Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church (BMBC) are collaborating with a team of volunteers for a Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service, Monday, Jan. 20 that will wrap the community’s most vulnerable people in warm blankets and provide them with an uplifting gift of art.

Volunteers will kick off their activities at BMBC at 11 a.m., making blankets for the unhoused people served by the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) and art for those in convalescence in Richmond.

Others will get to work preparing a lunch of chili, salad, a veggie tray, and water for participants, offered courtesy of CCYSB, while supplies last.

“People of all ages are welcome to participate in the MLK Day of Service,” said Roberts. Volunteers can RSVP via phone to Glenda Roberts at 510-215-4670, ext. 125.

CCYSB Boardmember Jackie Marston and her friends donated the materials and supplies to make the blankets and art projects. The nonprofit is also providing the day’s complimentary lunch, as well as employees to volunteer, under the direction of CCYSB Executive Director Marena Brown.

BMBC, led by Rev. Dr. Carole McKindley-Alvarez, is providing the facility for the event and volunteers from the church, which is located at 684 Juliga Woods St. in Richmond.

Located in Richmond, CCYSB is a nonprofit youth advocacy organization that serves eligible children, youth, and low-income families with a variety of wraparound services so they can thrive. Programs include academic achievement, youth mentorship, truancy prevention and direct response.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Art

Vandalism at Richmond Ferry Terminal Saddens Residents

Residents have been lamenting the destruction online. Ellen Seskin posted photos of the vandalism to the Facebook group, Everybody’s Richmond, on Jan. 12, saying she encountered it while out on a walk. “It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

Published

4 months ago

January 18, 2025

Oakland Post

Graffiti mars the walkway at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Photo by Kathy Chouteau, The Richmond Standard.

The Richmond Standard

“This is why we can’t have nice things,” stated the post on NextDoor.

The post referenced images of graffiti at the Richmond Ferry Terminal. Not just on the terminal, but also on public artwork, on trail signs, on public benches and the boardwalk.

On Wednesday, the Standard stopped by to see it for ourselves. The good news was that it appears the graffiti on the terminal and on the artwork, called Changing Tide, have been cleaned for the most part. But graffiti remained abundant in the area around the relatively new ferry terminal, which opened to the public just six years ago.

Graffiti artists tagged benches and the boardwalk. Cars that had done doughnuts in the street marked the cul-de-sac just outside the historic Craneway Pavilion.

A ferry worker told us the graffiti had been there since before he started working for the ferry service about a week ago.

A member of the Army Corps of Engineers who did not want to be named in this report called the scene “sad,” as “they’d done such a nice job fixing it up.”

“It’s sad that all this money has been spent and hoodlums just don’t care and are destroying stuff,” he said.

It wasn’t immediately clear how soon the graffiti would be removed. The Standard reported the graffiti to the city’s graffiti abatement hotline. We were prompted to leave a message reporting the address and location of the graffiti.

“It was on the sidewalk, the street, the doors to the ferry, even in the art installation and the ‘stone’ benches,” she said. “I reported it but knowing how slow they are about getting things done — I just know that the longer you leave graffiti, the more likely they are to spray it again.”

In the comment section responding to Seskin’s post, local attorney Daniel Butt questioned why there aren’t cameras in the area.

On Nextdoor, one resident suggested searching to see if the tags match any accounts on Instagram, hoping to identify the perpetrator.

On its website, the City of Richmond says residents should graffiti immediately call Public Works graffiti removal and/or Code Enforcement at 510-965-4905.

Kathy Chouteau contributed to this report.