North Capitol Main Street receives official designation

BOARD PREPARES TO KICK OFF PROGRAM


Washington, DC - October 3, 2008 - North Capitol Main Street (NCMS) received official designation as a Main Street Program, after having successfully submitted its application to the city to become certified on July 31st.

The DC Main Streets program was created in 2002 to support the establishment and implementation of lasting, comprehensive revitalization initiatives in DC's traditional neighborhood business districts. DC Main Streets' goal is to support retail investment in the District through the retention and expansion of existing businesses and the recruitment of new businesses.

"Under the Main Street Program, NCMS becomes part of the largest network of commercial districts in the world and official designation will build our capacity to assist businesses and coordinate sustainable community-driven revitalization within our boundaries", says Pat Mitchell, President of the Board of Directors.

North Capitol Main Street's success will hinge on its ability to improve the corridor by encouraging new business development, assisting current business owners with matching products and services to changing demographics and through physical improvements.

"I commend the Mayor for his commitment to support neighborhood business districts through the Main Street Program. We're excited to have been chosen and we intend to hit the ground running."

KIPP school

despite my preference to have an arts center, i thought i'd share something about the guy that runs KIPP, the school that has expressed interest in Cook Elementary on P street NW

He's on the Colbert Report here
last 3/4 of the show

another article about Baraki

A tavern in the urbans of Bloomingdale

by Anna Tauzin on Thu, 10/02/2008 - 13:24

There’s a new resident moving into the quiet neighborhood of Bloomingdale, and it’s causing quite a stir.

read it
here

question for anyone reading.. is this causing a larger stir that other places/ applying for liquor licenses elsewhere in the district, especially in neighborhood with no taverns?

it seems to me no, but i dont really know. this one happens to have a few public websites talking about it with open comments.

Wine, Live Music, Good Feeling, Harry Thomas and Art at 87FLORIDA this Weekend

Wine, Live Music, Good Feeling, Harry Thomas and Art at

87FLORIDA this Weekend

Our promising, rapidly developing, up-and-coming part of the city is a chosen venue this Friday and Saturday of the city's fourth annual Duke Ellington Jazz Festival performance series "Jazz In The 'Hoods."

Come be a part of it...

Endorsing the rich history, art, music and live thriving here, the Festival brings to 87FLORIDA oct. 3 + 4 :

Stellar veteran bass player/composer Michael Bowie - FRIDAY 9 PM

And

Exciting drummer/vibraphone player Chuck Redd - SATURDAY 9 PM

Both shows are seated, and end about 10:45

With Ward 5
DC Councilman Harry Thomas welcoming, wine poured gratis, featured oil/watercolor/giclee prints from past shows and a small sculptural preview of A 2009 87FLORIDA exhibit to come...

...20.00 at the door for the 501C3 Festival and the musicians...

...please join us and enjoy a rich experience close to home.

For more information and full Festival schedule, see www.dejazzfest.com and www.87FLORIDA.com

Ceci Cole-McInturff, Artist Owner
87FLORIDA
Urban Art Space With A Mission
87 Florida Avenue, N.W.

Proud host of DC's 4th Annual Duke Ellington Jazz Festival performances:

FRI/SA Oct 3 + 4
9 pm/doors 8:30
20.00 cash only

www.dejazzfest.com
www.87FLORIDA.com

fire last night

I'm told there was a fire at 54 Randolph Place NW last night.
It seems no one was injured but the house in uninhabitable.

If i hear anything else about this i'll pass on.

Great Future Property

the old Savemore Grocery has a new website

got cardboard?

a friend in Mount Vernon Triangle sent me this:

"I am currently building an art project for a non-profit organization to which I belong, that will be seen on television by millions worldwide. To make this 'Art' project a reality, I am looking for you to donate LARGE pieces of gently used cardboard or foamboard ( or any material of comparable thickness and strength).

Ideal pieces of cardboard should be large enough to cut 3 foot x 3 foot stars. SO, If you recently bought a bed, refrigerator or washing machine, save the box for me. Take a trip to your local grocery store and ask the manager for any empty boxes that fit my description (boxes that have been soiled by food products need not apply). Does your office have any old foamboard signs used for a conference or meeting 6 years ago that is just collecting dust in the closet? I'll take it...."

any assistance is appreciated"



his address is
tsheetz at gmail com

meeting about Baraki on thursday

Bloomingdale ( for Now ) has the details

a way to support the FLUX proposal

if you wish to support the FLUX team's proposed use of Cook School please let these people know:

Robin Eve Jasper, director of the Office of Property Management at robin-eve.jasper@dc.gov

Harry Thomas HThomas@dccouncil.us,

his director of constituent services Ayawna Chase at achase@dccouncil.us

and the Mayor's contact for community relations in Ward Five: alice.thompson@dc.gov

Call for Bloomingdale Artists!

here is a message from a neighbor:


Call for Bloomingdale Artists!

Artists of all kinds (visual artists, performing artists, musicians, craftspersons, writers, poets, spoken-word artists, and any others I may be forgetting momentarily) are invited to come together to form a steering committee/brainstorming/creative research group to build a local arts-based response to the various issues facing our community. The model and intent for this project springs from the Community-based Arts tradition (also known as Community Cultural Development), which holds that artists have skills that are of particular relevance for helping communities to process and transform the issues that they face through positive, joyful, creative processes.

Melanie St. Ours, a North Capitol St resident and community-based theatre artist who has worked with groups in Manhattan, The Bronx, and in New Delhi, is hoping to bring the work she loves a little closer to home. She's been impressed with the degree of community involvement and action, but believes that an arts-based process has a lot to add to the efforts that are already underway here. She's interested in heading up a performance component of the project, but hopes that as many artists from the community can be involved as possible and that we can have multiple aspects to the project to include many different media.

Right now, the intent is simply to gauge initial interest levels, meet with interested artists, and brainstorm ideas for a plan of action. If you're an artist in the neighborhood and are interested in finding ways to use your work to get to know your community better, serve that community, and collaborate with artists from other disciplines, please be in touch! No commitments are needed at this phase----just curiosity!!!

If you're interested in this project please send an email with your name, email address (and phone number if it's better to reach you by phone), the medium in which you work, and a basic idea of when you might be available for an initial meeting. Please write to: melaniest.ours @ gmail.com . Feel free to include other comments and questions as well, but know that many of those will be answered as we get to know each other and define the scope of the project more specifically. T

Thanks, and I look forward to hearing from you!

~Melanie St. Ours / melaniest.ours @ gmail.com

Open Houses in and around Bloomingdale scheduled for this weekend

Click on this link to see Open Houses scheduled in and around Bloomingdale for this weekend.

I'll be holding a new listing open, just one block from the Shaw Metro, on Sunday from 1-4pm. It's 1605 7th St NW #6 (see it on the open house link and there are lots of pics so be sure to click the camera icon). For $325,000. AT Metro, for a renovated 2BR with almost 1000 square feet, tree top and city views, it's an awesome deal! The building is included in the National Register of Historic Places. Development of Radio One HQ, the revitalization of the O St Market, and other amenities being added close to the Convention Center, make it time to get in NOW!

Street Sense’s Third Annual Silent Auction

Movin’ On Up

Street Sense’s Third Annual

Silent Auction & Reception

October 2, 2008, 7pm

Josephine Butler Park Center,

2437 Fifteenth Street, NW

Tickets start at $25 a piece for access to the auction, endless appetizers, beer and wine, and great fun with Street Sense vendors, board and staff.

For more info or to buy tickets, visit http://www.streetsense.org/auction2008.jsp

Eighth Annual National Book Festival

just passing this on:

Library of Congress Adds New Authors to Eighth Annual National Book Festival; Free Podcasts Invite Nationwide Participation in Celebration of Reading

The Library of Congress has added new famed authors to the award-wining lineup for the 2008 National Book Festival. Free downloadable podcasts, available on iTunes and the Library's Web site, as well as other interactive features, bring the magic of the National Book Festival to booklovers nationwide.

Washington, DC (PRWEB) August 13, 2008 -- The Library of Congress has added several new authors to the award-winning lineup for the 2008 National Book Festival, which will be held on the National Mall from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sept. 27.

Among the some 70 celebrated authors who will be participating in this year's event are early-childhood experts Ellen Birnbaum and Nancy Schulman, Michael Dobbs -- award-winning foreign correspondent for The Washington Post -- New York Times best-selling author Julie Morgenstern, and veteran journalist Cathy Scott.

There have also been several additions to the popular Poetry pavilion, including Michael Lind, Molly Peacock, Jill Allyn Rosser and the recently announced new Poet Laureate, Kay Ryan.

The introduction of new downloadable author podcasts, which are available free of charge through the Library's Web site or on iTunes, makes it possible for booklovers around the country to participate in the event. Interviews capturing their latest works and inspiration are available with Warren Brown, Joseph Bruchac, Sharon M. Draper, Arthur Frommer and Pauline Frommer, Jan Brett, Jon Scieszka, R.L. Stine and Kay Ryan. More podcasts with festival authors, illustrators and poets will be uploaded in the coming weeks.

Other interactive features include event Webcasts, which will be made available this year and have been archived from previous festivals. The Library also will soon launch an updated version of the Young Readers' Online Toolkit to bring the festival into libraries, schools and homes across the country.

You can find out more about this year's National Book Festival, interactive features, and the full list of participating authors, illustrators and poets by visiting www.loc.gov/bookfest.

Don't forget to download and display the 2008 National Book Festival Poster in your home, school, local library and community (right click image to save to your desktop or print).

Event at 87Florida tonight and Saturday!

Haven't been to 87Florida yet? You have a chance to check it out this weekend.

Here is my post from the Prince of Petworth blog.

the weather report that matters

Umbrella?

a post about houses sales

buildingdc.com writes about LeDroit Park ( defined rather broadly...)

apparently sales have been good.

burger places popping up everywhere these days

ReNewShaw relays word that Fatburger will be opening a place on Florida Avenue. I guess its THIS place.

WPA + Warehouse theatre , but apparently not AOM

some other blogs have written about the FLUX proposal

DCist
and Prince of Petworth
and on DC MUD

A number of people have asked how to help. when meetings are scheduled for FLUX to talk with neighbors, please go to those meetings. I'll post about them here. If you know of a meeting and i've not yet posted, please comment about it.

thanks.

Please support this proposal for an Arts Space along the North Capitol Corridor.

here is a proposal that i fully support for the reutilization of Cook Elementary at 30 P street NW.
(kinda like my hope for Swampoodle Art's, a couple years back)
please provide input, if you have any.


A collaborative arts center located at J.F. Cooke Elementary School

DESCRIPTION
FLUX is a collaborative arts center partnering the visual and performing arts, arts
administration, community arts programming, artist studio space, and a design workshop
under one roof. The mission of the FLUX partners, the Washington Project for the Arts,
The Warehouse Theater & Gallery, and Artomatic, is to create a synergetic hub for the
arts that meets the needs of area artists, designers, performers, residents and arts
administrators by creating a multi-purpose flexible venue which is deeply used to further
the mission of the individual partners and provide unique, exciting and culturally rich
community benefits.

PARTNERS
The Washington Project for the Arts, founded in 1975, has a rich 31-year history as an
artist member organization, with over 1200 members, and a provider of engaging, highprofile,
well-attended arts programming in the DC metropolitan region. The WPA has
implemented and supported programs that include exhibitions, panel discussions,
printed catalogues, a digital artfile, ArtFile Online and a comprehensive artist directory
that benefits local residents.
The Warehouse Theater & Gallery is Washington’s leading alternative art space.
Currently located in three historic buildings on 7th Street NW, the Warehouse presents
independent and experimental theater, music, art, film, dance and happenings
Artomatic began in 1999 when three hundred and fifty artists cleaned, lit, painted and
colonized the Manhattan Laundry building for a 6 week art show. Over 50,000 visitors
attended the most recent Artomatic 2008, held in the NoMa area of downtown
Washington.

OVERVIEW
Given the substantial lack of studio, gallery, performance and arts administration office
space, this facility could potentially fill critical needs in the city’s arts-space continuum.
The property requires little alterations to be repurposed for artist studios, exhibit space,
classrooms, performance and rehearsal space, office space, and the required
administrative, storage and other support space. FLUX will be developed and managed in
a collaborative model with complimentary partners whose use of the space would
provide a dynamic and synergetic presence in the community and create affordable
workspace and venues appropriate to house artist studios, galleries, theatre space, a
community arts workshop space, a design workshop and arts administration offices.
Professional artists require particular physical characteristics – high ceilings, natural
light and ventilation. The lack of an industrial base, compounded by the limited
development envelope, has always made finding affordable studio space a particular
challenge for District artist residents.

IMPACT
Creating FLUX addresses three critical needs facing the artists of the District of
Columbia: 1) viable, affordable work/studio space; 2) effective facility management of a
visual arts center and community facility; and 3) professional yet nurturing arts
environments that encourage innovation and the creative process. FLUX will adapt the
space to provide low-cost studio, exhibit, design, and theatre and support space to
District artists and visual arts organizations, allowing their focus to remain on the
artistic process and community service.

FLUX SPACE USAGE
• Cultural Experiences Monthly open studios will invite area residents to engage
artists, purchase their work, and engage in community arts programming.
Residents will also have the opportunity to attend gallery openings, rotating
exhibitions and artist talks. The gallery and theatre will host events featuring well
known local artists, performances, art workshops, discussion groups and artist
salons.
• Performing Arts A regular program of theatre performances will be planned,
along with music and spoken word events, workshops and special theatrical
events, affording area residents the opportunity to access high quality theatre in
their neighborhood.
• Festivals/Markets The land surrounding the building would be used for weekly
artist’s markets, outdoor sculpture and other outdoor community events.
• Arts Education and Salons The Washington Project for the Arts and Artomatic
will hold regular workshops and classes covering best practices for professional
artists and will also engage outside speakers to lecture to the local arts
community. Regular salons for WPA member and studio artists will take place in
the workshop, along with classes led by artists for area teens interested in careers
in arts and design.
• Arts and Design Administration Office space for Artomatic and a separate
design workshop for resident designers, the fastest growing component of artists
living in DC, provides a hub for individual and area culture groups to work
together in creating and designing websites, print materials, theatre sets,
exhibitions, and other special events, both internally at FLUX, and for outside
clients where there is high demand for design services.
• Community Meetings FLUX will be an accessible space for community residents.
The classrooms, gallery and conference room will be available for ANC and
community meetings, plus other civic associations or neighborhood groups.

CONFIGURATION OF USES
Space allocation of the 43,500 feet would be as follows:
􀂉 1st floor: Box office, Theatre manager, Warehouse office space, Design
Workshop and rehearsal, set storage space, community workshop space,
cafe
􀂉 2nd floor: Artist Studios, and studio manager office space
􀂉 3rd floor: Large gallery in former library, artist studio space, kitchen,
workshop, community space, WPA Office, Artomatic Office space
􀂉 The parking lot and adjacent area could be used for festivals, artist
markets, weekend outdoor events and outdoor sculpture space.
Washington Project for the Arts, The Warehouse Theater & Gallery, and Artomatic
propose to manage and use J.F. Cook Elementary School at 30 P Street, NW as a
collaborative visual, performing arts, design, and arts administration center that serves
multiple constituencies and attracts a broad audience. This use incorporates a variety of
culture and community needs which could create a neighborhood asset and a prominent
regional destination. The reuse of the property as a visual and performing arts center,
arts administration offices, and a design workshop will allow it to provide a haven for
some of our city’s hardest working residents – our artists – and a cultural haven for area
residents and their families.

MORE INFO
Paul Ruppert - pwr@warehousetheater.com
Adam Griffiths – agriffiths@wpadc.org

video about 7th street gardens

7th street gardens