Washington DC’s got a fairy godmother for the arts even if a lot of the community might not know too much about it. CulturalDC‘s been around since 1998 and has supported the arts in so many ways that it’s hard to believe.
A few of their biggest achievements over the years include:
- Opening DC’s first arts incubator, Flashpoint and incubated ten emerging arts organizations there including Artomatic, Fringe Festival, Step Afrika!, and Washington Improv Theater.
- Purchased and renovated Source as a multi-user performing arts facility providing performance, rehearsal, and office space for numerous arts organizations.
- Developed DC’s first (legal) artist live/work housing (at The Mather Studios).
- Produced the Source Festival – an annual three-week performing arts festival.
For the most part, the group is focused on the visual arts, but that doesn’t mean that that’s the only thing that they’re working on. Especially with programs like the Source Festival, which has been around for ten years now. Each year, Source Festival provides opportunities for playwrights, actors, directors, as well as visual artists, musicians, filmmakers and others.
The most recent activation was the 2017 VisionDC Summit which brought together “key stakeholders in the city to provide a crucial platform for artists, commercial real estate developers, city planners, policy makers, technologists, business leaders, and the public to exchange ideas and create strategies and partnerships for embracing urban growth through the expansion of the creative economy.”
CulturalDC is supported by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, The Community Foundation for the National Capitol Region, Daimler, The National Endowment for the Arts, DC Office of Planning, AT&T, Washington Gas, Busboys and Poets/Mulebone, Susan and Dixon Butler, Hank and Carol Goldberg, Lockheed Martin, Menkiti Group, Stephen Stein and VOA Associates, and people like YOU.
CulturalDC creates opportunities for artistic innovation, connecting artists, arts organizations, developers and government agencies to facilitate economic and cultural vibrancy in the Washington DC area.
We enable the arts as a driving force to grow and sustain vibrant communities throughout the Washington DC area. CulturalDC serves artists, arts organizations, arts consumers, residents, developers, property owners and government agencies in the Washington DC area.
CulturalDC began in 1998 when a coalition of government, business and creative leaders recommended the formation of a nonprofit organization to increase the impact of DC’s creative community. Our efforts ensure that there are spaces and resources for artists and arts organizations to live, create, exhibit and perform throughout the city.
*Most information above can be found at CulturalDC.org or SourceFestival.org.
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