New Arts Center to Open in Anacostia
Coming Soon: Anacostia Arts Center |
ARCH Development Corporation (ADC) announces the Anacostia
Arts Center, coming spring 2013 to Historic Anacostia. Designed to be a
community arts nucleus, the Anacostia Arts Center will bring approximately
10,000 square feet of creative commercial space to Good Hope Road SE.
Conveniently located at the south end of the 11th Street Bridge between Martin
Luther King Jr. Avenue SE and 13th Street SE, the Anacostia Arts Center will
bring independent creative projects together under one roof.
Anacostia Arts Center will occupy the street level of 1231
Good Hope Road SE, formally the ARCH Training Center. The property is divided
up into spaces connected by a main hall, with common lounge areas in the front
and rear of the building.
Currently under construction, the space will include: a
built-out black box theater, the American Poetry Museum Reading Room, the
short-term creative rental facility Blank Space SE, a coffee shop & juice
bar, three gallery rental spaces, and two boutique/wellness center rental
spaces. Now accepting proposals and lease applications: the black box theater,
all gallery and boutique/wellness center spaces, coffee shop & juice bar.
Duane Gautier, CEO of ADC, explains his vision for the
center: "This project will assist in transforming the Anacostia
neighborhood into a place people recognize as an arts destination."
Anacostia Arts Center represents the newest effort by ADC to
revitalize Historic Anacostia by providing opportunities for the creative
economy to flourish in the area. The organization's work in the neighborhood
began with job training, housing, and micro-lending programs more than 20years
ago. The focus expanded to the arts in 2007, with ADC's opening of its first
art gallery in the area, Honfleur Gallery. In 2009, Vivid Solutions DC Archival
Print Lab opened, followed by the accompanying fine art photography and digital
art exhibition space, The Gallery at Vivid Solutions. ADC produced its first
large-scale community arts festival LUMEN8Anacostia in April 2012 and its
return is scheduled for June 22, 2013. In summer 2012 Honfleur Gallery
established the Annual East of the River Distinguished Artist Award. The
Anacostia Playhouse, formally the H St. Playhouse, relocated to Shannon Place
SE with assistance from ADC. It is also slated to open in spring 2013.
Calling it a "natural addition to an already
flourishing art culture" in Anacostia and predicting that it will be a
destination for residents and nonresidents," ANC Commissioner 8A06 Kendall
Graham said, "The establishment of the Anacostia Arts Center, along with the
opening of the Anacostia Playhouse and second annual LUMEN8Anacostia festival,
will only add to the momentum of Anacostia's renaissance."
ADC's Director of Business Development Nikki Peele pointed
out that the location of the Anacostia Arts Center directly above The HIVE 2.0
will be mutually beneficial to both projects. She said, "The HIVE 2.0 is
about providing an environment for innovators, visionaries, and entrepreneurs
to collaborate and thrive. Having the Anacostia Arts Center in the same
building as The HIVE 2.0 is a huge asset in making our space more attractive,
more dynamic, and more cutting edge for the entrepreneurs that call our small
business incubators home."
With the Anacostia Arts Center, ADC intends to further
diversify the arts landscape in Historic Anacostia by providing the space and
start-up support for other arts organizations to lay down roots in the
community.
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