From this summer’s exhibit at the Anacostia Community Museum to last month’s “Best Black Art Marketing Day,” which drew over 100 patrons to support 15 local visual artists, 2007 will be remembered as the year the Ward 7 Arts Collaborative established itself as a lasting presence in the community. Appropriately, the Arts Collaborative is closing out this year with a new beginning—and a new home.

“We had been in incubation under Marshall Heights Community Development Organization for two years,” explains Acting Executive Director Wanda Aikens. “We wanted to establish a separate identity where people could come just to Ward 7 Arts and identify spaces to do programs for the community that foster art appreciation and culture and heritage development.”

City Council chairperson and steadfast Arts Collaborative advocate Vincent C. Gray helped board members identify the new space, which is located inside the William K Collins Empowerment Center at 4645 Nannie Helen Burroughs Avenue NE (formerly the Deanwood Medical Arts Building and later, the Ward 7 Constituent Services Office). In addition to a cozy, two-room office, the Arts Collaborative shares a small conference room and a large multipurpose room, which will allow members and partners to offer daytime, evening and weekend arts workshops, seminars, and other programming for community residents.

Aikens emphasizes the strategic position of the new location—in the heart of Deanwood, just a short walk to the Riverside Center/Marvin Gaye Park and the old Strand Theater, which is being redeveloped as the hub of a new arts district in far Northeast. “The deficit in programs is on this end [of the ward],” she explains. “We’re still focused on delivering services to the whole area, but we felt that because of the greater need on this side, our physical location should be here.”

Burroughs Avenue is one of seven corridors targeted by the DC government’s “Great Streets” initiative, which the city’s website describes as an “effort to transform under-invested corridors into thriving and inviting neighborhood centers.”

Community transformation also motivated Turnkey Real Estate and Investments, Inc. to create the Collins Empowerment Center, which opened earlier this year. It is named after Dr. William Collins, a highly influential African American dentist and entrepreneur who lived in Deanwood and built the 4645 property back in the 1950’s. Collins also opened a bank on Minnesota Avenue and owned another 50 properties in far Northeast.

Property manager and real estate broker Loumis Taylor envisions the Collins Center as a way to help Washington’s low-income and youthful residents gain access to the abundant resources available in one of the world’s most powerful cities. “The Ward 7 Arts Collaborative will contribute significantly to helping to communicate positive images and concepts that will interest and excite some of our young people and some of the residents of the community,” he says.

After relocating on November 15, the Arts Collaborative immediately applied its collective creativity toward beautifying its new home. Board members and their families joined fellow board member and interior designer Sherry Ways for a Saturday morning paint party, where they applied Ways’ green and tan palette to complement the office’s exposed brick walls and sepia ceramic tile. Artists and community supporters also donated furniture, supplies and artwork to get the organization up and running.

An official open house is planned for January 21, 2008. In the meantime, artists and interested community residents are welcome to stop by to fill out an artist’s profile, learn about upcoming activities, or just to welcome the Arts Collaborative to the neighborhood. Of course, there is a new telephone number as well. For hours of operation or more information, please call 202-399-1997 or visit www.W7AConline.org. 

Holiday Arts Activities for the Whole Family
Family Movie Night – “Jingle All the Way.” December 14, 2007. 6:30 pm. Contee AME Zion Church, 903 Division Avenue NE Washington, DC 20019. FREE

Holiday Marketplace – December 15, 2007. 12 noon – 6 pm. Riverside Center/Marvin Gaye Park. 5200 Foote Street, NE Washington, DC 20019. Local visual and crafts artists will offer one-of-a-kind and custom artwork for sale. In conjunction with Council Chairman Vincent C. Gray’s “Season in Seven” week of holiday activities. FREE

Smothers Dance Ensemble Holiday Performance – December 16, 2007. Dinner at 3:30 pm, program at 4:30 pm. Riverside Center at Marvin Gaye Park. 5200 Foote Street, NE Washington, DC 20019. In conjunction with “Season in Seven.” $10.00, ages 12 and up; $5.00, ages 3-11 years old, free, ages 2 and under.

How to Put a Little Kwanzaa into Your Holiday. Free booklet from the Ward 7 Arts Collaborative shows how Kwanzaa can be used as a holiday enhancement, not a replacement. Explains the seven principles of Kwanzaa and contains additional activities for children and families.

2007 Holiday Events & Shopping Guide. Free guide to arts activities and cultural shopping opportunities in Washington and Baltimore. Produced by Greater Washington-Baltimore Internet Services. Available online at http://www.gwaba.net/guide.