“Dance Place Begins Plans on Community Arts Park”

rendering courtesy Dance Place

From a press release:

“Dance Place has been awarded a prestigious $500,000 grant from the Kresge Foundation to support the creation of an Arts Park in the now vacant Kearny Street NE Alley between Dance Place and the adjacent Brookland Artspace Lofts. Funding will also support interactive programming for all ages as well as wayfinding efforts in our Brookland/Edgewood neighborhood.

SITE FOR THE ARTS PARK
The Park is located in the currently empty Kearny Street Alley between 3305 and 3225 8th Street, NE in Brookland/Edgewood. The space serves as an emergency route to the train tracks and is controlled by the District Department of Transportation’s Public Space Division, who have issued their support for the project. The site sits just off the Metropolitan Branch Trail and is two blocks away from the Brookland/CUA Metro station and bus stops.

DESIGN
The space will be converted into an artistic, playable green space. Design features include lighting and canopy overhead, entirely new colorful surfacing, a convertible outdoor stage, film screen and five public art commissions by local artists.

Dance Place and the Arts Park Steering Committee are delighted to be working with CBE firm Lee & Associates Landscape Architects, who are providing a large portion of their services pro bono. Check out some of their past work at http://www.leeandassociatesinc.com/

PROGRAMMING
Closely modeled off of Dance Place’s wildly successful Art on 8th Programs, the Park will host interactive programming for all ages, including games, music concerts, movie nights, community gardens, dance presentations, workshops and more.

STEERING COMMITTEE
The Park is designed to truly be a community asset. To ensure that the many diverse stakeholders have a voice in the Park’s development, Dance Place has convened a Steering Committee of residents, businesses, artists and government agencies, who will lead the process of design and programming selection. The full steering committee listing can be found at www.danceplace.org/arts-park.

The Steering Committee has selected DC, CBE-firm Blue Skye Construction to serve as the contractors for the Arts Park project.

WHAT: Announcing the 8th St Arts Park

WHEN: Construction Winter/Spring 2016

WHERE: Dance Place, 3225 8th Street NE, Washington, DC 20017; two blocks from Redline Brookland/CUA Metro station; free and convenient parking”