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Category Archives: Culture

Around Town: May 20-22

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We’re supposed to have a sunny weekend! Which you should definitely consider spending with a Catalogue non-profit …

National Park Trust (at Madison Drive NW & 15 Street NW)

This Friday, 500 DC area Buddy Bison students will unite on the ground of the Washington Monument for a fun-filled day of environmental learning. Your family can pledge to participate in National Kids to Parks Day by visiting a park in your community.

District of Columbia Arts Center (2438 18th Street NW)

Trojan Women: A Love Story is back at DCAC this Friday at 10:00 PM & Saturday at 3:00 PM — “stylish blackbox bohemian goodness!”

The Theatre Lab School of the Dramatic Arts (at Theater J, 1529 16th Street NW)

It’s a late-night Dramathon! Friday at 11:00 PM, your favorite Washington actors will perform in readings of brand-new plays by local writers. Proceeds benefit the Send a Kid to Theatre Camp campaign.

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7 Questions – Adrien C. Finlay (Alexandria Symphony Orchestra)

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Let’s welcome … Adrien C. Finlay, Executive Director of the Alexandria Symphony Orchestra since the 07-08 Season. Committed to artistic excellence and dedicated to entertaining and educating a wide range of audience members, the ASO has been offering classical and inter-arts programming since 1954. Check them out!

1. What was your most interesting recent project, initiative, partnership, or event?

Producing a new jazz orchestra series this season, with the most recent concert being a smashing success. We re-created Charlie Parker’s album, “Charlie Parker with Strings,” where he took some of the best songs of his colleagues (Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington) and arranged them for small orchestra, rhythm section, and alto saxophone soloist. The concert allowed us to branch out into new repertoire, pull in new audiences who were either jazz fans or fans of our saxophone soloist (Vaughn Ambrose), and present ourselves at Artisphere, Arlington’s new cultural center. Vaughn Ambrose is the band director of Hammond Middle School in Alexandria and it was such a joy to see so many of his students and their parents at the concert supporting him, and the ASO. Continue reading →

Quote for Monday

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From “Looking for the good news about orchestras” on the Post’s Classical Beat blog:

Alan is taking just the kind of approach more and more orchestras are looking to these days. He represents a particular new-music, Gen-X sensibility, something even the Chicago Symphony is reaching for […]

However, the bottom line is that the success of any new initiative — and the definition of “success” is fodder for a blog post of its own — depends in no small part on the organization’s motivation for launching the initiative in the first place. Too often, such attempts seem born of a vague sense that New is good, or, more cynically, of an idea that New gets funding, or, more desperately, of a realization that if something doesn’t change, the organization is sunk. But if New doesn’t fit in with your organization’s mandate, it’s not going to get you very far […]

So which orchestras appear to be doing the best? The ones that seem to have sound artistic vision and energy: the Los Angeles Philharmonic, for instance. The ones who have established a genuine relationship to their communities […] Then there are the ones that genuinely represent different models […]

All of which invites a few simple questions: what qualifies as a genuinely “different model?” Not just for orchestras and performing arts organizations, but anyone? And how “different” can you get without disassociating from your mission? It seems like a tough — albeit, beneficial, thought-provoking — line to walk.

Around Town: May 14-15

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Happy mid-May, friends. We have a serious bundle of events coming your way this weekend. Attend and enjoy!

Saturday, May 14

3:00 PM — The Downtown Players take the DCAC stage this afternoon (and again at 7:30 PM) in DCPS, a moving drama about the relationships and daily complexities of an urban high school.

4:00 PM — Join Dance Place at THEARC for an Intergenerational Celebration, showcasing the talent of Kids on the Move and Coyaba Dance Theater’s students; plus, each paying adult may receive a free ticket for one child 12 and under.

7:30 PM — Catch the Joy Of Motion‘s Youth Dance Ensemble in concert at AU … or enjoy a showcase of new choreography at 8:00 PM at JOMDC’s Friendship Heights home. Double the dance this weekend!

8:00 PM — Fairfax Symphony Orchestra presents Mahler’s Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection,” along with the Fairfax Choral Society at George Mason.

10:00 PM — Looking for a late-night, high-energy event? Catch Trojan Women: A Love Story at DCAC (it’s “stylish black box bohemian goodness”).

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In The News …

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Welcome to Wednesday! Let’s poke though the non-profit-related news …

Arts groups fight proposed ticket tax in DC — And you can too! Mayor Gray has proposed a 6% tax on tickets to arts (theater, dance, music) events in his 2012 Budget. The Washington Post reports that “arts groups say they will lose audience members and revenue with an added tax on tickets it will have a ripple effect on other businesses, such as restaurants.” Check out the above link to learn what you can do.

Despite Recession, Global Giving Abounds — On Monday, PR Newswire reported that “for the first full year of the global recession private giving to the developing world has remained remarkably stable,” according to the new 2011 Index of Global Philanthropy and Remittance from the Hudson Institute’s Center for Global Prosperity. For the US, aid to developing nations in fact rose slightly between 2008 and 2009 by about half a percent.

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Around Town: May 6-8

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TGIF! … because we have an awesome variety of events at our non-profits this weekend:

Friday, May 6

7:30 PM — Tonight marks the 3rd Annual Hunks with Heart event to benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities of Greater Washington. Live jazz, good food, and laughter all guaranteed!

7:30 PM — THEARC Theater and The Jazz Touring Network present a special evening with the Javon Jackson band and an opening-act by Shana Tucker. Tickets are only $10 (really!) and available here.

8:00 PM — At Dance Place, Gesel Mason’s “Women, Sex, & Desire” tackles the struggle, humor and pleasure we encounter as sexual beings. You can also catch it at 7:00 PM on Saturday.

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Around Town: April 29-May 1

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Welcome to May, Greater Washington! We have a busy Catalogue weekend, so you definitely could celebrate the new month with one of our non-profits …

FRIDAY, APRIL 29

5:30 PM — For just $20, enjoy a delicious meal of soup and bread in handcrafted bowls donated by local artists. And support Food for Others with its mission of helping the hungry of Northern VA. Stop by Giving Circle to learn more.

7:30 PM — The Dwelling Place hosts its annual event, Carnival of Chocolate, at the VisArts Center in Rockville. Expect plenty of chocolate, plus a live and silent auction. All tickets (with discounts for kids!) are available on the Dwelling Place website. Continue reading →

In The News …

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Welcome to Wednesday, Greater Washington! Non-profits news to come …

DC Collaborative Congratulates Mayor’s Arts Awardees — Many Catalogue cheers to the 2011 winners, who were announced last week at the Kennedy Center! A winner in 2007 for Innovation in the Arts, the Capital Fringe took home this year’s award for Excellence in Service to the Arts. Now in its 32nd year, Dance Place received a well-deserved nod for Outstanding Contribution to Arts Education. Congratulations!

Low Health Literacy May Have Deadly Consequences — WebMD Health News reported yesterday that, according to a new study from the Journal of the American Medical Association, “nearly one in five people with heart failure have low health literacy, making them more than twice as likely to die as a result of their condition … even after adjusting for other risk factors, such as age, heart pumping ability, and coexisting illnesses.” (Learn more about Catalogue’s Health non-profits, who are working to improve access to care and education) Continue reading →

Theatrical Congratulations

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Monday was a big night for the Washington performing arts community — and for quite a few Catalogue non-profits! Yesterday marked the 27th Annual Helen Hayes Awards, which recognized “156 theatre artists, ensembles, and productions nominated in 26 categories,” as well as three special awards. And we would like to send Catalogue cheers to:

– Adventure Theatre for Outstanding Production (Theatre for Young Audiences) for If You Give a Pig a Pancake.

– Synetic Theatre for Outstanding Costume Design, Director, and Ensemble for Othello and Outstanding Lighting Design for The Master and Margarita.

– Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company for Outstanding Director and Resident Play for Clybourne Park, which will return to the Woolly stage this summer.

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Quotes for Monday

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“To become truly immortal, a work of art must escape all human limits: logic and common sense will only interfere. But once these barriers are broken, it will enter the realms of childhood visions and dreams.”

— Giorgio de Chirico (1888-1978)

“It is not enough to know your craft — you have to have feeling. Science is all very well, but for us imagination is worth far more.”

— Edouard Manet (1832-1883)