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The Washington Arts
Group encourages professionalism in the arts, the connection
of art to the life and needs of communities, and the development
of Washington, D.C. as a viable arts center.
We are a 501(c)(3) arts organization in Washington, D.C.
founded in 1977 to connect art to the needs of communities
locally and internationally through exhibitions,
performances,
seminars, and youth
development arts programs.
*The Washington Arts Group consists
of a group of artists in various disciplines
who are concerned with spiritual values and artistic integrity.
*We are dedicated to excellence and the pursuit of professionalism
in creative
expression.
*We embrace the historic Judeo/Christian tradition as a base
from which to best
incorporate our personal spiritual values into our life and
work.
Since 1994 we have developed visual art exhibitions, community
cultural events and youth development programs to bridge the
economic and social barriers between the inner city neighborhood
of Anacostia
and more affluent districts of the Washington, D.C. metro
area.
In November 2000 we began to join our efforts in Anacostia
with cultural and educational outreaches by a number of Dutch
and Russian organizations to the next generation in St.
Petersburg, Russia.
In 2003, our exhibition project, Down
By the River: Anacostia, A Place of Spirit,
brought together our work in Anacostia with our efforts in
St. Petersburg and was displayed in St. Petersburg, Russia.
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Exhibitions
Since our inception, we have worked to connect the professional
art world to the needs of communities through visual art exhibitions.
In 1991 we displayed the first exhibition of contemporary
sacred artwork by artists in St. Petersburg, Russia after
the fall of the U.S.S.R. to raise funds for local orphans.
In 1996 we curated the first joint Jewish-Christian art display
in Jerusalem, Israel to bring unity to the city. In 1998 and
1999 we mounted two
exhibitions about the Anacostia neighborhood of
Washington, D.C.
From June 2000 thru Jan. 2002 we presented an exhibition,
Windows Into Eternity, which was a nationally traveling
display of icons by American iconographers.
In February 2003 we opened an exhibition in a small gallery
space in Anacostia. The exhibition titled,
Building Bridges
of Understanding: Anacostia was a show of black
and white photographs of architectural elements in Anacostia
and other places in DC.
Our most recent exhibition took place in St. Petersburg,
Russia from May 21 - June 19. The exhibition titled, Down
By the River: Anacostia, Place of Spirit was
held at the House of Scientists, an historic Romanov palace.
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Performances/Seminars
Since 1983 we have brought together artists practicing in
a wide spectrum of disciplines from Washington, D.C. and across
the world to discuss ways to contribute to their particular
communities. Notable examples include the "Tinkers in
the Toy Shop" (1989, 1991) conferences (each attracted
over 250 artists, architects, journalists, musicians, performers,
etc.) and two national conferences of journalists (1992, 1997).
We have also worked to expose audiences who are usually financially
excluded from performance halls to the performing arts. In
1984 and 1985, for example, we coordinated benefit performances
by Tom Key at the Terrace Theatre of the John F. Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts.
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Youth Development
We believe that true change in a community begins with the
next generation. In 1994 we collaborated with the Corcoran
School of Art and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing
Arts to bring Mukulu, an Ugandan signing/dancing troupe
to six churches, six public and two private schools, American
University, Washington, D.C.'s Dance Palace, and the Bowen
YMCA.
On January 19, 2002, we hosted a children's art workshop
for over twenty-four Anacostia elementary school children
accompanied by a seminar on culture and congregational life
at the Chapel of St. Philip the Evangelist (Anacostia). Last
winter and early spring 2002, we designed an internship program
on classical culture and religious liberty in American democracy
with Harvard University's Center for Hellenic Studies and
the Freedom Forum's First Amendment Center for St. Petersburg
State University student Ilya Ivanov. Ilya returned to the
United States in January 2003 and is currently taking an intensive
English writing course this spring semester with the plans
to start courses at UVa this Fall in the Religion and Theology
Departments.
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History of Our Involvement in Anacostia
and St. Petersburg
We initiated our first effort to reach Anacostia children
and promote reconciliation across
the Anacostia River in 1994 when we helped bring Mukulu,
a Ugandan singing group, to tour Washington, D.C. area churches,
schools and cultural centers.
In 1998 we mounted Anacostia, A Place of Spirit in
Anacostia's streets, historic buildings and community centers.
Thousands from throughout the city came to see the artwork.
In response, officials at D.C.'s Union Station invited us
to display an expanded version, Hope in Our City: Anacostia,
A Place of Spirit, in their halls for Black History Month
of February 1999.
According to estimates by Union Station officials, over 1.4
million people saw Hope in Our City. Reports by major
newspapers and television programs on Hope in Our City
exposed nearly two million people to Anacostia's vibrant community
and legacy. In March 2000, the Library of Congress inducted
documentation of the 1998 and 1999 exhibitions into their
collections as the sole representations of turn-of-the-millennium
culture in the nation's capitol for their national Local Legacies
project.
On January 19, 2002 we continued our outreach to Anacostia
by hosting Jumping
Out of the Self-Referential Box a seminar and
children's art workshop for over twenty-four children from
public schools and churches at Anacostia's Chapel of St. Phillip
the Evangelist.
After we first met them in St. Petersburg in 1991, Konstantin
and Inga Ivanov and Dutchman Dr. Bert Dorenbos founded the
Dutch-Russian Intl. Center (DRIC), an organization that educates
youth about civil society. In November 2000, we began to contribute
to their Children of the New Millennium project, which
will culminate with St. Petersburg's 300th anniversary children's
festivals and the display of A Place of Spirit in May
2003.
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